Farm hygiene and biosecurity practices are implemented at both breeder and broiler farms to reduce the risk of disease agents moving on to farms from outside sources (eg wild bird populations or from other farms), the movement of disease agents between sheds on the same farm, carry over of disease agents from one batch to the next in the shed environment, and carry over of disease agents from breeding flocks to their progeny via the egg.

Farmers take a range of precautions to prevent entry of diseases onto broiler farms.

As people are considered to be one of the biggest risks insofar as carrying poultry diseases onto chicken farms, particularly on their footwear, clothing, hands and even vehicles, growers take a number of measures to minimise the risks they pose. These may include:

• signage and gates at access points to the farm to discourage / prevent unauthorised entry to the farm;
• visitors and service providers to the farm must wear overalls and boots provided by the farmer;
• provision of foot washing baths at the entrance of each shed for disinfection of footwear prior to shed entry;
• vehicle movements onto the farm are minimised, and vehicles or equipment that may have visited another farm may be required to be washed down before entry;
• where people or vehicles must move between farms on the same day without a thorough disinfection between farm visits, movements are scheduled such that the youngest flocks are visited first and the oldest last.

As wild birds can carry some diseases onto the farm, a number of measures are taken to minimise the possibility of wild birds (or their droppings) coming in contact with the chicken flock. These measures include:

• wire netting the sheds so that they are bird proof;
• farmers (and their employees) are not allowed to keep any birds as pets;
• wild birds are discouraged from visiting the farm site, by ensuring that there is no spilled feed left lying around and, where practical, no dams that attract water birds;
• where the water that supplies the shed could be contaminated by wild birds eg dam or river water, it must be sanitised.

Farmers have a documented pest control program to reduce the risk of diseases being carried on to the farm by rodents.

Strict records are kept by the farmer of the chickens’ health, growth and behaviour, so that any emerging disease problem is rapidly identified and acted upon.

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