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Troubleshooting Chicken Health Problems During Processing

Pastured Poultry Talk

Release Date: 03/24/2018

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Pastured Poultry Talk

I have a conversation with Chrislyn Wood, DVM, about the threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and pasture raised flocks. Dr. Wood is a veterinarian with USDA APHIS and she is involved first hand with HPAI monitoring and response efforts.  We cover a lot of ground, including historical observations, risk assessment, disease identification, and prevention. 

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Pastured Poultry Talk

Greg Gunthorp joins the show to talk about his decision to step away from pasture raised chickens. Covid plays into the story, of course, but the challenges started long before this virus came to be front page news. 

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Pastured Poultry Talk

Cynthia Capers, Heniscity Farm in Tennessee, shares her 20+ year journey from hobby chicken keeper to farm. Twenty years ago, the sight of six Black Australorps brought tears to her eyes. Today, she's serving  her community through egg sales, chick sales, and pullet sales.

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I answer a listener question, "How can I make my small laying hen flock more profitable?" With feedback from the community, insights from The Fighting Farmer, and personal experience, we dive deep into ways to prosper from your small flock of laying hens.

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Perdue acquires Pasturebird and becomes the biggest producer in the space. I unpack what it means on this episode and walk through some history. 

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Listener Chris asks how to utilize an all-in/all-out pullet replacement strategy without duplicating infrastructure while maintaining egg production. To help answer the question, I share insights from Mark Harrison and Dave and Ginger Shields. 

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Pastured Poultry Talk

I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation. If you want to watch a replay of the stream, find it on . Before we work into the questions, I offer some thoughts on heritage poultry's potential role in pastured community. APPPA has recently started to focus on breeding specific topics and offers monthly livestreams on breeding. Check out . We cover a...

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Pastured Poultry Talk

In Pastured Poultry Talk episode 110, farmer Matt Steinman discussed how he used fermented feed as a solution to waste and fines. While fermentation can be a viable solution for some people, it's not the only way to deal with fines. This episode unpacks those options.

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Pastured Poultry Talk

Farmer Matt Steinman (Foothills Farm in Sedro-Woolley, Washington) and Dr. Louisa Brouwer (technical advisor on the trial) share the results of a SARE-funded trial that sought to understand the economic impacts of feeding fermented feed to laying hens. The trial compared a dry feed, wet feed, and a fermented feed and then determined the net difference across to the bottom line.

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I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation

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More Episodes
[caption id="attachment_1113" align="alignright" width="300"]mashup of chicken organis. Plucked chickens ready to be examined along with healthy hearts, liver, and gizzard.[/caption] Episode 68, I help you identify poultry production problems from your gutting table. When your chickens are laying on your table naked and unafraid, they hold no secrets. It's the perfect time to observe them as a way to identify production problems. This episode examines the scratches, bruises, hearts, livers, gizzards, green muscle disease, ascites, and uneven growth and ties it back what happened during the growout period.

Pastured Poultry News Round Up

  • A Small Business Administration report identifies over $1 billion in bad loans for contract poultry barns. At issue is whether or not poultry contract growers are really independent businesses or just affiliates of the integrators. Spoiler alert. SBA calls them affiliates and therefore finds they aren't entitled to taxpayer subsidized and guaranteed loans. Read article.
  • Ding. Dong. The Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices update to the NOP is officially dead.
  • Fertrell announces a non-soy protein pellet that doesn't sacrifice growth. Check them out.
  • Poultry Man developed a new universal, round kill cone for broilers, hens, ducks, geese, and heritage turkeys. Contact [email protected] for details.

Ascites (aka water belly)

You identify ascites by the belly full of fluid and purple skin. Ascites likely happened weeks before and many times can be traced to a traumatic event in the brooder-at least for most pastured poultry producers.

Scratches on Back of Broilers

When the back of your broilers are scratched up, you have feeding problem. It's time to reevaluate your approach to feeding and management.

Bruises and Dislocations

Did you know that a bruise requires blood, and the color of a bruise is an indicator of the age of the bruise? It is. Many times you blame the plucker for breaking your chicken's wing, but if there is bruising, look at handling errors or other injuries in the field.

Runts and Uneven Growth

Of all the things I talk about on this episode, identifying the cause of uneven growth is the most difficult to diagnose. I share some common places to investigate. It's not always genetic, and it's not always your feed.

Green Muscle Disease

Also called deep pectoral myopathy. Green muscle is discovered by the green decaying tender of large breasted birds. You only see it when you cut open the bird. While green muscle is likely genetically predisposed, a high incidence rate is a signal that you should look for problems in the field.

Healthy Hearts, Livers, and Gizzards

Always examine the organs. Healthy livers have crisp edges, a uniform color, and are firm. Hearts should be firm, have a bit of fat on the tip, and muscular walls. The gizzard should be firm, large, and muscular. There's a good test when dealing the organs and judging their health. Ask yourself, "would I eat that?" If the answer is no, then there's a problem.

==> Download a live processing cost calculator that Mike uses to estimate equipment costs, labor costs, and total cost of processing your own chickens. 

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