Mass deaths in poultry farm, authorities without answers, bird flu not ruled out

 

A mysterious illness affecting chickens has left a deathly trail in a local poultry farm, with experts not ruling out the possibility of bird flu.

Agriculture authorities are also without answers and are hell bent on finding the root cause(s).

A renowned local farmer, Mr Lesley Tome, brought this to attention after witnessing 130 of his 150 newly bought chicks die from no known cause in a space of three weeks.

Moreover, he claims that the mysterious disease is currently circulating in Honiara and parts of Guadalcanal.

He also observed that the dead chickens turned black after death.

Prior to their deaths, he said their growth were inhibited despite being fed according to the right procedure.

Seeing these developments, Mr Tome said he did not bring his chickens for sale fearing what he says “might be possible bird flu”.

In an interview with this paper yesterday, Ministry of Agriculture’s Director of Livestock, Mr Hearly Atupule said his team has carried out an initial post-mortem when they visited Mr Tome’s poultry yesterday.

He said their primary investigation has led to two findings.

“We found that the chick’s growth are affected. We also found that there are some abnormality in the chicken’s liver and spleen,” Mr Atupule explained.

At this stage they believe that a plausible cause may be the change in environment especially with the recent bad weather.

Mr Atupule also believes that poor ventilation to keep the chicks warm during the initial process may contribute to the mass mortality of the chickens.

“The cause could be disease but we need to carry out further investigation to prove as such I cannot rule out disease,” he said.

Mr Atupule encourages farmers to contact his office if there is any problem affecting their farm so that action can be made immediately.

“I encourage farmers to quickly report to our when they see such issues affecting their farms, either be piggery or poultry.

Meanwhile, when contacted yesterday, renowned local Veterinarian Dr Baddley Anita confirmed receiving reports from the same farmer.

He said there is range of possible causes; from a viral disease, poor farming management and the other is possibly due to poor handling from hatchery.

But, most important to note, Dr Anita said, is that the number of deaths due to poor farming management will always be less than that caused by diseases.

“High mortality rate on chicks and adult chicken indicate that there is a disease while low mortality indicates that there is poor farm management.

“What I’m trying to explain is that, disease can cause high mortality rate while poor management normally have very low mortality rate,” Dr Anita said.

He said the deaths of 130 chicks is serious and that proper investigation is important.

On the other hand, Dr Anita said Mr Tome has been in the poultry business for quite a long time and that he knows Mr Tome’s capability in the poultry business.

“I know Mr Tome personally and to say that 130 of his chick have died is not possible because I know Mr Tome is capable of providing proper management for his farm.

“130 is a huge number and there is a need for responsible authorities to carry out an investigation on the issue to find the cause,” he said.

When asked about any possibility of bird flu disease, Dr Anita said he cannot rule out the presence of bird flu in the country.

He said the disease could be bird flu or related bird influenza and this can be found if there is an investigation and tests carried out.

He said chicken disease can transmit through eggs, chicks and even adult chicks, adding, infected eggs pose a huge risk to disease outbreak.

This paper is still investigating this issue and strives to contact farmers who may have come across similar incidents.