Current situation assessment of biosecurity measures of some poultry sectors and hatcheries in Egypt

Preventing the transmission of disease into and between poultry farms, hatcheries, and from wildlife, or their droppings, is essential to maintain healthy productive poultry flocks. This study was designed to assess the current situation of biosecurity measures in 3 types of poultry operations; 125 small-scale commercial broiler farms (sector III), hobby poultry premises (backyards; sector IV) and hatcheries selected from Giza, Fayoum and Beni-Suef province, Egypt. A structured questionnaire survey, interviews and observation were used to collect data on farm characterization, bio-security practices and disease preventive measures in sectors and hatcheries. The respondents were farm owners, farm managers, veterinarians, and workers. It has been found that the distance between small commercial broiler farms were 48.4% [2- 5 km] while for hobby poultry keepers 66.5% [≤100 m], and hatcheries 41.6% [1-3 km] and 30.6% [7-11 km]. In small-scale broiler farms practiced all in/ all out system (89 %) as compared to hatcheries and backyards (83.3 and 46.1 %, respectively). In the most of the small commercial broiler farms, the resting period between production cycles was higher on 4-7 days (32.5%). Methods most used for disposal of daily mortalities were on landfill (45.2%) among small commercial broiler farms. Meanwhile, hobby poultry premises and hatcheries included disposal in water canals (38.5 and 33.3%, respectively). On the other hand, Hobby poultry keepers reported that veterinarians rarely inspected their premises. Mortality rate/cycle was (11.9%) in almost broiler farms. About 64.3 % of the small commercial producers practiced all the recommended vaccination of their birds against highly pathogenic diseases. In conclusion, the majority of the small-scale broiler farms and all most backyards were far from the implementation of biosecurity measures. Biosecurity situation needs a combined effort from stakeholders, poultry keeper of hobby birds (backyard) to improve biosecurity level for those sectors.