Protecting your flock: The role of biosecurity in poultry farming

Biosecurity is a set of simple, practical steps to prevent diseases from entering your poultry farm and spreading among your chickens. It’s a daily habit and a powerful tool for better farm management. Good biosecurity helps to:

• Keep your chickens healthy

• Prevent costly disease outbreaks

• Improve growth, egg production, and farm performance

Diseases can be brought in by people, other animals, tools, vehicles, clothing, feed, or even through the air. That’s why clean equipment, restricted access, and clear hygiene rules are so important on a poultry farm.

When harmful germs like viruses or bacteria enter your poultry farm, they can cause serious problems. They can make your chickens sick or even lead to death. Sick chickens grow slower, lay fewer eggs, and can infect other birds. This reduces farm productivity and increases costs for medicines and veterinary care. In serious cases, you may even have to cull (remove) birds to stop the disease from spreading.

That’s why a strong biosecurity plan is so important. It helps prevent diseases from entering your farm, stops them from spreading among your chickens, and protects both your birds and your income.

Biosecurity has two parts: external and internal measures.

• External biosecurity means keeping diseases out of the poultry farm. This includes using fences, cleaning vehicles before they enter, providing clean footwear for visitors, and limiting contact with outside people and animals.

• Internal biosecurity focuses on stopping diseases from spreading between chickens inside the farm. This includes working from young to older flocks, keeping different age groups separated, cleaning and disinfecting equipment, and following strict hygiene routines in the poultry houses.

Infections can reach and move through a flock in many ways. Being aware of these transmission routes is key to preventing outbreaks:

• Airborne particles – Pathogens may travel via wind or dust.
• Sick or carrier birds – Birds can transmit disease through droppings, saliva, or sneezing.
• Contaminated transport – Vehicles that visit multiple farms can carry disease agents.
• Infected eggs – Pathogens can pass from parent to chick via the egg.
• Improper carcass disposal – If dead birds aren’t properly handled, diseases can spread.
• Unsafe water – Dirty or shared water sources can harbor harmful organisms.
• Rodents, wild birds & animals – These intruders can carry and introduce infections.
• Insects – Flies and other bugs can move disease from bird to bird.
• Visitors’ shoes & clothes – People going from one flock to another may unintentionally bring pathogens.
• Dirty equipment & surfaces – Shared or unclean tools and areas can transfer harmful microbes.

Below are practical areas to check and improve:

Farm entry and visitors

• Limit visitors to the poultry area – only allow essential people

• Keep a simple visitor log (notebook) with names and dates

• Place a footbath with disinfectant at the entrance of the poultry house

• Ask visitors to wash hands and wear clean shoes or boots

Farmer hygiene

• Change clothes and shoes before entering the poultry area

• Keep a separate pair of clean shoes or boots only for use inside the poultry house

• Wash hands with soap and water before and after working with the chickens

Poultry housing

• Clean and disinfect the poultry house regularly (remove manure and old litter)

• Use ash or lime to dry and disinfect floors if disinfectants are not available

• Repair broken doors, windows, or fencing to keep wild birds and animals out

• Separate birds by age and avoid mixing flocks of different ages

Feed and water

• Provide clean drinking water every day – use raised or covered containers to avoid contamination

• Store feed in closed containers (e.g. buckets with lids or metal drums)

• Keep feed away from rodents, wild birds, and moisture

• Do not feed kitchen leftovers unless they are properly cooked

Buying new birds

• Buy birds only from trusted, healthy suppliers

• Quarantine new birds for at least 2 weeks before mixing with your flock

• Check new birds daily for signs of illness

Pest and animal control

• Keep the poultry area clean to discourage rats, flies, and other pests

• Use traps or local solutions (e.g. ash for ants, neem leaves for flies)

• Do not allow dogs, cats, or other animals into the poultry house

Disposing of dead birds

• Remove dead chickens immediately from the flock

• Bury carcasses deep and far from the poultry house and water sources

• Never throw dead birds in rivers, open fields, or near your poultry area