1. Pests, rodents, flies, stray animals.
2. Sick birds or carcasses of infected birds.
3. People through footwear & clothing.
4. Contaminated feed bags, egg flats, litter material.
5. Contaminated vehicles & equipment.
6. Impure feed, water, air.
7. Day old chicks infected in the hatchery or from breeders.
8. Wild birds.

• Preventing disease agents from entering the farm.
• By keeping potentially infected animals and contaminated objects away from healthy poultry. This requires formation of barriers i.e. Physical and/or Conceptual.

• Physical - lock on doors, fence & gate, distance
• Temporal - time break in between farms’ visits
• Procedural - washing hands and feet, changing footwear and outer clothes, vehicles kept off the farm.

• All workers or visitors must wash hands and feet with soap before entering the chicken house.
• All workers or visitors must change or cover clothes and footwear before entering the chicken house (wear farm’s clothes).
• All workers or visitors must clean and disinfect footwear between sheds by using a footbath or change footwear.
• Prevent contact of poultry inside the chicken house with diseases agents that might be carried from the outside on people hands, cloth or footwear.

• Transport poultry offsite to poultry dealers.
• Transfer to poultry dealers at your farm gate (do not let the dealer on your farm).
• Transport to a live bird market.
• Sell directly from the farm gate (do not let people in). Selling eggs:
• Sorting the eggs into flats to be taken off the farm (using plastic vs. paper flats).
• Never bring paper egg flats back from the market to the farm.
• If selling eggs directly from the farm, sell them at the farm gate (do not let people in).

• Vehicles should be left outside the farm area, might allowed into the farm in special condition following strict washing and disinfection, parked at least 30 meters from the house.
• Only essential pieces of equipment allowed into the farm following strict washing and disinfection.

• Don’t add new birds to a flock.
• Prevent spread of diseases from age group to another on the same farm (due to different health and immunological status).
• Allow simultaneous depopulation of facilities between flocks and periodical clean-up and disinfection of all houses and equipment to reduce infectious pressure or to break the cycle of disease.

• When there are number of farms in a short distance, there is a possibility to form a cluster of farms with good coordination, all birds are placed and marketed at the same time = single age.
• Keeping minimum distance between poultry farm prevent or reduce the spread of diseases from infected to healthy birds.

Cleaning needs effort – scrubbing, brushing and high pressure washing with detergent and water.

• Vehicles and equipment (syringes, de-beakers, egg trays), cloths and footwear.
• Workers and visitors hands and feet.
You should ensure regular cleaning at the farm:
• Equipment used on farm (drinkers, feed pans, egg trays).
• Workers cloths and footwear.
• Workers hands in between jobs.
You should ensure cleaning between flocks:
• Poultry house (inside & outside) and equipment.

• Removal of all dirt during the cleaning process.
• Usage of only approved disinfectant.
• Preparation of disinfectant solution in correct concentration.
• Application of disinfectant in the correct volume to ensure effective contact time and to cover the entire surface.
• Preparation and application of disinfectant in a safe manner

• You should ensure disinfection before entering into the farm.
• Vehicles and equipment (syringes, de-beakers, egg trays, etc)
You should ensure disinfection between flocks:
• Poultry house (inside & outside) and equipment.

• Introduction of diseased birds.
• Introduction of “healthy” birds which incubate or have recovered from a disease but might be carriers/shedders of virus or bacteria.
Precautions:
• Isolate and quarantine all new in-coming stock for minimum period of 2 weeks in isolation shed/cage that should be far away as possible from the resident birds.
• Observe these birds for any sign of sickness.

• Highly mobile.
• Carriers of disease agents presented in: feathers, droppings, exudates, on contaminated – clothing, footwear.
Precautions:
• Minimize your visits to other farms.
• Never visit other farms during disease outbreak!
• Limit the entry of visitors to your farm. Permit only essential visits.
• Keep set of coverall and boots for visitors (servicemen, veterinarian, electrician, etc).
• Disinfect footwear between sheds in a footbath.
Remember to:
• Re-fresh the solution daily.
• Use a brush to remove dirt.
Alternatively
• Keep separate boots or sandals (color coded) for each chicken house.

• Mobile
• Carriers of disease agents
Precautions:
• Wash & disinfect equipment before and after use.
• Be especially careful with borrowed and contractors equipment, vaccinators, debeakers, egg trays that return from market.

Such as:
• Chick delivery vans
• Feed trucks
• Pick up & egg trucks
• Visitors are highly mobile
Carriers of disease agents on:
• Wheels
• Under the bottom of the vehicle
Precautions:
• Limit the entry of vehicles to your farm (only in essential cases).
• Wash and disinfect vehicle’s wheels and bottom by vehicles deep high pressure sprayers parked at least 30 meters from house.

• Carriers of:
Viruses: Avian Influenza, Newcastle Disease. Bacteria: Salmonella, Mycoplasma
• Might infect your chicken by - direct contact, contamination of feed or water with droppings and exudates. Precautions:
• Bird proof netting.
• Wild birds proof house – screen or net.
• Clean feed spills immediately around feed storage room and chicken house.
• Keep feed storage room clean and door close at all time.

• Are carriers of disease agents contaminating feed and litter with Salmonella, Fowl Cholera.
• Cause damage to equipment: Electrical wires, Plastic water pipes.
Precautions:
• Remove piles of trash around the farm (which serve as a breeding area for rodents).
• Remove vegetation near by the house.
• Clean all feed spills.
• Place and rotate baits and traps around the poultry house regularly.

• Dogs, cats and pet birds are carriers of infectious agents such as: Salmonella (in feces), Fowl Cholera (in saliva), Psittacosis and Newcastle.
Precautions:
• Make the poultry houses pet-proof – screen or net.
• Fence the poultry area from other farm animals like cattle, buffalos, goats, etc, raised on poultry farm. Increase in disease agents concentration on farm like: Salmonella, Campylobacter, Cholera, endangering the poultry population.

Carriers of disease agents for example:
• Mosquitoes: Fowl pox
• Darkling beetle: Newcastle disease
Bursal disease Marek Disease HPAI Salmonella and many more
• Flies: Salmonella
Precautions:
• Mow grass around houses regularly.
• Prevent water build up around sheds.
• Remove all potential larval food materials such as: animal manure, rotting mulch, bird carcasses.
• Spray insecticide between batches.
Note! Ducks are highly sensitive to parathion and diazinon.

• Contaminated water can be a breeding ground for: Avian Influenza, Newcastle disease, Coliforms, Salmonella, Other disease agents.
• Water leakage causes wet litter increases the possible challenge of Coccidiosis.
• Damages to leg’s skin allowing penetration of bacteria causing foot pad and joint inflammation.
Precautions:
• Use only good quality clean water (tap or deep wells).
• Surface water of dams, ponds and rivers must be treated by: Filtration or sedimentation + Chlorination.
• Add iodine solution weekly to the water tank and drinking system (0.05% active) to prevent algae and other contaminants buildup in the pipes.
• Keep drinking system free from leakage.

• Bacterial contamination of raw materials e.g.Salmonella.
• Wet feed permits development of fungi and molds. For example: Aspergillus pneumonia, Mycotoxins like: Afla, Ochra, T2 causing internal hemorrhages, stunted growth, immuno-suppression.
Precautions:
• Buy only good quality feed that went through heat treatment.
• Feed storage: must be kept closed at all times to prevent contamination by rodents and wild bird, roof must be kept leakage free.
• Feed pans must be cleaned often.
• Foggers and drinkers must not drip into feed pans.

• Dead birds present a risk to the rest of the flock, due to increase of disease agents load at the farm.
Precautions:
• Remove dead birds as soon as possible.
• Dispose dead birds in a safe way by: Composting, Incinerating, Deep burial + Lime, Digestion.
Never!
• Eat or sell dead chickens.
• Dispose dead chickens into rivers, canals or lakes.
• Feed to dogs.