Planting trees around your poultry house is a good idea because they (trees) provide fresh air to the birds.
However, Dr. Robert Serwanga, a poultry farmer says that it is not advisable to plant fruit trees near the poultry house.
He says fruit trees like star fruit, mangoes, oranges, guavas, pawpaw, passion fruit, citrus, and many others attract wild birds and animals like eagles, wild ducks geese, swans shore birds, rats and snakes which carry diseases that affect poultry.
‘‘These wild animals and birds are carriers and natural hosts of influenza A viruses whose symptoms are coughing, sore throat, muscle aches, fever, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, and diarrhoea. These symptoms are highly infectious and deadly to poultry which can cause a farmer to lose his whole poultry farm. Rats spread to chicken Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus (MRSA), Pasteurella, Erysipelothrix or Yersinia infections,” says Serwanga.
He adds that, “when the wild birds and animals come to eat the fruits from the trees around the poultry farm, these automatically spread the influenza A viruses through saliva, mucous, or droplets and this is translated through the air into your poultry house.’’
He said that, however, the commonest diseases wild birds and animals spread are Gumboro and Newcastle.
Serwanja advised poultry farmers to plant trees like pine and eucalyptus around their poultry farms for fresh air which they can also sell as wood or use to repair or build their poultry farms.
He said this during a poultry farming training at the recently concluded Harvest Money Expo that took place on February 14-16. The expo was organized by Vision Group at Mandela National Stadium in Namboole.
