Prevalence of Select Intestinal Parasites in Alabama Backyard Poultry Flocks.

Keeping chickens as backyard pets has become increasingly popular in the United States in recent years. However, biosecurity is generally low in backyard flocks. As a consequence, they can serve as reservoirs for various pathogens that pose a risk for commercial poultry or human health. Eighty-four fecal samples, 82 from chickens and two from turkeys, from 64 backyard flocks throughout the state of Alabama were collected in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Coccidia oocysts were seen in 64.1% of flocks with oocyst counts in most samples below 10,000 oocysts per gram. Eggs of spp. or were observed in 20.3% of the flocks, and eggs of spp. in 26.6% of the flocks. Egg counts were low, rarely exceeding 1000 eggs per gram. DNA extracted directly from fecal samples was investigated by PCR for other relevant parasites. The results showed that 4.7% of flocks were positive for , 18.8% of flocks for , 18.8% of flocks for spp. and 87.5% of flocks for spp. The results will help to provide information that can be used to design outreach programs to improve health and wellbeing of birds in backyard flocks.