TURKEYS

Early mortality and

starveout in poults can be
reduced
During the first week of life
turkey growers often experience
high losses. Some of these
losses can be avoided and
should not be considered as
normal. What are the causes
of early mortality and what can
be done about it?
By Dr. Tahseen Aziz, British United Turkeys of
America, Lewisburg, West Virginia, USA

arly mortality in poults refers to the

mortality that occurs during the first
week of the flocks life. It is also called
early poult-mortality and first-week mortality. Although there is not much investment
in poults that die during the first week after
placement, early mortality seems to be an
important issue for many turkey growers.
Probably, the growers look at first-week
mortality as an indication of the quality of
the poults and the future performance of
the flock. High early mortality may cause
apathy of the grower and his dissatisfaction
with the quality of poults he receives.
Many people use the term normal mortality to refer to the few mortality that inevitably occurs daily in any flock during the
first week after placement (this term is also
used to refer to sporadic mortality that occurs during the life of the flock). This is an
incorrect term that needs to be discontinued, because there is nothing normal about
the death of any bird. There is not such a
thing as normal mortality since death is
not a normal process or natural event during the life of the flock. A more appropriate
term would be acceptable daily mortality.
This will then lead to the question of what
is the acceptable mortality in a flock of
commercial turkey during the first week of
life? It is difficult to answer this question,
because people in different parts of the
world may have varying answers. However,
in general, a mortality of not more than
1.5% is considered acceptable for hens; for
toms it is not more than 2.5%. High mortality should warrant an investigation to determine the cause.

36

www.AgriWorld.nl

Sufficient space, light, and accessibility to feeders and drinkers are crucial

Causes of high mortality during

the first week of life
The most common causes of early mortality
are:
Infectious diseases. The most important
infectious diseases that may cause high
first-week mortality are yolk sac and navel
infections (navel infection is also called omphalitis) and aspergillosis. Yolk sac and
navel infections are caused by different bacteria. Of course there are other, less common infectious diseases such as avian encephalomyelitis
Trauma or contamination during servicing of poults in the hatchery. For example,
severe trauma to neck tissue due to too
deep injection; in this case, high mortality
may occur if large numbers of birds are affected due to an error in the injection technique. Also, infections that result from contamination during spraying or injection of
the poults.
Starveout (starvation/dehydration). This is
an important cause of first-week mortality,
and results from failure of birds to consume
feed and water. Although a certain percentage is inevitable in any flock, management
factors can affect the overall incidence of
the problem.

Starveout and dehydration

Starved poults can be classified into two
categories: nonstarters, which are poults
that never start eating, and stalled, which
are poults that start eating but then stop
again. Causes of starveout/dehydration include:
- Chilling
- Overheating
- Incorrect (excessive) beak trimming or
too much damage to beak tissues which
may cause excessive bleeding.
- Inadequate or incorrectly positioned or
managed feeders and/or drinkers
- Water refusal due to unpalatability of
drinking water
- Inadequate light intensity
- Crowding (too many birds per brooding
area)
Poults affected with what the author of this
article refers to as weak-poult syndrome.
Weak-poult syndrome is a general term
that can be used to describe poults that are
apparently weak and lack vitality for no apparent reason. Weak poults are present in
every flock but incidence varies. Higher incidence is seen in: (1) small poults that are
hatched from young breeder flocks, (2)
poults that were hatched from eggs incuWORLD POULTRY - Elsevier Volume 17, No 12. '01

bated under sub-optimal condition (hatching problem), and (3) birds that are excessively stressed during the period of time between hatching and placements on farm.

Clinical signs of starveout/

dehydration
Clinical signs of starveout are not specific.
Small birds become obvious by two to three
days of age. The affected birds are weak,
look noticeably smaller than flock mates,
and peck at litter or objects. At terminal
stages, poults become extremely weak and
do not move. Mortality in nonstarters generally occurs from the third to fifth day of
age. Stalled poults grow a little from hatching and usually die a day or two later than
the nonstarters.
Poults that died of starveout/dehydration
show the following lesions:
Emaciation, as evident by wasting of the
breast muscles
Dehydration. Evidence of dehydration include:
Darkening and drying appearance of skin
over the shank (leg)
Sticking of the skin to the muscle (more
evident over the breast muscles)
Dryness of the subcutaneous tissues (the
tissues under the skin)
Darkening and dryness of the muscles,
especially breast muscle that loses its
normal fleshy appearance.
Swollen kidneys and distension of ureters
with white materials (urates)
Less commonly, presence of urates (white
chalky materials) on the surface of the
heart and liver
The yolk sac is completely or almost
completely absorbed
Digestive tract is empty of feed
Litter is often present in the gizzard
Gall bladder is usually large and distended with bile

What can be done to reduce

starveout?
One must remember that starveout problem is a management/husbandry issue.
Although good quality poults is the first and
foremost prerequisite for a good start, the
grower should not use the quality of
poults as scapegoat on which to blame
high first-week mortality. Poults are more
difficult to start than chicks, and therefore
need special attention and care during the
first few days of life. As mentioned earlier,
although low incidence of starveout is inevitable in any flock, the scale of the problem can be minimised by good-management practices. The following management
issues need to be considered.
1. Start with healthy, good size poults.
Poults have to originate from good-size
eggs that were sourced from healthy,
well-nourished hens. The importance of
correct egg-incubation conditions cannot be emphasised enough; it is probably
the first area that need to be investigated
when there are large numbers of weak
poults (poults affected with the so-called
weak-poult syndrome) with high incidence of starveout in the flock.
WORLD POULTRY - Elsevier Volume 17, No 12. '01

2. Avoid or minimise any unnecessary

stress and handling of the poults between hatching and placement. Pay attention to the details of post-hatching
handling procedures, especially beak
trimming. Ensure the correct temperature and humidity in the poult-holding
room in the hatchery. Follow correct procedures for transportation and delivery.
3. Avoid crowding in the brooding area.
Crowding can cause the poults to not eat
or drink normally. Too many poults in
the brooding area affect movement and
may create difficulties in reaching or
even finding feeders and drinkers.
4. Brooding temperature is critical. Correct
temperature in the brooding area (under
the heater and at the edge of the brooding area) is an extremely important management factor that needs to be considered when dealing with starveout problems. Both high and low temperatures
(even mild chilling) can cause a problem.
Correct any draft problem in the house.
The perception that behaviour of the
bird is the best guide is absolutely true.
5. Place an adequate number of feeders
and drinkers in the brooding area.
Feeders and drinkers should not be more
than a meter a part. Ensure that the water level is appropriate, and that access to
water is not hindered by the presence of
shaving materials in the drinkers.
6. Ensure adequate light intensity at the
floor level inside the brooding area. This
is an important point that is commonly
underestimated or overlooked by turkey
growers.
7. Make sure that the waterlines and
drinkers have been thoroughly washed
or flushed with clean water following the
use of any product to clean or disinfect
them. High residual levels may affect the
palatability of drinking water, resulting in
water refusal, or even can be toxic.
8. The first 24 hours is critical in minimising the incidence of starveout. Check on
the birds but avoid any unnecessary disturbance. Make sure the birds are moving, well distributed in the brooding area,
eating, and drinking. Correct any error
immediately. If it is obvious that most
birds refuse to drink, then investigate any
factor that may affect the palatability of
the drinking water (e.g. excessive levels
of water sanitiser, medication, or watersoftening product).
Being aware of and applying the above
care can reduce early mortality and starveout in poults. h

www.AgriWorld.nl 37