A total of 177 free-ranging chickens from 19 Qwa-Qwa villages were bled from wing veins over a period of 6 months (June-November 2000). Serological tests indicated that 5 % of chickens tested had been exposed to Newcastle disease, 43 % to infectious bronchitis and 63 % to Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection. McMaster and Visser sieve techniques were used to determine helminth and coccidia from pooled fresh faecal samples. Helminths isolated in 37 % of the villages investigated were Heterakis, Ascaridia and Capillaria species. Eimeria species were also isolated in 32 % of the villages investigated. The red fowl mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) was isolated from some of the birds and their nests. Data from a questionnaire survey indicated that all farmers interviewed had never received any technical support and that their chickens had never been vaccinated against any avian diseases. Only 10.5 % of the owners interviewed had scientific knowledge on poultry diseases. There is an urgent need for the government to support free-ranging poultry farmers by providing subsidised vaccinations and technical support in order to develop and stimulate economic development in impoverished rural areas of South Africa.