Chicken diseases

Who would think of writing a book about chicken diseases?

From reactions, especially on social media, about occurring health problems
in chickens, it appears that fanciers do not know the symptoms of many diseases. The same problems and questions arose again and again.
This applies not only to more complex conditions that can be diagnosed (by a veterinarian), but also to those that are easier to recognize yourself.
In more than 50 years of active chicken breeding, he too was confronted with numerous problems.
That gave Hans Ringnalda the idea to make such a book himself...
But as a non-veterinarian, despite years of experience with chickens, writing a book about diseases is not something you just do...
That is why he secured the help of the specialists par excellence, the veterinarians Harry Arts (NL), Pieter Colla (B), Victoria Tüllmann (B), Robbert van Drie, Elena Groot, Teus Kreuger, and Elise Reuvers.

Feed manufacturer Havens from Maashees immediately provided all support.
Lieke Willems, responsible for the composition of hobby animal feeds at Havens, wrote the chapter on feeds and Irene Borgman from “De Baroen” the chapter on natural products as additives. The valuable contributions of Monique de Vrijer on Chicken Forum, about what can be seen in chicken manure and about force-feeding sick animals, were also used.
The authors, from different disciplines, have brought together veterinary knowledge, nutritional knowledge and practical knowledge from practice with numerous advice.
What is special is that after the call on social media for photos of specific conditions, many people spontaneously emailed the most beautiful photos of conditions that occurred in their chickens in response.
One even more illustrative than the other!
A choice had to be made from those hundreds of photos.

The approximately one hundred photographers whose photos are included in this book are of course mentioned in the colophon.
This book is therefore truly a book by and for chicken lovers!
Due to the increasing popularity of the chicken as a pet and hobby animal, pet veterinarians are increasingly confronted with a sick chicken during consultation hours.
However, hobby poultry medicine makes up only a small part of the studies for companion animal and farm animal veterinarians.
The veterinary care required by owners and the types of problems seen with these chickens require a different approach than in commercial poultry farming.
This book is primarily intended for breeders and enthusiasts, people with only smaller numbers of chickens. The authors have tried to provide them with the simplest possible handle.

To help them look for the possible cause of a problem, to help them on their way, to help with advice.
Some chapters are in depth, making this book an excellent tool for pet veterinarians who are not specialized in poultry and for paraveterinarians.
Ringnalda's hand is clearly recognizable again in the design, but also through the humor with a wink.
The authors' starting point was to create a source of information for every chicken lover, a source of information that had to be concise and to the point, but above all: readable!
And… this team of specialists has completely succeeded!

“Chicken diseases & disorders” as an initiative of this “walking encyclopedia” in our hobby can once again be called a masterpiece!
Highly recommended for every chicken lover!