One of the chronic diseases of chickens is knemidokoptosis. It is also called foot itchy scabies. The main signs of poultry damage by this disease are skin itching, finger necrosis, dermatitis and reduced productivity.
Carriers of knemidokoptosis are ticks that are resistant to environmental conditions. They infect birds of all ages from chickens and young birds to adult hens. In young laying hens, the first signs of the disease appear at the age of six months. The period of damage to birds by knemidokoptosis is long and is associated with a slow rate of reproduction of ticks.
An infected chicken carries the infection and passes it on to its feathered neighbors in the poultry house. Knemidocoptosis is quite common. It develops rapidly in dirty, damp chicken coops with a large number of birds, as well as in rooms with poor ventilation and in households in which chickens are fed poor quality, unnutritious. Basically knemidokoptosis manifests itself in birds in the summer during the warm season, when ticks reproduce.
The period of development of the disease in the body of a chicken lasts from three to five months. It appears only on the legs of birds just below the hock. A feathered pet will not be able to recover without the help of its owner.
Knemidocoptosis has three stages:
- in the first stage, there are no changes with the chicken, no symptoms. It is almost impossible to determine the infection at the very beginning;
- the second stage is called papular. It is characterized by the appearance of light gray tubercles on the legs of chickens. You can also notice changes in the behavior of the bird. She often stands on one leg and tries to peck at the knot;
- the third stage is called crustose. When it steps on the legs of the bird, horny scales fall off and bumpy gray crusts grow.
Knemidokoptosis is treatable. However, it is quite complex. The most effective drug is birch tar. It must be heated to forty degrees and poured into a container in which the legs of the bird will be processed, for example, into a basin. The layer of birch tar should be from 12 to 25 cm. The legs of the chicken should be lowered into the basin for one minute. In the liquid, the limbs should be up to the hock joint.
For treatment, you can also use kerosene with birch tar, aqueous emulsions of nicochloran and soap, pure oil, karbofos, naftalan oil and other means. If ten or more percent of the bird population is affected by knemidokoptosis, they should be replaced with healthy individuals.
It is advisable to carry out prevention against infection with this disease, namely:
- adhere to the rules of feeding and keeping feathered pets;
- grow birds of different ages in different rooms;
- carefully inspect acquired individuals;
- disinfect the chicken coop from time to time;
- move the chickens to another room for a month so that the ticks die during this time.
