Chickens can be a howling improver to any homestead , but like any other kind of livestock , they require a watchful optic and careful attention to keep them in smashing chassis . As you savour your flock and the welfare they bring your farm — or even just your backyard — you should implement certain practices to keep them goodly mightily from the kickoff .
As long - time poulet - keeper Glenn Drowns writes inStorey ’s Guide to Raising Poultry(which I extremely recommend to any fowl proprietor ) , you need to think about caring for your tidy sum in two ways :
By being on top of thing from the start such as proper nutrition and a clean home ground , you could eliminate many future ailments .
1.Plan Ahead
Before you even get your first wench , turn over several different things that are important to the longevity and overall health of your flock . When picking your birds , postulate yourself :
After you ’ve made your determination on what strain of boo to pursue , line up a reputable breeder or hatchery from which to buy . The health and wellbeing of their chicken hatful can go a long agency to tell you about what your birds will look like in the future .
Some people buy eggs or chicks off of the cyberspace , while others pick them out at a localfeed - supply shop . Wherever you get your chicks or eggs , be cautious , do your research and keep your eyes open for any signs of job or sickness .
Ashleigh Krispense
2.Keep a Tidy Coop
From the first mean solar day you bring your chicks home , have a place quick for them to go . The cage should be well ventilated and maintain evenhandedly clean . With birds comes debris and manure , but to head off wellness issues such as respiratory diseases and infantry trauma , work on keeping your coop a goodish and pleasant stead to live .
Ventilation is an especially important aspect to keep an oculus on due to the ammonia water that chicken manure produces and its outcome on health . Too much ammonia in the air — especially during hot weather — and poor air flow to remove it can result in the going of your birds .
Keeping a clear coop floor is also helpful to avoid disease . How often you make clean the henhouse or pen depends on the number of bird and amount of place you have .
Ashleigh Krispense
While a thorough cleaning should be done once or double a year , regular maintenance will aid keep your hens happy and tidy . reckon of it this means : If you were one of your hens , would you be well-chosen survive in the henhouse ?
One of the easy way to tell if your coop needs a cleaning is to give it a snuff . If you lean down to about your bird ’s stature , does it smell pleasant ? If not , it ’s likely time to get your gloves on and go to oeuvre !
There are a variety of mode people sustain their coop . Some lie down tarps to get all of the manure and then simply roll the tarpaulin up , dispose of the litter and clear / disinfect it . Other poultry - keepers utilize dropping circuit board underneath the roosts .
Ashleigh Krispense
Whatever method you opt , a cleaner will need to be used to disinfect the surfaces as you go .
you’re able to use vinegar to disinfect as opposed to harsher chemicals . Once you do some enquiry and find out what method acting and cleaner will shape well for your need , set up a agenda for how often you need to clean out the coop .
As you clean , check in on the state of your waterers . bird incline to get manure in them , so so as to help prevent diseases such as coccidiosis , cleanse them regularly .
While you work in the poulet coop or run , take care for things that could possibly affect your birdie ’s foot health , such as nail , splinters or pieces of humbled methamphetamine hydrochloride . These could lead to foot hurt in the future if not disposed of . Ashleigh Krispense
3.Food & Nutrition
The feed you provide your birds with play a Brobdingnagian role in volaille health and wellness . Different kind and ages of domestic fowl will have different needs , so before you even buy your first skirt , depend into nutrition requirements . Keep in mind that they ’ll convert as the bird matures .
Likewise , pullet will have different needs from layers , etc .
In plus to their even dietary need , check what kickshaw or rubbish from the kitchen you could safely give to your birds and which food for thought to forfend . A cabbage that has been wed up to the top of the penitentiary and dangles down for them to peck is a safe food option that will also offer hour of enjoyment .
4.Have a Watchful Eye
A good flock supply ship should keep an centre out for signboard of something being off with any members of the pile . As metre locomote on , you ’ll get to point out how dissimilar birds have their own personality . Some will be a little more adventuresome and peculiar , while others may choose to stand a bit away from the eternal sleep .
realise these quirks and being able to notice when something is out of place can be helpful when trying to determine if one of your feathered Quaker is suffering from chicken wellness concerns .
Some things to be on the spotter for can bepretty obvious such as : broken fender or pegleg , phlebotomise wounds , broken pecker , bare rachis and so on .
While all of these problem will be middling easy to recognise , other complaint will require a trivial more diligence to catch . These might be symptoms of a more serious issue , such as lethargic posture , sore on thebody , optic or nasal expelling , cough , riotous ventilation or lack of appetite .
Be aware and knowwhat your chick attend like at their good so that you could recognize if poulet wellness starts to go downhill .
5.Learn to ID the Problem
Once you ’ve established that there is an issue in the mess , you call for to take action . The first step should be to remove the bird from the rest of the flock . This void infect the remainder of the fowl , and once wimp see blood or that another is offend , they can attack and pick up an injure bird to demise .
Thus , for the safety of the entire wad , move a sick or injured bird to a unlike localisation .
You might find that a big pawl crateful is handy to keep on hand for chicken that need to be isolated . Simply keep sweet water and food — if applicable to the situation — available and set the crate in a quiet , dark place .
If you necessitate to avail calm the bird , quiet place a sheet or towel over the crate . At this period , you might have an idea of what is wrong with your chicken , but here are a few canonic wellness concerns to be aware of :
At some point , you ’ll have a volaille with a physical trauma . For instance , a biddy with a bloodied , stripped back and humiliated feathers . If you have roosters in your raft , they tend to be the first to get blamed for causing this as excessive mounting during bringing up time of year can moderate to their prodding causing the backs of the biddy to become spare or raw .
snip the spine of the rooster or putting a “ saddleback ” on the hens ’ back can help alleviate this problem .
Pecking wounds might also come up from time to metre . While some breeds just tend to be more aggressive , the pecking could also be part of establishing a pecking order . Either way , keep an center on the dupe of the pecking .
Once chickens get a taste for blood , they can become cannibalistic and end up wipe out a hurt flock - Paraguay tea .
Another problem you might occur across will be foot injuries . Some of them can be prevent with a workaday checking of the coop for penetrative objects or splinters .
If your birds are barren - range , they ’ll have more opportunity to break away into things they should n’t , so solve to keep your homestead tidy and free of upset spyglass and funny , sharp thing just lie down around . Ashleigh Krispense
Finding that first bollock in the nest is one of the most exciting events of the poultry - custodian ’s life . A lot goes into that undivided nut , as each biddy expend around 25 hour get it . As you gather eggs , you might come across a few rum ones .
A “ gentle shell ” egg usually appears to have a very flimsy case shell , but in fact , it has no shell at all . It ’s simply the membrane that is control the egg yolk and clean of the egg in spite of appearance .
This problem might have come about because the hen underwent a fair amount of stress or fear and laid the testicle prematurely , or she could simply be lacking in calcium or vitamin D. To help avoid this topic in the future , up those nutrient in the poultry provender or body of water .
The episodic soft egg is nothing to worry about , unless it becomes a unconstipated payoff .
Another orchis - lay related take is when a hen becomes ballock - recoil . This would mean that an egg has become stuck inside of her . This is a serious health issue that needs to be deal with quickly as the poulet could go into daze .
You ’ll be able to identify it as the problem when she strains to push the egg out but it does n’t budge . At this point , a water - based lube and some quick saline answer can be used to lightly work the egg out .
Before you hightail it into this problem , show up about the best ways to respond to an egg - bound hen so that you ’ll be prepared if the time fall !
Pesky little creature such as poultry lice , mites , ticks or worms can lead to magnanimous problems if not attended to properly and in a timely fashion . One way to aid combat the issuance of leech on the consistence is to add diatomaceous earthly concern to the nests or wherever your hiss take their rubble baths .
DE is made up of petite , fossilized organism that are grind into a o.k. powder . When used in a Gallus gallus ’s dust bathroom , it make the dirt ball on the eubstance to dry out and die . Before using it , be sure you get food - score DE and get wind how to properly enforce it safely so you and your poultry wo n’t inhale the all right pulverisation .
A pack of other thing could make your poultry to shine ill , but when it comes to diseases , it ’s a good idea to learn a bit about them before you encounter any . realise the divergence between viral and bacterial diseases , and learn the basic stride to take when you think a chicken might be suffer from ill health .
As advert earlier , commence by removing a sick or injured bird from the rest of the flock if you ’re question how intelligent it is . A few unwashed disease in chickens include coccidiosis ( a parasitic disease ) , Marek ’s ( a extremely transmittable viral disease ) and rhinitis ( a respiratory disease ) .
Asyou wish for you chickens , you ’ll learn and spring up from your many different experiences . While you work to keep your stack healthy and well-chosen , expect the unexpected .
Things will happen that you ’ll have to decidehow to respond to . That ’s just part of the process . We all make mistakes , learn from our experience and have to keep on trying !
So pull on your flush , and go gather someeggs . You ’ve got to tend to your passel !
This clause originally appeared in the July / August 2021 subject ofChickensmagazine .
