Preliminary Study of an Infectious Hepatitis in Pheasants

Abstract

An operator of a large pheasant farm in Los Angeles County reported excessive chick mortalities in June, 1963. All control measures advised by competent authorities had been unsuccessful. Investigations disclosed an epornitic with a characteristic syndrome on eight game farms in southern and central California. Each owner had purchased day-old pheasants from another breeder who experienced the same high chick mortality. The 1963 breeding season ended before any experimental work could be done. With the advent of the 1964 pheasant hatching season, surveys were made of all game farms with a history of the unknown disease. Two had gone out of business as a result of their losses; two were purchasing day-old pheasants without any problem; one had retained breeding stock from his surviving birds with no chick losses; and three were having high death rates in their chicks again. Five other game bird breeders were experiencing heavy mortality for the first time. One had purchased day-old chukar partridges at the end of the 1963 season from a breeder with the problem in pheasants; two bought day-old chukar partridges from an operator having losses; one borrowed a used chick-carrying carton from an operator of a diseased farm; and one had his eggs incubated at a commercial hatchery with eggs originating from contaminated premises. One characteristic of the disease was a rapid onset occurring among pheasant chicks five days old; the mortality increased rapidly to a peak on the seventh and eighth days and