Biosecurity on a small poultry farm, without spending much

Biosecurity sounds like something for a commercial operation with foot dips and shower-in facilities. It is not. On a small farm it is mostly a set of habits, and the cheapest measures are also the ones that prevent the most.

Here they are in the order worth doing them - roughly, most disease prevented per rupee spent.

1. One shed, one age (free)

All-in, all-out. Do not add new birds to a shed that already has birds in it. Mixed ages mean older birds shedding an organism that the younger ones have no immunity to, continuously, forever. This costs nothing and prevents more than anything else on this list.

2. Down time between batches (free)

Clean out, wash, disinfect, and then leave the shed empty and dry for two weeks. The empty period does as much as the disinfectant does. Disinfecting a shed and restocking it the next day wastes most of the effort.

3. Control who walks in (nearly free)

Most disease arrives on feet. A dedicated pair of boots or slippers that live at the shed and never leave it, and a rule that visitors - especially anyone who keeps or trades poultry - do not go in. A traders' visit the day before a batch goes down is a story every farmer eventually has.

4. Rodents and wild birds (cheap)

Rats move salmonella and they eat your feed. Wild birds bring Newcastle disease and avian influenza. Wire mesh over the openings, feed stored in closed containers off the floor, and bait stations in lockable boxes. Spilled feed outside the shed is what attracts both.

5. Clean water (cheap, and constantly underestimated)

The drinking line is the fastest route to every bird you own. Flush it between batches, clean the drinkers properly rather than rinsing them, and consider an acidifier if your water source is questionable. Medicating a flock through dirty water is medicating the biofilm.

6. Vaccinate properly, not just on time

A vaccine that has warmed up on the way home does nothing, and there is no way to tell by looking. Carry it in a cool box. Reconstitute it and use it within two hours. Withdraw all medicated water and any chlorine for the day, or the vaccine is killed in the line before it reaches a bird.

7. Dispose of dead birds properly

Burn or bury deep, away from the shed, the same day. A dead bird left out is a feeding station for everything you spent the previous six items keeping away.

What to skip

Elaborate foot dips that nobody refreshes are theatre - a dip full of dirty water is a puddle. Fogging the shed while birds are in it does little. And routine antibiotics in the water as an insurance policy costs money every batch, breeds resistance, and substitutes for the measures above rather than adding to them.