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.
General Chicken Health Maintanence Tips
Most health problems in chickens occur because of unsanitary living conditions, dirty coops, dirty water, poor coop ventilation, dust buildup, 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 and treat your birds for parasites 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.
Chicken Health Care Topics |
Chicken Anatomy What You Need to Know About Your Chickens Anatomy |
Free Biosecurity Guide Biosecurity methods to keep your flock healthy: Keep Your Chickens Healthy Using Biosecurity Methods. |
Importance of Hand Washing After Handling Chickens: Find out why it is important to wash your hands after handling chickens |
Paracolon Infection Paracolon Infection and Treatments |
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- 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
And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. II Kings 20:7
