Respiratory disease in your backyard chickens?  In episode 52 of The Poultry Doc Podcast, board-certified poultry vet Dr. Blayne Mozisek visits Laura’s flock in Boerne, Texas, to investigate respiratory symptoms and discuss infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), a contagious viral disease that can have lasting consequences for your flock.

Learn how ILT spreads, which symptoms to watch for, how diagnostic testing works, and what you can do to help protect your birds. Dr. Blayne also discusses predator-proofing, biosecurity, vaccination, and practical ways to reduce disease transmission.

In this episode, we cover:

• Predator-proofing your chicken run with bird netting
• Biosecurity and the risks of introducing new birds
• Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) and its symptoms
• How ILT differs from mycoplasma
• Diagnostic testing for respiratory disease
• Vaccination and what it can and cannot prevent
• Using iodine in drinking water
• Supportive care for sick chickens
• Managing disease spread within your flock

Check out our Marketplace for the tools you need to treat your flock and keep them thriving.

0:00 Intro

0:27 Bird Netting to Stop Hawk Attacks on Chickens

1:42 What Is ILT (Infectious Laryngotracheitis)?

2:14 Bringing New Birds Into Your Flock: Disease Risk

2:43 Mycoplasma and ILT: Diseases That Never Go Away

3:08 ILT Is a Herpes Virus: How Stress Triggers It

3:40 How ILT Damages the Trachea

4:00 ILT Symptoms: Gasping, Coughing and Bloody Mucus

4:29 ILT Treatment: Supportive Care for Sick Chickens

4:58 How ILT Spreads and Why to Isolate Sick Birds

5:37 How to Test Chickens for ILT

6:32 ILT Vaccine for Chickens: Pox-ILT

7:36 Ordering Pox-ILT and MG-Pox Vaccines

8:05 Swabbing a Hen for an ILT PCR Test

9:21 Mycoplasma Test Kit: What’s Included

9:56 What ILT Looks Like: Eye Bubbles and Rattling Breathing

10:51 Adding Iodine to Water for Respiratory Disease

12:21 Recap: ILT Recovery Time and Supportive Care