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There has been a growing interest in small and home poultry flocks around the country. An ever-growing population of urban chicken keepers works to change city ordinances to allow for home poultry.

As with any animal production enterprise, health problems occur.  Unfortunately, there are very few avian veterinarians available to help this group of producers. Most avian veterinarians are employed by large poultry production companies. This became a serious issue starting in January 2017 when new Veterinary Feed Directive regulations restricted the availability of common antibiotics. Any small or backyard flock owner wanting to purchase some medications previously available over-the-counter now needs a prescription from a licensed veterinarian.  There must be an existing veterinarian-client-patient relationship for the veterinarian to provide a prescription. 

This online training program is designed to educate general-practice veterinarians about poultry issues in small and backyard poultry flocks. The construction of the course is a collaboration between the University of Kentucky, Utah State University, and Michigan State University. The structure involves a series of modules, which allows each participant to advance at their own pace. 

To obtain CE credit for completion of the course, you must achieve 70% or higher on the quizzes associated with each module. There will be a short quiz at the end of each module. The questions will be True/False or multiple choice. Upon successful completion of all modules in this course, 8 RACE-approved continuing education credits will be granted.

Authors:

• Dr. Jacquie Jacob, Ph.D. (University of Kentucky)
• Dr. Tony Pescatore, Ph.D. (University of Kentucky)
• Dr. David Frame, D.V.M., Dipl. American College of Poultry Veterinarians (Utah State University)
• Dr. Mick Fulton, D.V.M., Ph.D., Dipl. American College of Poultry Veterinarians (Michigan State University)
• Dr. Roberta Dwyer, D.V.M., Dipl. American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (University of Kentucky)

Narrator: Mr. Mark Eclov

Reviewers of the course material:

Dr. Hailey Quercia, D.V.M., Avian Pathology Clinical Fellow (Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine)

• Dr. Annika McKillop, D.V.M., MSpVM., Dipl. American College of Poultry Veterinarians (private practitioner)
• Dr. Victoria Bowes, D.V.M., Dipl. American College of Poultry Veterinarians (BC Ministry of Agriculture)

 Modules

Module 1 - Welcome to the world of home poultry

Module 2 - External anatomy of poultry and telling the males from females

Module 3 - The examination

Module 4 - Avian digestive system

Module 5 - Avian reproductive system

Module 6 - Avian respiratory system

Module 7 - Avian skeletal system

Module 8 - Chicken behavior

Module 9 - External parasites of poultry

Module 10 - Internal parasites of poultry

Module 11 - Introduction to poultry health conditions and miscellaneous abnormalities

Module 12 - Introduction to nutritional concepts

Module 13 - Common respiratory diseases

Module 14 - Common digestive diseases

Module 15 - Common neurological diseases

Module 16 - Common cardiovascular diseases

Module 17 - Tumor-causing disease

Module 18 - Performing a necropsy

Module 19 - Disease prevention

Module 20 - Poultry medications and the Veterinary Feed Directive

Module 21 - Poultry first aid

Module 22 - Zoonotic diseases