• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.225-233
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• 2017

Chicken production remains the foremost endeavor in the Nigerian livestock industry. However, disease incidence has been a major constraint on the growth of this subsector. This study assessed health management practices and disease incidence in smallholder chicken production enterprise in Southwest Nigeria using data from a farm survey of 240 farmers selected using a multistage sampling technique from 5 of 6 states in Southwest Nigeria. The study showed that vaccination was given by 96.8% of the famers, 97.8% dewormed their chickens, and 92.9% disinfected the coops against diseases. However, 37% of the farmers regularly consulted veterinarians, 25.7% consulted them during disease outbreaks, and 34.2% occasionally consulted veterinarians. Infectious bursal disease (IBD), coccidiosis, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD) were the major diseases reported by 17.1%, 12.9%, and 7.1% of the farmers, respectively. Mortality rate was 37.8%, although this varied with disease. However, there was a growth of 157.4% in stock size between the establishment of the farms and the survey period.