| STRESS
is a big factor in determining the overall health of our
birds. Stress comes in many forms and seems to affect the
best of our show birds the most. There's something
inherent about the genetic makeup it takes to produce the
finest colors and the best type and a bird's reaction to
stress. Everyone has heard of the relationship between
the 'mutt' dog and good health. The same seems true with
fancy fowl. The finer the breed, the more susceptible
they are to stress and disease.
They don't call them
'chicken' for nothing. By nature, most chickens (and
waterfowl), are cowards. They're afraid of their own
shadow. Poultry are prey and their genetic code
predisposes them to the flight instinct, even when
they're hand-reared and tame. Fear creates stress and
there's a sound medical reason why stress allows disease
to take hold in an otherwise healthy bird. Without giving
you a poultry veterinary science lesson, let's just say
that stress causes changes to occur in the gut that
lowers the pH. When the pH is low, 'Gram negative'
bacteria become comfortable in the environment and begin
to take hold and replicate. The rest you can imagine...
But let's talk about the
many things that stress out our birds. Some of these may
be a surprise to you. My first example is severe cold or
heat - or a dramatic change from one to the other. Only
healthy birds are capable of making it through the night
when it's sub-zero. And only healthy birds are capable of
enduring severe heat if there's no water, breeze, or
shade for them to find relief in. Poultry are more
susceptible to this than people realize. Have you ever
seen the flurry of activity that takes place right before
nightfall amongst the wild birds? They're filling up with
food and water to make it through the night. You can
almost tell when a storm is coming because they'll sense
the barometric change and feed heavily to weather the
storm. Your own chickens and waterfowl will have a last
meal and drink at dusk - before they can't see anymore to
roost and settle in for the night. If you can't feed and
water twice in a particular day and you have a choice,
choose to feed and water late rather than early for the
above reasons. The late feed is most important during
cold weather.
Another concern of cold
weather is frostbite. Single comb varieties with long
wattles suffer the most. Some believe that massaging
Vaseline into the comb will help prevent frostbite. I've
tested this and found no evidence that the roosters who
received massage and/or Vaseline fared any better than
those that didn't. Keeping drafts out of the coop to keep
wind chill effect down is probably more effective. A sign
of frostbite is having the comb or wattles turn white.
Eventually they turn black and scab over. In severe
cases, the bird will lose the part that turns black.
Breeding and laying are
stressful for many reasons. It's especially stressful if
it's the first season of maturity for either sex. (Most
losses due to diseases such as Mareks occur right before
or right after sexual maturity.) I've heard old wives
tales about young roosters 'going crazy' if they're not
allowed to breed. I don't think there's medical poultry
science to support that - but you get the picture. 'First
egg' for a female can be difficult - both in the hormone
changes that occur and in the 'effort' it takes.
The nutritional
requirements of a laying hen or duck must be met. Oyster
shell is a good source of calcium and should be available
to your females on a free-feed basis. If the calcium
requirement is not met to help form the eggshells, the
female will actually steal it from her own bones. I'd
like to caution you about oyster shell though. The
free-feed of calcium before sexual maturity can cause
kidney damage. Also, some people mistakenly use it as
grit, as well as a source of calcium. Since finely ground
oyster shell literally dissolves in the crop, it never
reaches the gizzard in its hard form. The gizzard is
where the food is actually ground up so this is where the
grit is needed. Large particle oyster shell has a better
chance of reaching the gizzard. I prefer providing sand
or poultry grit (sold at most feed stores) at all times
if your birds are confined. If they free-range, they'll
find grit on their own. Nature provides this instinct.
One last thought on laying females - make sure they have
plenty of water. Their water intake increases when
they're producing an egg. A little flavored probiotic
liquid in their water will encourage them to drink more.
See my article on probiotics for how to use them.
Although it seems benign, a
change to your birds' environment or housing can also be
stressful. If I'm going to change around cages or
separate birds that were accustomed to being together, I
usually won't do it when they're stressed for some other
reason. I once had a hen that was one of a pair that were
alike in all ways. They had never been apart. I wanted to
show them so I split them up (since they were lovingly
pulling each other's beards out). The one bird survived
just fine - I still show her today. But it sent the other
into a tailspin. She never quieted down. She paced the
cage with no rest. Then she was further stressed with PT
testing. She didn't survive long after that. She was a
nice little bird - I learned a hard but subtle lesson.
Stress is a little like having allergies - one or two
stresses may be livable, but if you pile on a bunch of
changes at the same time, the stress they cause can have
a cumulative effect. So I try not to throw too much at
them at once.
Grooming practices of the
Fancy such as bathing, pulling feathers, clipping and
shaping beaks and nails, and treating for feather mite,
are all stressful and unnatural to our birds. If you have
a grooming routine you like to follow, try performing
them over a longer period of time instead of doing
everything to one bird in one day. And whatever you do,
please don't hold those birds upside down by their feet.
It turns out there's a link between respiratory disease
vulnerability and being held upside down. I've seen
people do this at the shows and swaps. Aren't these birds
stressed enough?
I can't cover everything
here but the article wouldn't be complete unless I
mentioned our birds' number one stresser - showing. Many
of the reasons showing is stressful are listed above.
Things like changes in their environment, grooming,
temperature changes, etc. Now imagine the number of
illnesses your birds are exposed to at a show. Add to
that the travel, the chaos, the noise, the bird next door
to yours in the showroom that wants 'a piece' of your
bird - and your bird knows it.
I hope I haven't scared you
off with all of these examples of stress. Sometimes
stress can be a positive thing. Why do think little
'Rocky' struts his stuff at the show for the judge, but
looks like a roost potato at home? Just remember the
stresses our birds endure everyday for our fun and
recreation, and eliminate the stress that you can. You'll
have healthier birds as a result.
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