Sick chickens? View the chart or simply type in the symptoms in our site search box below to find out what may be wrong with causes, symptoms, and treatments available.
What to do if you think your chicken may be sick
Chicken Health Tips. CHOE. Photo of Lil' Snowball white frizzle chick.
If you find a chicken that is injured or showing signs of illness in your flock, you should separate the sick bird from the flock just in case the illness is contagious and to prevent other flock birds from pecking at the injured or sick bird. You can then take them to your local veterinarian or you can try to diagnose the chickens condition yourself by finding symptoms and possible cures on this list of pages, or buy a book on chicken illness and disease. It is a good idea to practice Biosecurity methods and to visually inspect each of your chickens every single day for signs of illness or disease, isolate sick birds right away, make a health plan for your chickens so that you know what to do in an emergency situation, and keep track of any health issues and treatments you administer or a vet administers for each bird. Write down your birds symptoms and research all of your treatment options and you will have an easier time identifying the illness. (See chart below). You can choose the appropriate treatment or seek care from a local animal vet that services poultry if you have one in your area. If your chicken is injured or sick you should start giving them vitamins and electrolytes in their water to boost their immune system, and be sure to wash and change your clothing and shoes before attending to other coops and flocks to prevent spreading sickness to uninfected flocks.
Chicken Sickness Symptom & Treatment Chart
This chart lists some of the most common illnesses and diseases chickens get, the symptoms and a link to possible treatments for them. Chart is not in alphabetical order at this time.
Crop Canker |
Symptoms of Crop Canker: Lesions-Yellow-white, encased necrotic nodules which cause an obstruction Green saliva Cheesy like lesions in the digestive tract |
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Eye Worm |
Symptoms of eye worm are swollen puffy eye, redness around the eye, drainage, listlessness |
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Cecal Coccidiosis |
Symptoms of Coccidiosis parasite is blood in their feces (poop), paleness, listlessnes |
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Heat Stress |
Chest deformities, such as kyphosis Chest injuries Chest muscle weakness Chronic lung disease Confusion Easy fatigue Lethargy Shortness of breath Sleepiness Weakness and deteriorated condition |
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Necrotic Enteritis |
Symptoms of Necrotic Enteritis: Eats less Dark blood stained feces with a strong fetid odor Severely infected chickens will have diarrhea. Abnormally thin or weak |
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Foot Problems |
Limping, holding one foot up, scabs on bottom of foot |
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Fowl Pox |
Dry form Symptoms Listlessness Slowed growth rate Noticeable decline in egg production (see Table 1 ). Raised Wart-like lesions on head, legs, vent and other feathered areas Lesions Wet form Symptoms: Canker sore type lesions in: Mouth Pharynx Larynx Trachea Respiratory distress which obstructs upper air passages |
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Leg Problems |
Limping Walking crooked Lumps Sores Splayed Legs-Signs & Treatments: Hobbling Chickens Raised scales Listlessness Pale comb and/or wattles |
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Prolapse/Egg Peritonitis/Egg Stuck Inside Hen |
Hen sitting around more than usual Never sitting down Standing more upright with legs spread apart Listless Pale comb Swollen or hard abdomen, redness Blood around the vent area |
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Marek's Disease |
Skin form-Enlarged reddened feather follicles, white bumps on skin that form crusty scabs". Nerve form-Progressive paralysis in leg or wing, weight loss, labored breathing, diarrhea, starvation and death Ocular (eye form)- Gray eye color, misshaped iris, weight loss, blindness, and death. Internal-organ form-Tumors on internal organs. |
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Newcastle Disease |
Hoarse chirps (in chicks) Watery discharge from nostrils Labored breathing (gasping) Facial swelling Paralysis Trembling Twisting of the neck (sign of central nervous system involvement) Eat less feed Drink less water Significant drop in egg production |
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Respiratory Disease |
Symptoms: Mild Lesions Coughing Sneezing Rales Difficulty breathing Foamy eyes Reduced growth rate Loss of egg production Can be more severe when combined with other diseases. |
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Wry Neck Syndrome |
Twisted neck, bent neck, head looking sideways toward the sky |
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Ascite Syndrome |
Most often found in meat birds Abdominal redness Slowed or stopped growth rate Birds lay on their backs when dying & Have purple face |
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Lymphoid Leukosis |
Lack of appetite Weakness Diarrhea Dehydration Emanciation Depression right before death Sometimes an enlarged bursa Enlarged liver Paralysis Infected birds may not always develop tumors you can see but they will lay fewer eggs. |
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Candidiasis/Thrush/Sour Crop/Crop Mycosis |
White, yellowish or cheesy substance in mouth |
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Fungal Mycotic Disease |
Stunted growth Diarrhea Fatal Avian Encephalitis ( AE is a viral disease found in young chickens, turkeys, Japanese quail, pheasants, and pigeons). |
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Gape Worm |
Spitting Making gurgling sounds |
General Chicken Health Maintanence Tips
Most health problems in chickens occur because of unsanitary living conditions, dirty water, poor coop ventilation, from chickens who have not been vaccinated, exposure to sick birds, allowing people on your property who have sick birds, contracted from wild birds or rodent infestations. Keep your birds in a clean well ventilated coop with a protected outdoor run, move the coop to fresh soil once a month, deworm your birds once a month, keep fresh complete and balanced feed appropriate for their age is available during the day, clean water available all the time, and only buy vaccinated chickens, vaccinate them yourself, or have your birds vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian.
Prevent Disease and Sickness with Virkon S Disinfectant |
Free Biosecurity Guide Biosecurity for Healthy Flocks Keep Your Chickens Healthy Using Biosecurity Methods. |
Bacterial, fungal infectionPermethrin safe for chickens-deadly to cats
If you are raising chickens and have a kitten or cats Here is an important warning about permethrin which is highly toxic and can be fatal to cats.
List of Common Poultry Diseases-pdf download:
If you are raising chickens and have a kitten or cats Here is an important warning about permethrin which is highly toxic and can be fatal to cats.
- Permethrin is highly toxic to cats
- Poultry Health Information
- Fact Sheet: Poultry Health and Information
- U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
- United States Department of Agriculture https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information
- Center for Disease Control Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/
List of Common Poultry Diseases-pdf download:
- PDF Download-Common Poultry Diseases: EDIS http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
- http://web.uconn.edu/poultry/poultrypages/diseasefactsheet.html
Memory Verse: And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. II Kings 20:7
