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Fowl

Galluvet, specialist in fowl

The Galliformes vary in size from relatively small quails to large turkeys and peacocks. The breeding and exhibiting of various chicken breeds - and pheasants and turkeys - has a long tradition in our part of the world. There is also a culture of fighting cocks (permitted today only for exhibition) and crowing cocks.

Galluvet, a contraction of Gallus (Latin for 'chicken') and Veterinarian, was one of the first and few practices in Belgium to focus on the health of the chicken. Initially, we focused completely on professional poultry farming. In 2014, we expanded our services and expertise to include the private chicken farmers.

In recent years, the interest in keeping chickens, and especially in the proper care and handling of hobby chickens, has grown enormously. Thanks to our knowledge and experience from the professional poultry sector, we can offer comprehensive care for your backyard flock.

General examination

A consultation always starts with a general examination. In addition to that, we have everything we need here in our practice to perform and/or initiate the necessary parasitological, virological and bacteriological sample collection and testing.

For the diagnosis of skeletal abnormalities, egg binding, foreign objects, respiratory infections or to diagnose space-occupying processes in the body cavity, we have our own X-ray imaging equipment.

Specialised examination

For more in-depth examinations, we use anaesthesia, endoscopy and ultrasound.

Yet, an autopsy is often necessary to come to a conclusive diagnosis. In an autopsy, we swab the crop, the proventriculus, the duodenum and the rectum and take fresh samples from the liver, spleen, kidneys and other affected organs. Afterwards, a targeted and efficacious treatment can be initiated.

Vaccination

Thanks to our strong ties to the field of professional poultry, we can also help you with vaccinations and preventive vaccine advice. Diseases such as coccidiosis, worms and infectious coryza are often secondary infections associated with immunosuppressive disorders such as Gumboro’s Disease, Marek’s Disease … To handle these types of chronic problems preventively, we organise vaccinations for day-old chicks every Tuesday evening. On these vaccination evenings, chicks are vaccinated against Marek’s Disease, Gumboro’s disease and Newcastle Disease.

Read all about our Marek Vaccination Days here.

Transport to the practice

Chicks and individual chickens are often brought to the practice in boxes or in cat carriers. For larger groups, and certainly in the case of vaccinations, we also make house calls.