This is the ninth part in a complete series on raising chickens. It's also the second to last post before we conclude this series. In this chapter we'll talk about health, injury and illness. With animals there are always risks that there will be injury and illness. This list is not to scare you but to give you a general idea of what some of the more common issues are and how to detect them.
In my personal experience with chickens, we have not dealt with any illness but we have had some injuries. I have no evidence to prove this but I feel strongly that cleanliness, sanitation, observation and good nutrition have played a big part in the overall good health of our flock.
You can read earlier chapters in the series here!
Part 1 - Things To Know Before You Start Raising Chickens
Part 2 - Breeds, hybrid vs heritage and more
Part 3 - Coops, mobile chicken tractors, bedding, chicken tunnels
Part 4 - shelters: covering things like coop cleanliness, human health, free ranging
Part 5 - Baby chicks
Part 6 - Hens
Part 7 - Broody hens, hatching chicks naturally & using an incubator
Part 8: Roosters
16+ Ways To feed chickens
8+ Ways To Preserve & Store Eggs
Injury, Illness & Medication
When you raise chickens you will need to develop an ability to recognize common symptoms of disease, injury, and parasitic infection in chickens, and knowledge of what to do to treat such problems. Operate on the principle of, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and you'll find there is very little to be concerned with. Keep a clean, dry environment, provide good nutrition and pay attention to your flock, and you can prevent most illness and injury.
Veterinary Care & Experienced Help
It is a good idea to find out what services your local veterinarians provide for poultry. Some will offer complete services while others may only do fecal tests. If you don’t feel you will be able to deal with emergency situations then having a professional or a friend or neighbour that is experienced who can help you is very important.
Dust Baths
Chickens dry bathe in what is called a dust bath. This is a sand box or area that has plenty of clean, dry sand. A dust bath is essential for your flocks health. Dry bathing helps them to keep their skin and feathers healthy, which prevent infestations from mites.
Poor Jeanie had the worst summer last year. It all started with an overzealous rooster.
Routine De-worming
It used to be standard practice to de-worm your chickens once or twice per year regardless of if they presented any symptoms. In recent years veterinarians are warning against this practice because over time the animals build up a resistance to these medications rendering them ineffective. This can be devastating when it comes to having a real problem that does need treating.
Some people are staunchly unwavering about routine de-worming and suggest cycling through the various de-worming medications as a way to avoid resistance build up. Many veterinarians are saying no, do not do this. Prevention, observation and occasional fecal tests are effective tools. You want to provide good nutrition, keep a clean coop and run, and be observant when cleaning the dropping boards. Gathering up a sample once in a while and having it tested is a simple way to assure yourself that you don’t have a problem on hand.
Avian Flu
Avian Influenza is caused by an influenza virus that is hosted by wild birds. It is a potentially devastating disease that results in the entire flock having to be killed and carefully disposed of. The virus travels so your poultry can become infected through contact with wild birds, vehicles, equipment and even your own boots. For details on Avian Flu you can visit: thepoultrysite.com, they offer extensive details on the subject. There are several preventative measures that you can take.
- Wear special boots that you wear only on your property
- Don’t encourage wild birds to congregate around your property
- Cover the fenced outdoor run with bird netting to keep wild birds out
- Check your local resources and stay on top of new of Avian outbreaks
General Health
There are clear signs that you can look for when trying to determine the health of a chicken. A healthy comb will be red, plump and shiny. If the comb is flopped over, dry or flaky or has changed noticeably this is a good indicator that you need to inspect your chicken. You will want to feel for weight loss, and check the vent (bottom) making sure it is not inflamed or dirty. You will also want to feel the abdomen which should be round and soft. If it feels hard packed then there could be a problem. Inspecting the stool is also very helpful and worst case you can have it tested in a laboratory. It can be helpful to do these inspections on occasion so that you are familiar with how the chicken feels when its healthy so that problems are more apparent to you later.
Soft Shelled Eggs
A hen can lay an egg with a soft shell, or an egg that has no shell. These odd looking eggs are no cause for alarm, it is reasonably common. If you begin to see a regular occurrence of these eggs, investigate further. If you have changed their diet recently then calcium deficiency is likely to be the cause. Make sure your hens have a dish of egg shells or oyster shells for calcium. If adding more calcium to their diet does not alleviate this problem you will want to determine which hen has the problem and watch and examine her carefully to see if there is any obvious underlying health problem.
Egg Bound Hens
Hens become egg bound when an egg gets stuck between her uterus and cloaca. This is the tube which feces, reproductive fluids and eggs exit the body. The hen will strain to release the egg but wont be able to release it. Egg binding needs to be treated. If you notice you hen moving in and out of the nest box through the day, keep an eye on her. She may walk awkwardly with her bottom dragging close to the floor. If you feel her abdomen and you feel a lump, this is very likely to be the hens problem. You can bathe
the chicken in warm water to loosen the muscles and help her to release the eggs.
Blocked Crop
The crop is a pouch located right beneath the neck against the center of the breast. It handles the first stages of digestion. This can become blocked which will cause a buildup of food. The crop will normally empty over night, but if a chicken has an impacted crop then it will remain full. If you notice that your chicken is not eating, drinking or pooping, you should have a look and see if the crop looks full when she exits the coop in the morning. You can provide your chicken with warm water to drink and if this does not work, use a dropper and try to get the chicken to ingest some olive oil. You can try to massage the crop gently to loosen the blockage.
Bumble Foot
Bumble foot is a wound beneath the foot that has closed up but is filled with pus and infection. It will generally be a bloated area on the foot making it very difficult for the chicken to walk. When caught early enough you can usually treat it at home successfully. You will want to clean the area with warm water and an antiseptic. Gently open the wound with a sharp pointed knife to drain out the pus. Apply hot cloths to the area to encourage drainage. Once completely drained you will want to cover the wound with an antiseptic and wrap the foot with gauze and tape. Change the dressing every day and inspect until the wound is healed.
Feather Pecking & Cannibalism
Feather pecking is when a chicken pecks or pulls out feathers from another bird.This can cause damage to the birds skin, and in turn can lead to other chickens in the flock pecking at the injured area. Sometimes this behavior leads to cannibalism where they take bites out of the skin, or worse. It can be quite disturbing to discover that a hen is being pecked in this manner. You should move the bird to a secure area until she is healed. If you can’t move her, you can coat the wound with a heavy antibiotic cream and then put a chicken saddle (also known as a cape or apron) on the hen to cover and protect the wounded area. Be diligent in checking on the chicken until she is healed. If the apron fails to discourage pecking, move her.
Chicken Saddle
Also known as a cape or apron, the saddle can provide crucial protection to an injured hen. When I first read about saddles I thought it was a ridiculous notion. Putting clothes on a chicken? What farmer does that? It took one rather unpleasant incident to make me a believer in the chicken saddle. You see, hens can be quite nasty to one another. All it takes is a few plucked feathers from an overzealous rooster and that hen is exposed to pecking from the rest of the flock. A few missing feathers might look like no big deal but unfortunately it can quickly become a big problem. A few pecks here and there, and soon you have an open wound, and that is when things get worse for the hen. More aggressive pecking will soon follow and the wound will grow worse and worse until you do something about it.
The Saddle is most commonly used as a preventative measure. It prevents hens from losing feathers in the first place. It is also extremely helpful for covering up bald patches and wounds until your hen can heal.
Jeanie was attacked by the hens when the rooster tore out some feathers. She had a terrible wound on her back within hours of this happening. She went into isolation to heal.
Illness and Behaviour
Often a chicken will be sick or injured and you won’t know until it’s too late. Their natural tendency is to hide weakness from the rest of the flock for as long as possible. A popular chicken can go from being the head of the flock to being pecked and bloody in the blink of an eye. Natural instincts and behavior are simply programmed into the birds. It’s survival of the fittest. If you notice a chicken avoiding the flock, keeping to herself or just behaving oddly, you will want to inspect this bird carefully and promptly. Leaving it until later will almost certainly make matters worse as it is only a matter of time until the flock picks up on it too.
Depending on what is wrong you can create a little hospital to treat the chicken, keeping it safe until it is completely recovered. You can then try to re-integrated the bird back into the flock. You will need to evaluate and decide what is best for the chicken but be prepared for difficult choices. In my experience, it is very difficult to rehabilitate an injured chicken and have the flock accept her back.
Isolation
If you notice that a chicken appears ill, it is best that you promptly isolate it from the rest of the flock and then work on identifying the problem. It is a good idea to have a hospital area set up and ready at all times. A large dog kennel is quite an easy choice and they can be found on-line if you don’t happen to own one. If you don’t proactively put her in a safe location she is very likely to get injured by the rest of the flock once they detect her weakened state.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth has become a very popular natural health & pest control manager. Please note that it must be food grade. Uses for DE with chickens:
- Apply a thin layer to the clean coop floor before applying fresh bedding
- Sprinkle a small layer on top of the fresh bedding
- Apply a thin layer of DE to the dust bath area
First Aid Kit
Although it’s impossible to plan for everything, it is a good idea to have some medical supplies for tending to your flock & other pets and livestock . This list of items can be useful to have around.
| Dog kennel or secure area | Feeders & Waterers |
|---|---|
| Bedding | sterile gloves |
| Tweezers, to remove splinters and small items | Bandage scissors to cut bandages and tape |
| Organized Content | Wire cutters and pliers (to cut chain or wire that the bird is caught in) |
| Tape and gauze | Corn starch or styptic powder |
| Superglue (for beak repair) | Pedialyte or Infalyte |
| Saline solution | Neosporin |
| Blue Kote Wound Dressing | Q-tips for cleaning small wounds |
| Gauze bandages for covering wounds | Nail clippers |
| Nail file | Flash light or head lamp |
| Aloe Vera | Liquid bandage for emergency skin repair |
| Vetericyn All Animal Wound Care |
A little love and attention and Jeanie is healed and happily back with the flock again.
We are coming to the conclusion of this series. Next we'll talk a bit about raising chickens for meat and I'll answer some of the most common questions that I get asked about chickens!
This content comes from my Ebook "The Homesteader's Handbook: Raising Chickens". It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to let people know what you think of it.
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