T he majority of Bangladesh's population is, directly and indirectly, reliant on agricultural activity. Agriculture is one of the main economic sectors, accounting for 13.31% of GDP. The involvement of agricultural workers in the labor force as a whole is 43% (BBS, 2019). The population of cattle in Bangladesh is now 243.91 lakh in number and the contribution of Livestock to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 1.47% (DLS, 2021). One of the main obstacles to the production of cattle may be gastrointestinal (GI) parasite diseases ( Jittapalapong et al., 2011). A condition known as gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic infestation is brought on by a variety of genera of parasites that live in the gastrointestinal tracts of cattle. Due to subclinical or chronic infections that produce economic losses, the infection decreases productivity through decreased feed intake, decreased efficiency, and infeed utilization (Stromberg et al., 2012;Deo et al, 2019). Mainly, helminth, protozoa, cestode, and trematode are what induce GI parasitism in cattle (Pinilla et al., 2019). The protozoan Eimeria spp., which parasitizes ruminants, equines, and rabbits and causes bovine coccidiosis, is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa (Shaikh et al., 2022). Cattle and

BackgroundBiosecurity‐based interventions are important health strategies for the control of infectious disease and improve productivity in broiler. There are various reasons why broilers die at the early stages of production; however, biosecurity measures are crucial in reducing the risk of disease prevalence and can therefore affect the overall deaths in a flock for a specific period (crude mortality rate [CMR]).ObjectivesThis study was designed to determine the current biosecurity situation on small‐scale broiler farms in Bangladesh and its relationship to the CMR during the early stages of production.MethodsA cross‐sectional observational study was conducted on small‐scale broiler farms (N = 57) located in peri‐urban areas of Chattogram and Pabna districts of Bangladesh. Descriptive and predictive statistical analyses were performed to estimate the frequency of categorical variables and their effect on CMR.ResultsThe findings indicated that around 80% of small‐scale broiler farms lacked adequate biosecurity measures. Both on day 1 (p = 0.012) and on days 2–14 (p = 0.003), flocks with inadequate biosecurity had considerably higher median CMRs. Farms that were near the neighbourhood used wood shavings as bedding, offered tube well/shallow well or supply line water, maintained a brief empty period (≤5 days) before introducing new flocks and began using antibiotics on day 1 all had significantly higher CMR at both days 1 and 2–14.ConclusionsThe findings point to the necessity of implementing stringent biosecurity measures in broiler production in locations where there is a shortage, which can lower the burden of arbitrary antibiotic usage and will lower total production costs due to crude mortality and management‐related issues.