Hawai‘i is home both to a commercial poultry industry and to many small rural homesteads that raise chickens for subsistence, hobby, show, or simply for pleasure. The owners of many of these smaller farm flocks have often adopted a free-range type of manage ment. The free-range management is certainly an ac ceptable type of husbandry practice, but there are some special health considerations to keep in mind, especially in the area of parasite control. Free-ranging birds have an increased opportunity to encounter the infective eggs, larvae, and intermediate hosts of parasites that can cause serious debilitating infections. Healthy birds are a prerequisite for success in raising poultry, regardless of the overall goals of the owner. Unhealthy birds result in financial losses in terms of death and treatment costs. It is well documented that diseases and parasites are the cause for millions of dollars of losses to poultry producers each year. Death losses are an obvious loss, but even greater economic losses are associated with decreased growth, egg production, and feed efficiency among the living. Parasites are an important cause of this hidden economic loss. Not all poultry losses can be prevented, but they can be reduced, and the more knowledgeable the producers, the more successful they will be. Prevention and control of parasites is one of the quickest, cheapest, and most dependable methods of increasing production, with no requirements for extra birds or additional feed costs. Only a small increase in labor and materials is required. Important parasites of poultry in Hawai‘i The most common and economically important internal poultry parasites in Hawai‘i include the large roundwor
