Early Mortality Omphalitis

No matter how many books you read or late night YouTube videos you watch, nothing can prepare you for sudden deaths of your sweet baby poults.

Some of the images within this article are graphic, however, they are important documents that highlight our experience, our findings, eport and research.

What is Omphalitis?

It is an infection of the navel and / or yolk sac in young poultry, when the navel is not healed and it's open and bacteria enters killing the host.

Omphalitis is a major cause of 'first week' chick mortality (within 1 to 4 days). Omphalitis is a hatchery-born disease that goes by many names: "mushy chick disease’ and ‘navel ill’ 'Navel Infection' and 'Yolk Sac Infection".

As a rule of thumb, if your day old poults or chicks die within 1 to 4 days, it most likely stems from the hatchery and how they were incubated creating an an unhealed belly button.

It is non-contagious and will not "spread" from one bird to the other.

First I need to tell you, poults can die suddenly and for reasons unknown. It's very upsetting, and sometimes mother nature has her own plans. I had a really hard time accepting this when I first started raising poultry.

We purchased 50 Turkey Poults and experienced something we had never experienced before. We are documenting this experience for our reference, and perhaps our story will help others.

How does it happen?

Short answer, it happens at the hatchery. Poults with unhealed navels hatched in unclean environments, it is a hatchery-born disease, which allow opportunistic bacteria to thrive. This bacteria will also enter wounds anywhere on the body. 1 and 2 day old poults don't typically wound themselves that young, so if your loosing birds at 1, 2 and 3 days old, its most likely an issue that started at the hatchery.

Omphalitis "mushy chick disease’, navel ill and often referred to as 'Black button navel' is caused by incubation temperatures being set too high during the last days of the incubation cycle and then hatched into an unclean environment.

If your birds poop, E-Coli is present, e-coli is in every bird. It is in all poultry environments and a normal part of the intestinal microflora in poultry and there is no way around it. Point of Entry Umbilicus or wounds anywhere on the body.

What type of bacteria enters?

Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, and Escherichia coli (E-Coli) are the culprits. The infection is typically caused by a combination of these organisms and is a mixed Gram-positive and Gram-negative infection.

What are the signs?

Depression, head low while standing, lethargy, navel inflammation, individual or bilateral inflammation of the feet or legs or both and anorexia.

Is there a treatment?

The short answer, No.

Treatment by use of antibiotics is ineffective. Omphalitis must be prevented during incubation. Improve your sanitation methods, check those belly buttons, fine tune your animal husbandry and carefully select clean, crack free hatching eggs and be sure to keep a close eye on your incubation humidity and temperature if you are hatching artificially.

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Our experience with Omphalitis

Onset symptoms happened very quickly. Happy one our, and dead the next. Not all poults had the same symptoms, so I thought perhaps I was dealing with a multitude of problems. They were only 1, 2 and 3 days old. With Omphalitis, mortality usually begins within 24 hours of the hatch and peaks by 5 to 7 days.

Our Animal Health Care Lab Report

Culture results are consistent with Bacterial Septicaemia "aka" Blood Poisoning from E-Coli as the cause of mortality. There was an abundance of Escherichia Coli (E-Coli) in the retained yolk sac of all specimens. Port of entry for E-Coli was the open umbilicus in all cases.

Casualty #1

Symptoms noticed: None I just found her dead in the pen in the morning.

Casualty #2

Symptoms noticed: head down, seemed lethargic, still walking however became lame within hours with bilateral leg swelling, toenails turned black - then death.

(toenails quickly turned black) sign of blood poisoning

Right image: bilateral swelling, (L) leg worse than the (R)

Casualty #3 & 4

Symptoms noticed: head down, seemed lethargic, still walking however became lame within hours with bilateral leg swelling, toenails turned black - then death.

Casualty #5 & 6

Symptoms noticed: became lame over night, one leg was swollen, could no longer walk - we euthanized.

Casualty #7

Symptoms noticed: laying down more often than the others, both legs were swollen, bird could still walk, however would not eat or drink - we euthanized.

Infection with E. coli, and most other bacterial species associated with Omphalitis, can occur when an opportunity arises from:

#1: high temperatures during the final cycle within the incubator creating an unhealed belly button where which the bacteria enters.

#2: excess contamination of egg shells (floor eggs, eggs covered in feces)

#3: open / unhealed navels at hatch

#4: cracked hatching eggs

#5: poor sanitation at hatch in the incubator

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There is no simple formula for raising poultry. Turkey poults are especially delicate in the first 7 days, and require careful care and close attention for 3 weeks. There are specific things they must have to live and thrive. Warmth from a heat lamp, 25% Pre-Starter Feed, fresh water, vitamins and constant clean bedding.

Checkout our helpful guide on how to care for Turkey Poults

Our goal is to raise our animals ethically and offer them the best lives possible. We choose to learn from our mistakes, document them for our future reference, and who knows, maybe our mistakes or farm hacks can help others on their farming journey!

~ Cariboo Blue Farm