If you suspect one of your chickens is ill, you should immediately remove it from the vicinity of the flock. This will help prevent any disease from spreading.
Each day, when you are feeding and watering your hens, do a visual inspection. Look for dirty feathers around the anus (this could mean diarrhea) and look at their eyes and nostrils for drainage. Watch for hens reluctant to stand up and walk. Other symptoms could be a decreased egg production or food and water intake.
Preventing Sickness
In order to prevent sickness in poultry there are four major considerations to take.
Most hatcheries charge only a nominal fee (if any) to vaccinate your chicks before shipping, so have then vaccinated first. These vaccinations can often save you a search for an avian veterinarian and exorbitant costs.
Keep the chicken's cages, food and water containers, and nesting areas clean. Regular cleaning keeps illness at bay.
Some chicken feeds contain low dose antibiotics to keep away bacterial infections.
A balance of vitamins, minerals, protein and carbohydrates is important, so keep a variety in your flock's feed. When you are supplementing with veggies, do not forget to include peelings from citrus fruits for vitamin C.
These are not perfect remedies, but they will go a long way towards keeping your flock healthy.
Some Common Chicken Diseases
Bronchitis will cause the chicken difficulty breathing (gasping), discharge from eyes and ears, and an avoidance of food and water. Give antibiotics and raise the ambient temperature for the chicken by five degrees Fahrenheit.
Avian Flu will have symptoms such as respiratory distress, diarrhea, and a lack of interest in food along with decreased egg laying. Like flu in humans, this disease will permeate a flock quickly. Antibiotics, rest, and a hope for the best is about all you can do against Avian flu. Broad spectrum antibiotic do sometimes work if the chickens immune system is strong before acquiring the disease. The vaccine for this is hard to come by, as it's only for qualifying flocks.
Infectious Sinusitis is a sinus infection that is considered chronic, but not fatal. The chickens will have sneezing, swollen nares, and discharge from the nares and eyes. This is usually treated with antibiotics given in food and water.
Bird Pox is called Chicken Pox in some areas, though it is not the same as the human disease of that name. The hens have congestion along with flesh that may look raw with warty appearing bumps. These bumps usually appear on the legs. Once sick with the disease, there is no available treatment, but there is a vaccine.
Eye Worms is a species of roundworm that your chickens can get from earthworms, crickets, flies or anything that has eaten the larva. Symptoms are swollen eyes with a white discharge from the eyes and mouth. The white chunks are the larva of the mature worm. Worm your hens at least every six months with a good broad spectrum wormer. Clean and disinfect the coop and pens if these symptom appear. Failure to kill the larvae means the cycle continues.
This is just a short selection of the more common chicken diseases, but prevention is always easier than the cure. Simply keep your chickens and their pens clean and give them nutritious food and clean water.
Author Resource:
For a lot more information, please click on Chicken Disease .
If you are interested in building your own chicken coop, view Chicken Coop Designs .
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