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A Backyard Chicken Blog

Common Chicken Health Issues

1/18/2021

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None of us ever want our chickens to turn up sick; but sometimes, there's not a lot we can do to avoid it. Certain diseases of backyard poultry are more common than others.
We've put together a quick guide to recognizing illness, remedying the problem and protecting your flock, and a handful of the most frequently-seen ailments. 

Common Diseases of Backyard Poultry

We find that the majority of backyard poultry seems to fall ill with one of these:
  • Parasites
  • Fowlpox
    • Viral; spread by biting insects and fighting
    • Large caps form around scratch or scrape where virus enters the body
  • Nutritional deficiencies 
    • Often caused by table scrap exclusive diets
    • Calcium and vitamin A are most common
  • Salmonellosis
    • Bacterial; causes septicemia and enteritis in young fowl
    • Contracted orally
    • Spread by rodents
    • Diarrhea, closed eyes, thirst, dejection
  • Newcastle Disease 
    • Acute respiratory disease
    • Rapid-spreading
    • Symptoms may tend towards respiratory, digestive, or nervous
  • Coccidiosis
    • Parasitic; damages a specific region of chickens' guts
    • Loss of appetite, diarrhea, weight loss, ruffled feathers, nutrient deficiencies 

What to Do-- Natural and Medicinal Treatments
​

Obviously, the exact steps you should take to help your chicken (or chickens) depend on what negative symptoms you've observed. Some things to try include:
  • Feed supplements and additives 
    • Look for products that optimize nutrient consumption
  • Vet-approved medicinal treatment
  • More time outside, more time in dry and warm areas, space away from other birds

How to Protect Healthy Chickens

There are a number of things that chicken owners can do to prevent the spread of disease:
  • Quarantine sick birds until symptoms have cleared 
    • Some may need to be quarantined even longer as a precaution
  • Clean and disinfect the coop 
    • This means the coop that the sick chicken was in previously and its quarantine area once it returns to health 
  • Regularly disinfect feeders and waterers
  • Minimize exposure to external sources of contaminants
  • Follow a 30-day quarantine when adding new birds

How to Protect Yourself
  • Always wash your hands with soap and running water after 
    • Collecting eggs
    • Handling birds
    • Handling food and water containers or other bird equipment
    • Being in areas near poultry
  • Don't kiss poultry or let birds sit inside the house
  • Stay outdoors to clean poultry equipment

​Keeping yourself and your birds healthy isn't exactly rocket science, but it does take a little work. The good news is that you'll be rewarded with a happy, thriving flock!
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