We are in a rainy season. as you know we need warmth in the brooder, and once the birds do not have enough warmth, they chill, pile up and sometimes die.
Gumboro becomes very rampant during the rainy season, because it much disturbs birds that are under coldness and having a low immunity challenge.
So farmers have got to be very vigilant on temperature regulation in brooder from day 1 to week 3 during this rainy season.....actually removing warmth/pots at an early age of about 1 to 2 weeks can expose your birds to gumboro.
Yes, we are supposed to vaccinate against gumboro, but as you know, vaccination goes along with bio security ( restricting movements in and out of the brooder)
Actually some breeding companies have gone ahead and give a gumboro vaccine even before the egg hatches, just to protect the farmer against gumboro. This is good!. But this should not remove the farmer's onus of keeping good bio security at the farm, proper vaccination, etc, because the vaccine given earlier by the breeder will only become ACTIVE between 25 to 30 days!
So , even when you buy chicks from the best breeding companies ( those which come vaccinated) do not give up on the vaccinations, biosecurity, proper feeding, proper supplementation
Gumboro is so dangerous to an extent that it can wipe out 90% of the flock in 7 days, but all interventions are done to make sure we reduce on the mortality percentage if we are attacked. So it's not a guarantee that when you give treatment during a gumboro outbreak that they won't die. They will still die, but the % reduces.
I have been able to reduce mortality to 7% in the past 9 cases treated this year.
I always advise FARMERS to look, think, and act quickly.
LOOK : What do you see?
1. Birds are very depressed,
2. They make coats as if they feel too cold
3. They lose appetite
4. They collect in groups, just to come nearer to each other to give themselves enough warmth
5. They die in big numbers
6. Some times their droppings are whites stringy diarrhea on the behind
7. They do not move even when to try to chase them.
9. Remove the skin from the chest and thigh muscle, you will notice hemorrhages as if someone has caned them with a kibooko
10. To the vets and experienced farmers the bursa is swollen, filled with pus or hemorrhages.
THINK :
1. an inflamed bursa with lots of hemorrhages will not be able to make more antibodies! So the weaker the immune system, the more chances for other secondary infections.
2. Poor appetite: if it doesn't eat, it won't feel thirsty to drink! So there's an option of helping the most weak ones to drink, using a syringe.
3. You have weak birds inside, but there are some normal ones too! Remember gumboro spreads in a high speed! Why not make a sick bay, isolate the affected ones from the strong ones, and feed them from the sick bay.
4. They feel cold? Then think about stopping the coldness! Create enough warmth for them. About 30 degrees. Too much of heat may still increase mortality!. Put the curtains back to stop wind from entering, and to make the room warmer!.
4. About the appetite? What brings back the appetite? Vitaflash or Butacal improves appetite, and don't forget to misting with a very good disinfectant,
We very much try to avoid antibiotics because even the liver, which is the central laboratory of the body is down too! So why create too much burden on it with antibiotics?
All we do now is to help bring back the appetite, improve immunity, stop mortality, reduce stress on the liver, and in the end helping the bird its self to fight off the infection.
Note that we are not killing the gumboro because we cannot, but we are supporting the bird itself to fight off the virus.
We do all these interventions for 7 days, because gumboro kills for about 5 days. But usually the third day is when you experience very high mortality!
So, I always advise farmers not to panick so much, accept a few mortalities.
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