Health management of broiler chickens in Farms of Cundinamarca, Colombia

Abstract

This work was carried out in the department of Cundinamarca, which has an annual relative humidity between 80 and 85%, the average temperature is 24^°C sometimes reaching values above 30^°C and annual precipitation of 1500 to 2500 mm, the 28 poultry farms with which it was worked, are mainly located in the municipalities of Madrid, Bituima, Villeta, Albán and Cambao. During six months, cleaning and disinfection were carried out on farms where birds 46 to 48 days old were slaughtered and for which it was intended a minimum sanitary period of the farm of 15 days. According to the above points, it was vital to know the health status of the maternal home to establish the animal immunization protocols, and taking into account the conditions of the vaccine, procedures were performed depending on the laboratory specifications. Each farm had a capacity of three to four sheds, where 20,000 to 30,000 birds were housed, for a total of approximately 500,000 in all productions, with vaccination and revaccination cycle if was necessary. For this work a table was established in which the collection of the data was carried out, where the total number of dead birds per day was specified, age, macroscopic findings on farm, among others, with the purpose of elaborating a table of distribution of frequencies and thus be able to establish an epidemiological relationship for each farm, and according to the results recommend a plan of action to improve health programs and therefore their effectiveness, and thus contribute to the improvement of the final product. The protocols of cleaning and disinfection used in the farms producing chickens, are focused on two specific events, the recycling and composting of the bed or its total removal from the shed; if the case was recycled from the bed, the primary purpose was sanitization being the key point the complete disinfection, in particular this process was carried out with the greatest possible rigor. When these processes and prevention methods and sanitary management of the farms were implemented, benefits were obtained in terms of: training of personnel, identification of critical points of contagion, establishment of vaccination plans according to each farm, for which the results of necropsies were important; all these actions and procedures aimed to reduce the intervention of standing animals, in order to avoid stress, decreasing necropsies by 5% in six months.