Backyard Poultry Navigation
Whether you’re a poultry pro or just beginning with backyard birds, one thing is for certain: you care about making sure your flock has everything they need to live happy, healthy, and productive lives. We’re here to help by providing you with practical, science-based advice you can count on to keep your birds well and get them back on the mend when they’re not feeling their best.
We have created an outline of the key information backyard poultry keepers and veterinarians need to know in order to provide the best possible care for their birds in sickness and in health.
We’re now working on building out the resource library, software tools, and learning modules to bring the roadmap to life. This page provides an overview of where we currently are in the development process and how you can share your knowledge to help make these resources even better for everyone.
We are releasing content for the resource library in stages so that we can get input from backyard poultry keepers and veterinarians to make the resources even more relevant to the challenges you face in New Zealand.
Learn more about the populations of poultry that call Aotearoa New Zealand their home and the important issues facing these birds.
Are crops, combs, and cloacas causing you confusion? Learn more about poultry life cycles, anatomy, breeds, and behaviours so you know what’s normal for your birds.
Backyard poultry can make a wonderful addition to your household, but are you prepared? Learn more about the key things you need to consider when you are thinking about starting a flock for the first time.
Learn more about what your flock needs for their environment, nutrition, health care, and enrichment to keep their bodies and minds healthy.
Seeing your feathered friends unwell can be a stressful experience for any bird owner. Learn more about the common signs of medical and behavioral problems in backyard birds and what we can to diagnose the underlying cause.
How will you keep your birds safe in the event of a disease outbreak, natural disaster, or other emergency? Read these to find out more about creating an emergency preparedness plan.
We do out best to give our birds a good life and we can also do our best to make sure they have a good death when it’s their time. Read through these resources to learn more about providing end-of-life care.
Detailed guidelines on how to perform common care and medical procedures on backyard poultry.
Database of medications that are available to treat common poultry conditions in New Zealand.
Articles about the most common poultry diseases in New Zealand and the options that are available for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
We are building a suite of software tools through the VetMark platform that make it easy for backyard poultry keepers to collaborate with veterinary professionals to develop and deliver effective, evidence-based care plans.
Record important details about your flock including the number, species, age, sex, and breed of birds and which veterinary clinic you are using for their care.
Keep track of your flock’s daily egg production and anything unusual about the eggs as this can provide early warning about problems with management and/or disease.
Make sure your flock has the right environment, nutrition, health care, and enrichment to prevent them from developing any serious medical or behavioural issues.
Get support to guide you and your veterinary care team through diagnosing and treating your birds based on what science says are the best approaches.
Make a plan for how you will provide care for your birds if extreme weather events, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or other emergencies occur.
We are creating continuing professional development modules (CPD) for veterinary professionals to upskill you with the knowledge you need to confidently treat your backyard poultry patients.
This module will cover the basics of poultry life cycles, poultry anatomy & physiology, poultry breeds, normal poultry behaviours, and poultry terminology so you know what’s normal for your patients.
This module will walk you through how to advise your poultry clients on setting up the right housing, nutrition, preventive health care, and enrichment to prevent medical and behavioural problems in their birds.
This module will cover the most common case presentations for backyard poultry patients and how to work through developing evidence-based diagnostic and treatment plans.
This module will cover how to recognise exotic poultry diseases in your patients and what to do if you are worried about what you are seeing.
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