Poultry News & Events

UPDATED 3/4/19 University of Minnesota is holding a series of workshops around the state on Backyard & Small Flock Poultry Production. The audience is mainly for those who are new to poultry, but there is something in the workshop for experienced bird keepers as well. Each location has a local contact person for pre-registration. The cost is: $10.00/person or $20.00/household (max 3) Please pre-register so that we can plan for lunch. Call or send an email to the specified contact if you have questions. Workshops will run 10 am - 3:30 pm, with the doors opening at 9:30 Topics to be covered: Pest and predator control Avian anatomy and physiology Disease identification and response Occasional issues: Cannibalism Cloacal prolapse Broken wing or leg Frostbite Moldy feed Ascites My chicken won’t lay March 2, 2019 -  Saint Cloud St. Cloud Regional Extension Office 3601 18th St. S, Suite 113 TO PRE-REGISTER: Emily Wilmes at (320) 255-6169 ext. 3 or kr

By Rob Porter DVM, PhD, Sunil Mor, DVM, PhD, and Sagar Goyal, DVM, PhD University of Minnesota This is the 2nd of a 4 part series. Has the presentation of TARV remained the same? Grossly, most legs have periarticular fibrosis and edema without gastrocnemius tendon rupture; however, there is also edema of the shank accompanied by rupture or laxity of one or more of the digital flexor tendons (Figure 1). In the last two years a greater percentage of the TARV cases are complicated by bacterial infections e.g., Escherichia coli, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale, Pasteurella multocida and Staphylococcus aureus. In some of the hock joints, one might also observe marked erosion of the articular cartilage of the tibiotarsus (drumstick). Figure 1. Sixteen-week-old tom turkey that was positive for reovirus infection. In some instances the lameness is associated with swelling of the shank with complete or partial rupture of one or more digital flexor tendons (arrow). Characteristics of TAR

By Rob Porter DVM, PhD, Sunil Mor, DVM, PhD, and Sagar Goyal, DVM, PhD University of Minnesota This is the 1st article in a series of 4. What is turkey arthritis reovirus and where did it come from? Avian reoviruses (ARVs) are RNA viruses that are ubiquitous in domestic poultry with 80% of them being non-pathogenic. However, ARVs have also been associated with enteritis, hepatitis, neurological disease, myocarditis, respiratory distress and viral arthritis/tenosynovitis in chickens and turkeys. Clinical disease associated with ARV is mostly dependent on age, and immune status of the bird, virus pathotype, and route of exposure (oral, intratracheal, footpad, or subcutaneous). Reovirus was isolated from joints and ruptured tendons of turkeys with tenosynovitis/arthritis as early as 1980; however, experimental infection of turkey reoviruses failed to reproduce the disease. After, a hiatus of >20 years, the problem of reovirus-associated lameness in turkeys re-emerged in the Midwe