Nov. 11, 2025

Poultry Helth Master Class-Part 3

Show Notes
Transcript

In Part 3 of the Poultry Health Master Class on The Poultry Keepers Podcast, hosts Carey Blackmon and Jeff Mattocks continue their deep dive into poultry health, exploring the causes, symptoms, and management of some of the most common ailments affecting flocks today. This educational episode covers Marek’s disease, gout, bumblefoot, rickets, nutritional deficiencies, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD)—each explained with clarity and real-world experience that backyard and small-flock keepers can trust.

You’ll learn how stress and environment influence disease outbreaks, what hidden factors make Marek’s difficult to identify, and why gout and bumblefoot are often preventable with proper management and diet. Carey and Jeff also explain how to spot early signs of vitamin and mineral imbalances, recognize curled toes and rickets, and understand the role of necropsy in getting accurate answers when birds decline unexpectedly.

Whether you’re raising backyard layers, show birds, or dual-purpose flocks, this episode will give you practical insights to strengthen your flock’s health through better management, nutrition, and prevention.

Subscribe to The Poultry Keepers Podcast for more expert-led discussions on poultry management, breeding, and nutrition. Visit www.thepoultrykeeperspodcast.com to listen now, plus the complete episode archives and resources for small flock success.

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WEBVTT

00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:05.580
Welcome to the Poultry Keepers Podcast, where we give you the information you need to succeed.

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In this episode Carey Blackmon and Jeff Mattocks continue their Poultry Health Master Class with Part three.

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So, let's jump right in and begin this discussion with Mereks Disease.

00:00:27.272 --> 00:00:34.412
Let's just start with probably the most controversial poultry disease

00:00:34.743 --> 00:00:35.162
out there.

00:00:35.167 --> 00:00:35.578
Which one?

00:00:35.582 --> 00:00:36.813
Which one are there?

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Okay.

00:00:37.622 --> 00:00:40.593
See to you, there's only like, okay, so we,

00:00:40.593 --> 00:00:44.972
we covered co acidosis last time, which is one of the ones.

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So let's talk about Mareks

00:00:48.362 --> 00:00:52.953
That's pretty much everywhere and yeah, they won't admit that it's vertically transmitted.

00:00:53.052 --> 00:00:53.652
Yeah, I mean,

00:00:54.192 --> 00:00:55.603
anyway, yeah, go ahead.

00:00:56.203 --> 00:00:57.942
So where do you want, where do you want to go with that?

00:00:58.512 --> 00:01:08.078
Alright, so there's I and body Ways to Tell, but first all, what, what is merits?

00:01:08.677 --> 00:01:14.513
It is a virus that affects primarily the nervous system and the nerves and the bird, right.

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It, it causes nerves to shut down and it, you know, um, it'll give you tumor looking growth.

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And, but yeah, I mean, it's a, I didn't say what you're looking for.

00:01:27.712 --> 00:01:32.332
I'm sure I didn't, but it's a, it's a neurological, you know.

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So do they have like a, a twitch?

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I've never seen a twitch.

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How do you, how do you know?

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How do you know

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when they have it?

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Well, some people go by the eye and there's a couple forms of merricks, right?

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So they don't always display the same, right?

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I cannot personally tell you that I have seen a 100% conclusive that I have seen a.

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The ocular observation, right?

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So in, in my line of work doing necropsies, I always verify it with either enlarged, uh, nerves.

00:02:07.043 --> 00:02:11.962
Usually the easy one to get to is the sciatic nerve and the leg, right?

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Um, and often, you know, you'll see a bird that is laying over a lame, um, with one leg paralyzed, usually one leg.

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Right.

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I mean, really severe.

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They usually don't live long enough to have both legs paralyzed, but Hmm.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Normally I'll see one, you know, with, um, and I don't know why, but it, it seems to affect the right leg first in, in the cases that I've seen personally.

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Right.

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It, it, it appears to be the right leg, you know, for the bird.

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So, okay.

00:02:47.652 --> 00:02:47.663
So

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maybe it's, maybe it starts in their left brain.

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I don't know.

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Uh, dunno.

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So, yeah, and like when I do the necropsy, you know, um, you know, I'll just go right to that leg.

00:03:00.953 --> 00:03:07.282
You know, if, if, if the bird was alive and I dispatched it right then I'll go right to that leg, I'll go to that right leg.

00:03:07.348 --> 00:03:07.768
Mm-hmm.

00:03:08.062 --> 00:03:08.573
Um,

00:03:08.573 --> 00:03:15.888
and I'll open that skin up and then I use something, um, dull, like, uh, something like a tongue depressor.

00:03:16.487 --> 00:03:18.318
Or I don't use a knife, right?

00:03:18.348 --> 00:03:22.127
'cause I don't wanna, and I'll pull the muscles apart, layer by layer.

00:03:22.397 --> 00:03:23.807
What if you had a butter knife?

00:03:24.212 --> 00:03:24.862
That would work.

00:03:24.862 --> 00:03:25.157
That would work.

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Okay.

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Most butter knives will work.

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So I pullet apart, you know, each muscle.

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I pullet back right?

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One at a time.

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I'm separating the muscles, working my way down to the bone.

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'cause the sciatic nerve lays down there.

00:03:37.698 --> 00:03:40.307
Just, just, you know, next to the bone.

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And I'm looking for that.

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Um, it's pretty easy to see, you know, it's a thick white string.

00:03:46.997 --> 00:03:51.828
Um, it, it, when it, when it's healthy, it'll be kind of a milky white.

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It'll be semi translucent, milky white, not a bright white.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, okay.

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In.

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So I've seen it display two different ways.

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One was, uh, so I've seen perpendicular rings around that nerve, right?

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Looked really weird, you know, like, I don't know the right term.

00:04:11.087 --> 00:04:13.818
Um, striations, if you will, something like that.

00:04:14.388 --> 00:04:16.278
Uh, it's generally enlarged.

00:04:16.398 --> 00:04:17.208
It'll be twice.

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Its eyes are bigger.

00:04:18.512 --> 00:04:23.387
But I've also seen, I've also seen the brown, reddish brown tumor growing on that nerve.

00:04:23.987 --> 00:04:26.898
So that's in the bird with leg paralysis.

00:04:27.077 --> 00:04:46.728
Now when I see the bird that just sits there all hunched up, um, looking like it's sleeping, doesn't want to move, that sort of thing when I've done the knee, yeah, those birds, I'll find the tumor inside the body, cavity along the spine.

00:04:47.327 --> 00:04:59.567
So, and those are almost always, um, you know, that dark, reddish, brown, you know, um, tumor growing and they're somewhat attached to that spine.

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Right.

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And they're working on that main spinal cord.

00:05:02.718 --> 00:05:03.978
Mm-hmm.

00:05:03.978 --> 00:05:07.923
But, um, those are the two ways that I've seen it more.

00:05:08.343 --> 00:05:14.463
Like in a meat bird, I'll see it in the leg, usually first, and then hands, um.

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You know, I would see it more in the back.

00:05:18.213 --> 00:05:18.603
Now.

00:05:18.812 --> 00:05:21.392
I, I've seen two or three odds tumors all

00:05:21.392 --> 00:05:22.262
over the place.

00:05:22.533 --> 00:05:22.833
Huh?

00:05:23.403 --> 00:05:26.492
In meat birds, you never know where you're gonna see a tumor with them.

00:05:27.062 --> 00:05:27.153
Not

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really,

00:05:27.543 --> 00:05:29.913
you know, I rarely see a whole lot of tumors in there.

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Occasionally I've seen liver tumors, but they're, they're rare.

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Um, but, you know, in, in like our birds, I would.

00:05:37.843 --> 00:05:47.862
I would think it also depends on kind of on age, when you're seeing Mareks at younger ages, like 14, 16 weeks, I think you're gonna see it in the leg.

00:05:48.463 --> 00:05:57.583
And then if you're talking about birds that are 2, 3, 4 years old, I think you're gonna probably see the tumors up inside the body cavity along the spine.

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Right.

00:05:58.603 --> 00:06:00.163
Um, now let me ask this.

00:06:00.223 --> 00:06:05.142
If you see it in a 12 week old chicken.

00:06:05.742 --> 00:06:13.932
What are the chances that that chicken's mother has it and it's suppressed?

00:06:14.533 --> 00:06:14.742
Okay.

00:06:14.862 --> 00:06:16.752
So a dormant, whatever you wanna call it.

00:06:16.843 --> 00:06:17.112
Okay.

00:06:17.173 --> 00:06:18.762
So scientifically speaking.

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Mm-hmm.

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Right.

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According to all of academia out there, marck is not transmissible through the egg, so it's not vertical, um, in a flock.

00:06:30.283 --> 00:06:30.552
Yeah.

00:06:31.153 --> 00:06:42.793
I personally, this is only my personal beliefs, so don't shoot me, but I, I disagree because it is, it, it appears to be everywhere, right?

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Um, I don't know.

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I, I don't know if I've honestly seen a flock that I would tell you is a hundred percent, you know, merricks free.

00:06:51.762 --> 00:06:57.833
Um, it, it just seems to be, it, it is so prevalent in the poultry world that I, I.

00:06:58.392 --> 00:06:59.413
I, so,

00:06:59.833 --> 00:07:07.603
so about a year ago, you and I got to go to a farm together and, and do look at it and check some things out for'em.

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And, um, they had a whole boatload of chickens that just itched signs of merricks.

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Yep.

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But I mean, they were, they were all still laying.

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I, I don't usually see a huge depression in egg production.

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I mean, you know, 10 to 20%, like the average, like this, the, the average small flock owner would not notice that, right.

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So, yeah.

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You know, if they've got 12 hands and they're getting eight eggs a day.

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They think they're doing pretty good, right?

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Right.

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When they probably should be getting 10 eggs or more a day.

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Um, so people aren't gonna miss necessarily 20%.

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Yeah.

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And that's typically what I see.

00:07:51.413 --> 00:07:54.833
So on the egg laying side, I, I don't see it.

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Um,

00:07:55.942 --> 00:08:03.713
um, you know, I don't see it being, you know, uh, affecting total eggs laid.

00:08:04.312 --> 00:08:06.802
So, yeah, so I sue, I get it.

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It's a virus and it, you know, it has to be, I, that's what everything science says, right?

00:08:14.273 --> 00:08:15.827
Um, I, I get it.

00:08:16.427 --> 00:08:23.358
But you know, like Mycoplasm and some of those are transferrable through the egg and they're also virus.

00:08:23.418 --> 00:08:24.617
So I, I don't know.

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I'm not, I'm just, I just shared my personal belief that I think it is passed, but, um, they're never gonna be,

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I can tell you what I've seen.

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Um, I was able to get access to research gait because my wife was doing some research while she was, um, finishing up her doctorate and no, I don't call her Dr.

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Blackman on a regular basis.

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I do have her get a really funny look when I do, but, so I started reading about it.

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From what I can see, the reason why they say that is because they have taken eggs from hens that know they knew they had merricks to a completely separate facility, sanitized the eggs, put them in a sanitized incubator, and they did not have merits when they came out.

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I guess they drew blood, I don't know.

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But within.

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One study was two weeks of being put back with a mother.

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They have it, so that's why they say it's not in the egg, but I'm like you, like in the real world where we live and have chickens, when that chick pops out, it's got merits because it's exposed to it from the mom.

00:09:44.268 --> 00:09:46.062
You would think so, unless whether it

00:09:46.062 --> 00:09:46.702
came through or not.

00:09:47.238 --> 00:09:47.327
Well,

00:09:47.927 --> 00:09:52.307
I mean, if it, it is everybody sanitizing their eggs before they go in the incubator, right?

00:09:52.908 --> 00:09:54.378
Well, no, not everybody.

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And then, I mean, I've had people tell me that I was ridiculous and that that was the dumbest thing that I should ever do, that I should leave the bloom on it.

00:10:04.727 --> 00:10:08.597
Well, I mean, I'm sanitizing the freaking thing.

00:10:09.197 --> 00:10:09.947
Yeah.

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And you know.

00:10:12.077 --> 00:10:14.342
It, it could take a stressor to activate

00:10:14.342 --> 00:10:14.403
it.

00:10:14.403 --> 00:10:18.003
Well, okay, so Sue is spot on with this, right?

00:10:18.153 --> 00:10:18.332
Yep.

00:10:18.332 --> 00:10:22.923
So again, correlating with my experience only, right?

00:10:22.982 --> 00:10:29.462
I don't see Merricks in really high end managed flocks that that.

00:10:30.062 --> 00:10:32.552
You know, are living basically without stress.

00:10:32.613 --> 00:10:32.852
Right?

00:10:32.852 --> 00:10:34.052
Very harmonious.

00:10:34.113 --> 00:10:36.212
You know, life is good.

00:10:36.812 --> 00:10:41.673
Um, you know, they got good living conditions, they got good living quarters, all that.

00:10:41.763 --> 00:10:44.883
So yeah, I, uh, I agree.

00:10:45.062 --> 00:10:48.118
You know, it, it takes a stress factor to Yeah.

00:10:48.148 --> 00:10:50.192
Make it flare up or show up.

00:10:50.793 --> 00:10:57.543
Uh, and I think it's hidden in, you know, unfortunately I think it's hidden in a lot of our flocks that, you know, one time.

00:10:58.143 --> 00:11:02.222
One time I told somebody, I was like, if your bird has that, it's a management issue.

00:11:02.793 --> 00:11:03.243
It's not.

00:11:03.243 --> 00:11:03.692
It is not.

00:11:03.692 --> 00:11:04.533
Anything else.

00:11:05.133 --> 00:11:06.302
You done pissed him off.

00:11:06.513 --> 00:11:22.893
Look man, hey, you know, I was, you know how sometimes you're just in that, in that mood where today's not the day and I'm sorry, but if you ask me a question, it won't be sugarcoated, but I will give you the a truthful answer like I will any other day.

00:11:23.403 --> 00:11:27.452
Oh, well, they caught me on that day and I'm like, look, you're, you're not like

00:11:27.452 --> 00:11:27.873
that.

00:11:27.873 --> 00:11:28.413
Come on,

00:11:28.413 --> 00:11:29.763
you're good at sugarcoating.

00:11:30.363 --> 00:11:33.482
You know, if I'm in the right mood and I care.

00:11:34.082 --> 00:11:46.322
But like, so I, there's all the controversy around this and I've spent some time with a friend of mine who is a poultry doctor.

00:11:46.773 --> 00:11:50.222
Like this person teaches at a university.

00:11:50.822 --> 00:12:01.863
Has studied poultry for like 30 years, and she explained to me the easiest way to explain it is it's like the herpes virus.

00:12:02.462 --> 00:12:03.513
It can be dormant.

00:12:03.513 --> 00:12:05.072
You can have a normal life.

00:12:05.523 --> 00:12:07.232
Everything's fine and dandy.

00:12:07.592 --> 00:12:11.913
You get a stressor, you start seeing symptoms, the stressor goes away.

00:12:12.123 --> 00:12:16.067
You may or may not continue to see symptoms like it's just a thing.

00:12:16.472 --> 00:12:16.533
Yeah.

00:12:17.133 --> 00:12:23.582
And I was like, okay, I can never thought about it like that, but Makes

00:12:23.582 --> 00:12:24.302
sense.

00:12:24.452 --> 00:12:26.222
All of your viral diseases.

00:12:26.283 --> 00:12:26.582
Right.

00:12:27.182 --> 00:12:36.903
Um, you know, like your new castles, your Mars, all of your viral diseases will, will kind of live in a hidden place mm-hmm.

00:12:37.143 --> 00:12:38.013
Within the body.

00:12:38.582 --> 00:12:43.923
And given, uh, the right stressful conditions, it'll flare up.

00:12:44.342 --> 00:12:44.793
You know, like

00:12:44.883 --> 00:12:56.582
I've had flocks with Newcastle's disease and every time we'd get a major snowstorm or you know, a bunch of rain thunderstorms, things like that, anything that kind of stressed the bird out.

00:12:57.048 --> 00:12:57.138
Mm-hmm.

00:12:57.738 --> 00:13:03.648
We'd see a flare up, we'd have mor a spike in mortality and a decrease in egg delay.

00:13:03.857 --> 00:13:07.518
And then, you know, after a week or so, it goes right back down again.

00:13:07.908 --> 00:13:08.087
Right.

00:13:08.177 --> 00:13:10.187
So again, I recently

00:13:10.187 --> 00:13:12.677
had a problem like that at my place.

00:13:13.278 --> 00:13:21.947
Um, I had some coyotes, which they're in the woods, but I had some get really close within a hundred yards.

00:13:22.548 --> 00:13:23.628
And, um.

00:13:24.227 --> 00:13:31.337
The, my dogs got ahold of one, one night and a couple nights later.

00:13:31.937 --> 00:13:35.898
There may have been a night scope involved.

00:13:36.048 --> 00:13:36.888
I'm not sure.

00:13:37.082 --> 00:13:48.092
I, I, there, it was a huge problem and that I, I had a bird that like, I don't know if it had a heart attack or what, but it just popped over.

00:13:48.692 --> 00:13:54.488
I opened it up, no issues, which, I mean, if I hadn't have found it that way, I would've probably ate it.

00:13:55.087 --> 00:13:56.587
That's how good it looked on the inside.

00:13:57.158 --> 00:14:05.378
But egg production has went to crap, so yeah, they thought coyotes were gonna get'em, so that was a stressor.

00:14:05.798 --> 00:14:09.758
And you know, the egg production went down and everything else, so.

00:14:10.357 --> 00:14:10.567
Yep.

00:14:11.168 --> 00:14:11.408
Yeah.

00:14:11.408 --> 00:14:11.677
And

00:14:11.768 --> 00:14:19.118
you know, they, they're like any other creature, stress is going to, you know, do do serious things to'em.

00:14:19.118 --> 00:14:19.357
Right.

00:14:19.447 --> 00:14:20.857
Just same as you or I.

00:14:20.857 --> 00:14:22.477
So it's, it's just, yeah.

00:14:23.077 --> 00:14:33.998
And, you know, and, and I've been to farms where people have, you know, overzealous, you know, border collies or yapping dogs and stuff like that, that don't live with the bird.

00:14:34.357 --> 00:14:41.888
Right, like, like your dogs stay out in the yard with the chickens all the time, so they're part of the normal environment.

00:14:42.488 --> 00:14:42.577
Mm-hmm.

00:14:42.817 --> 00:14:45.937
But you know, you know those infrequent visits.

00:14:46.538 --> 00:14:53.107
From a dog that they haven't seen before and gets really excited when it sees chicken, right?

00:14:53.168 --> 00:14:54.097
Thinking dinner.

00:14:54.278 --> 00:14:54.878
Um.

00:14:55.087 --> 00:14:55.388
Mm-hmm.

00:14:55.807 --> 00:14:57.638
You know, I, bad things happen.

00:14:57.847 --> 00:15:00.158
I, I've seen it from screaming toddlers.

00:15:00.217 --> 00:15:12.548
You know, people, people come visit, you know, somebody's chicken farm, you know, and they got two or three kids that, you know, uh, like to say everything at the top of their lungs and shriek and shrill and all that.

00:15:13.148 --> 00:15:14.498
They don't get out much.

00:15:14.798 --> 00:15:17.018
Chickens don't deal with that very well, right?

00:15:17.023 --> 00:15:17.153
No.

00:15:17.158 --> 00:15:24.427
So look, there's a lot of things that are stressful to'em that aren't to us, but you know, they're not us, so, yeah.

00:15:25.028 --> 00:15:25.418
All right.

00:15:26.018 --> 00:15:30.008
So what causes gout in chickens?

00:15:30.607 --> 00:15:32.197
Um, gout.

00:15:32.798 --> 00:15:34.477
Typical gout, right?

00:15:34.717 --> 00:15:36.217
You know, it's never always.

00:15:36.817 --> 00:15:37.778
The same thing.

00:15:37.898 --> 00:15:48.248
I mean, but the most two common, um, causes that I've seen from gout are feeding too high of a level of protein for too long.

00:15:48.638 --> 00:15:48.908
Okay?

00:15:49.118 --> 00:15:54.457
And you start to get that uric acid buildup in the, in the lower joints.

00:15:55.057 --> 00:16:00.937
Um, and in those cases, you'll tend to see a bird doing a, what do we call a high step?

00:16:01.538 --> 00:16:05.107
I mean, it could just start out, you know, looking like a lameness issue.

00:16:05.498 --> 00:16:05.587
Mm-hmm.

00:16:05.827 --> 00:16:14.707
But some will take this over exaggerated, like really high step and step forward, reach forward with it.

00:16:14.707 --> 00:16:14.947
Right.

00:16:14.947 --> 00:16:19.597
So where the leg is coming up almost 90 degrees from the other leg.

00:16:20.138 --> 00:16:22.238
And like a Tennessee walking horse.

00:16:22.388 --> 00:16:23.048
Yes.

00:16:23.648 --> 00:16:23.947
Okay.

00:16:24.158 --> 00:16:28.658
So, um, you know, high stepping is one of the symptoms,

00:16:29.048 --> 00:16:29.587
you know, I mean,

00:16:29.587 --> 00:16:41.347
just, oh, you know, lameness in general can be where the bird doesn't wanna walk, but I, I hate to use that one because there's other diseases like Rio virus.

00:16:41.738 --> 00:16:41.918
Yeah.

00:16:41.977 --> 00:16:46.298
Um, that loads up in that hawk joint and that's a whole other thing.

00:16:46.898 --> 00:16:47.197
Right.

00:16:47.408 --> 00:16:47.918
Um.

00:16:48.263 --> 00:16:52.702
That can cause a bird to sit all the way back on its butt, right?

00:16:52.732 --> 00:17:01.312
Not leg, not not feet and legs under it, but sits all the way back on its butt and the feet will be somewhat forward coming out the front of the bird.

00:17:01.913 --> 00:17:02.092
Right.

00:17:02.212 --> 00:17:04.972
So that's, that's completely different than gout.

00:17:05.093 --> 00:17:13.008
But gout, yeah, will usually it's triggered by either excessive protein or excessive calcium.

00:17:13.373 --> 00:17:16.522
So for a lot of the people who like to feed layer feed.

00:17:17.048 --> 00:17:27.097
Continually like year round to the males and the, to the hands and the roosters and the cock rolls, um, they're taking their chances.

00:17:27.248 --> 00:17:27.488
Okay?

00:17:27.667 --> 00:17:43.417
So now when you combine them where you have a protein level higher than the bird actually needs and excessive amounts of calcium, the two will be, can be very antagonistic inside that bird.

00:17:44.018 --> 00:17:44.258
Right.

00:17:44.407 --> 00:17:48.157
So you just kinda setting them up for failure all at the same time.

00:17:48.188 --> 00:17:48.458
Right.

00:17:48.458 --> 00:17:49.778
You know, with two different things.

00:17:49.867 --> 00:17:57.877
So, but gout typically, uh, too much protein for too long and, or too much calcium, you know.

00:17:58.147 --> 00:18:03.698
Um, but then I'll see it more in the cocks and the roosters than I was in the hands.

00:18:04.298 --> 00:18:04.597
Okay.

00:18:04.597 --> 00:18:06.188
Because she can replenish the calcium.

00:18:06.188 --> 00:18:09.577
She has a place to go with the calcium back to her bone mass.

00:18:10.103 --> 00:18:10.343
Right?

00:18:10.373 --> 00:18:10.643
Mm-hmm.

00:18:10.883 --> 00:18:14.992
And, and her body knows what to do with it better than a, an a rooster or a Cockrell.

00:18:15.593 --> 00:18:19.613
So, uh, yeah, protein, protein, calcium.

00:18:20.212 --> 00:18:29.028
So like from what I can also see that uric acid, that once you see that or hear it or smell it or whatever.

00:18:29.423 --> 00:18:29.482
Yeah.

00:18:30.083 --> 00:18:36.532
That's how you know for sure that the protein is working on the kidneys because it's not processing it and cleaning it out.

00:18:37.073 --> 00:18:37.492
Right?

00:18:38.093 --> 00:18:38.722
Yeah.

00:18:38.722 --> 00:18:41.393
I mean, the kidneys can only take so much.

00:18:41.393 --> 00:18:41.692
Right?

00:18:42.022 --> 00:18:42.383
Yeah.

00:18:42.383 --> 00:18:47.722
And then, um, and then kind of depends on the form of protein.

00:18:48.323 --> 00:18:49.103
Um,

00:18:49.553 --> 00:18:49.883
you know,

00:18:50.303 --> 00:18:53.153
and you know me, I like to have a variety of proteins, right?

00:18:53.153 --> 00:18:53.962
So, sure.

00:18:54.113 --> 00:18:54.508
You know, like.

00:18:55.107 --> 00:18:59.633
If I can get'em, I like some roasted soybeans and if I can get it, I'd like to have some peas in there.

00:18:59.633 --> 00:19:01.792
And I like to have a meat protein in there, right?

00:19:01.792 --> 00:19:05.452
So I'm coming at it from two or three different angles.

00:19:05.512 --> 00:19:13.028
The more forms of protein that I can realistically put into a feed, the better, the healthier the bird's gonna be, right?

00:19:13.028 --> 00:19:21.728
Because yeah, it breaks down at different places in the digestive tract and it enters the bloodstream at different times and you know, and, and all this.

00:19:22.163 --> 00:19:31.278
Makes it easier for the kidneys to process any extra or unnecessary, you know, protein, but Got it.

00:19:31.877 --> 00:19:33.288
It's not realistic for everybody.

00:19:33.557 --> 00:19:33.847
Okay.

00:19:34.448 --> 00:19:36.778
What about, um, Bumblefoot?

00:19:37.377 --> 00:19:42.147
Yeah, you just, you just, you're bringing me right in there on, I want to piss people off.

00:19:42.147 --> 00:19:43.018
I know what you're doing.

00:19:43.018 --> 00:19:44.218
You're leading me here.

00:19:44.307 --> 00:19:47.458
'cause Bumblefoot is 100% environmental.

00:19:47.998 --> 00:19:48.298
Okay.

00:19:48.897 --> 00:19:49.623
I mean, people, nothing.

00:19:49.643 --> 00:19:52.438
People ask all these questions all the time.

00:19:52.768 --> 00:19:56.428
I know so far bit for me to want to get them a real answer.

00:19:56.998 --> 00:20:04.288
You know, Bumblefoot is, uh, where I see it the most is if the bird's been walking in wet.

00:20:04.887 --> 00:20:09.627
Um, like a heavily mand muddy area, heavily mand or muddy.

00:20:10.167 --> 00:20:27.478
And then when the bedding is like wood chips, um, or something sharp, but typically it's wood chips or people that like to use the extra large pine shavings, like the really big ones'cause they like how fluffy they're, but um.

00:20:28.077 --> 00:20:35.607
When the sole of the, when the pad or the sole of the foot gets soft from being in moisture, right?

00:20:36.057 --> 00:20:43.887
It's easy to be penetrated from the environment by a splinter or poked by a piece of wire, whatever, right?

00:20:44.008 --> 00:20:48.897
But you have to have an external opening from the environment.

00:20:48.988 --> 00:20:51.028
You have to have a skin break.

00:20:51.417 --> 00:20:51.718
Okay.

00:20:52.317 --> 00:20:58.137
For that bacteria to get in there and start the infection within the footed.

00:20:58.738 --> 00:20:59.968
And that's bumblefoot.

00:21:00.567 --> 00:21:00.897
So

00:21:01.498 --> 00:21:02.518
let's see.

00:21:03.117 --> 00:21:03.807
Ah, here we go.

00:21:03.897 --> 00:21:05.458
What causes rye neck?

00:21:06.057 --> 00:21:08.127
There's two things that can cause a right neck.

00:21:08.728 --> 00:21:09.778
Uh, the most common.

00:21:10.288 --> 00:21:13.617
That we believe in is thiamine deficiency, right?

00:21:13.798 --> 00:21:15.958
Which is one, the B one I believe.

00:21:16.557 --> 00:21:18.057
I don't have all them memorized yet.

00:21:18.057 --> 00:21:25.468
I'm pretty sure it's B one, but a B one deficiency, uh, whether the feed doesn't have enough in it, remember it's a B vitamin.

00:21:25.887 --> 00:21:30.988
So B vitamins are often the, uh.

00:21:31.542 --> 00:21:34.242
Um, the first one's to get oxidized off.

00:21:34.242 --> 00:21:37.512
So this is where the fresh feed concept comes into play, right?

00:21:38.113 --> 00:21:46.843
Even if it was added to a feed, um, you know, after 90 days, it's anybody's guess how much thi still in there?

00:21:46.843 --> 00:21:50.833
Inactive B vitamins are at the upper end of cost.

00:21:51.343 --> 00:21:58.182
As a person who makes vitamin blends, yes, they're your, your B vitamins are very expensive, so.

00:21:58.633 --> 00:21:58.692
Yeah.

00:21:59.143 --> 00:22:04.512
Almost nobody puts in extra Right to help keep those costs down.

00:22:05.113 --> 00:22:16.123
And so, you know, fresh Feed, actually read your tag and make sure that the thiamine, uh, monohydrate or thiamine, something had been added to it to begin with.

00:22:16.573 --> 00:22:18.583
Not all of'em have it, right?

00:22:18.853 --> 00:22:19.663
Yeah, they really don't.

00:22:19.663 --> 00:22:21.252
Not all feeds don't add it.

00:22:21.853 --> 00:22:22.063
They're

00:22:22.063 --> 00:22:22.452
not all

00:22:22.452 --> 00:22:22.903
created

00:22:22.903 --> 00:22:23.232
equal.

00:22:23.712 --> 00:22:24.823
No, no.

00:22:25.182 --> 00:22:29.893
Um, we've, we've talked about feed enough on the show that, you know, people should know that by now.

00:22:30.492 --> 00:22:30.823
Yeah.

00:22:31.423 --> 00:22:36.432
Uh, well, since, since you bring that up, um, what about malnutrition?

00:22:37.032 --> 00:22:46.518
I mean, we all know what causes that, but what are some of the symptoms and or signs and how do you know, hey, uh, that that mix that I pulled outta the air is not working?

00:22:47.117 --> 00:22:48.077
It's hard to see it.

00:22:48.468 --> 00:22:53.778
I mean, you know, the easy one to see is rickets, which is your vitamin D and your calcium deficiencies.

00:22:53.778 --> 00:22:53.867
Mm-hmm.

00:22:54.107 --> 00:23:06.137
And you'll see that in the birds, usually like, uh, in, in that day, 10 to day 25, depends on the breed, but you'll see it pretty early in life.

00:23:06.198 --> 00:23:10.817
And the bird will be kind of bow-legged, won't wanna walk unfortunately.

00:23:10.938 --> 00:23:14.057
Rickets, which is a, a malnutrition.

00:23:14.657 --> 00:23:21.962
It is too often diagnosed as co acidosis because you get that ruffled feather look.

00:23:21.962 --> 00:23:28.413
You know the unkept look right, and you know their legs are a little bit weak and they're not okay.

00:23:28.413 --> 00:23:32.432
So they're not getting to the feeder at that point the way they should.

00:23:33.032 --> 00:23:37.117
They probably eating something off the litter just to eat for the sake of eating.

00:23:37.718 --> 00:23:38.137
Right.

00:23:38.228 --> 00:23:44.288
Um, you know, then you get a little bit of Roni manure or something like that, you know, oh my God, it's co IDocs.

00:23:44.317 --> 00:23:47.018
Pour the cord down their throat, get it out, get it out.

00:23:47.018 --> 00:23:47.857
Come on, let's go.

00:23:48.428 --> 00:23:48.698
Right?

00:23:48.847 --> 00:23:50.647
And, uh, but yeah.

00:23:50.917 --> 00:23:55.778
Um, rickets, you know, the other ones are not easy to see.

00:23:56.377 --> 00:24:02.512
I mean, niacin deficiency, which would be under the malnutrition, you're gonna get curly toes, right?

00:24:02.512 --> 00:24:05.182
So the toes will just kinda curl up.

00:24:05.468 --> 00:24:06.817
And not be straight.

00:24:07.208 --> 00:24:09.548
They'll curl up, sometimes curl under.

00:24:10.087 --> 00:24:10.268
Mm-hmm.

00:24:10.718 --> 00:24:14.917
And you can see a bird kinda walking on their knuckles, you know, for a little while.

00:24:14.917 --> 00:24:18.428
But again, these happen really, really early in life.

00:24:19.028 --> 00:24:19.327
Right?

00:24:19.508 --> 00:24:20.077
Um,

00:24:20.468 --> 00:24:21.008
usually, yeah.

00:24:21.008 --> 00:24:21.127
And a

00:24:21.127 --> 00:24:27.067
lot of people, a lot of people confuse that with problems in the, the hatcher.

00:24:27.667 --> 00:24:33.577
Um, if, if the humidity is off in your hatcher, that chick's gonna come out like that.

00:24:34.178 --> 00:24:47.383
Yeah, if, if it's the deficiency, it's gonna be a couple days down the road, and that's one of the reasons why having ample feeder space is keen.

00:24:47.982 --> 00:24:51.222
Um, you know, everybody loves hatching chicks.

00:24:51.823 --> 00:24:58.222
I mean, they make that cute little noise and they're fun, so you don't like them, but.

00:24:58.823 --> 00:25:04.432
You know, you, you gotta have plenty of feeder space in the Brooder forum.

00:25:04.942 --> 00:25:11.633
Um, you know, I've got brooders that are four feet long, like they're in, in four foot sections.

00:25:12.232 --> 00:25:24.202
And the feeder for what goes in there, it's two feet long and it, uh, it'll hold like, like four or five pounds of feed, but that goes right in the middle.

00:25:24.803 --> 00:25:35.663
And then I got the pl brooder plate on the one side, and I've got a water on the other side at the edge, but it, there's, you know, they can get all the way around the water.

00:25:36.262 --> 00:25:39.952