~ 111 ~ International Journal of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry 2025; 10(3): 111-115 ISSN: 2456-2912 NAAS Rating: 4.61 VET 2025; 10(3): 111-115 © 2025 VET www.veterinarypaper.com Received: 24-01-2025 Accepted: 26-02-2025 P Girish Kumar Regional Poultry Farm, Mundayad, Kannur, Kerala, India R Richard Churchil Department of Poultry Science, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Corresponding Author: R Richard Churchil Department of Poultry Science, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Mortality patterns in indigenous chickens of Kannur and Kozhikode Districts of Kerala P Girish Kumar and R Richard Churchil DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.22271/veterinary.2025.v10.i3b.2115 Abstract A survey study was conducted to document the pattern and causes of mortality in village chicken farming households of Kannur (N=21) and Kozhikode (N=43) districts of Kerala. In Kannur, mongoose (28.41%) and dogs (6.25%) were the primary predators, while in Kozhikode, mongoose (15.47%) wolves (10.43%) were common. Out of initial stock of 176 and 278-day-old chicks, predation accounted for 37.50 and 59.35% mortality in Kannur and Kozhikode districts respectively. Diseases accounted for 20.45 and 17.27% of mortality in the respective districts. Thus, the overall mortality of 57.95 and 76.62% out of was recorded in Kannur and Kozhikode districts, respectively leaving only 42.05% of the flock in Kannur and 23.37% in Kozhikode at 72 weeks of age. Ranikhet disease was identified as important disease by 33.33% farmers in Kannur, while 27.91% of the farmers in Kozhikode district cited respiratory diseases as major concern. A significant proportion of 42.86% in Kannur and 39.53% in Kozhikode opined disease incidences were higher in summer. Most farmers relied on allopathic and/or herbal medicines for treatment, with 57.14% in Kannur and 44.19% in Kozhikode districts practice own medication to treat the diseases. Keywords: Diseases India, mortality, predation, village chicken 1. Introduction Backyard chicken plays an important role in providing nutritious animal protein and supplementary income to the village farmers. Nearly 29% of layers are of indigenous type in India out of total layers in commercial farms and backyard put together (Churchil, 2022) [2] . Although low in production, the indigenous chickens are good mothers and suitable for smallholder scavenging family poultry (Kumar et al., 2013a) [9] . The meat of indigenous chicken is considered as delicacy and fetches price of almost three times to that of commercial broiler meat (Kumar et al., 2013b) [10] . The backyard poultry is reared in free-range system, wherein the birds find most of their feed by themselves through the scavengeable feed sources such as insects, seeds and kitchen wastes. Supplementary feed is given in the form of grains commonly available in the households (Nyandebo et al., 2022) [12] . The bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases, accidents, poor nutrition, theft and climatic stress are the major causes of mortality or loss in these flocks. The severity of diseases/parasites was high in the plains, while predators were more of a problem in forested, farm-bush and grassland areas (Conteh and Gogra, 2020) [3] . The predators could be of areal or terrestrial. Major areal predators include crow, eagle and shikra (Accipiter badius and A. virgatus; local name: Prappidiyan), while terrestrial predators consist snake, cat, dog, mongoose and wolves. Aerial predators are the major threat to small chicks, especially when they begin scavenging and foraging independently (Kumar et al., 2016) [8] . Simple fencing made around the grazing area using materials like bamboo splits could prevent the attacks of air-borne predators and mongoose. However, nocturnal predators like foxes, jackals and wild cats can invade by climbing over or digging under the fences (Biswas et al., 2008) [1] . Another major cause for mortality is diseases. Respiratory tract infections, Newcastle disease, fowl pox and ectoparasites are causing major loss to the village farmers.