Mortality

Cannibalism-related mortality continued in 2 houses. A short course of soluble aspirin at 28 weeks of age in these two houses seemed to improve bird comfort and was associated with a reduction in mortality.

Figures 8 to 10 show the continuation of the mortality data originally presented in figures 1 to 3, extended up to 31 weeks of age. The reduction in mortality continued throughout this period.

At the time of writing the flock is over 40 weeks of age and overall health seems to be satisfactory. Occasional birds are noticed with small residual swellings of the wattle. The flock are on a routine treatment with CTC in the feed for 10 days every 8 weeks. The males which were added were identified with a colour marking. These birds were identifiable for at least 4 weeks. No mortality was reported among these birds during this period. On this basis it would seem that the "adaptation programme" involving vaccination and antibiotic administration (see Table 1) was successful.