Chicken Diseases And Cures

Chicken Health, Diseases And Problems

Chicken Health Is so Important because most coops and pens are designed so that they Hens are relatively close to each other. This close proximity makes for a higher probability that the diseases or parasites will be transmitted quickly and viciously throughout your whole flock. Whether your raising chickens for a profit, or trying to lead a self sustaining lifestyle, this can quickly throw a wrench in the works.

You don’t want to pay for vaccinations for the whole flock, so learning to spot signs of disease early on can save you money.

Nutritional Diet

The easiest way to prevent chickens from getting a disease in the first place is to make sure they’re getting the right nutrition. Healthy hens aren’t prone illness.

Check for malnutrition by looking at the eggs. If they are cracked often or soft, you’ll want to buy a different feed or spice up their diet with some nutritional snacks.

Now we’ll go over some of the most common chicken diseases.

Coccidiosis

Symptoms: Paleness in skin color, lowered egg production, and blood in the stool.

This is a serious disease because it can be fatal if left untreated. You can get certain vaccinations and medicines to prevent and cure this disease, but the best way of nipping it in the butt is checking the Hens droppings periodically and making sure theres nothing strange about them.

Parasites

Probably the most common health problem in chickens are parasites. There usually aren’t any signs or symptoms.

Roundworms

Roundworms can eliminate your flock, and they’re fairly common. There are outward signs and symptoms you can look for though.

If your chickens are unnaturally skinny and egg production is very low, then it’s probably roundworms.

Check for roundworms by getting a feces sample and letting your veterinarian diagnose it.

A common wormer is piperazine wormer. It’s cheap, and begins working quickly. You can find one at any feed store, and sometimes veterinarian offices carry one depending on your region.

Ugh, Tape worms.

Like roundworm, tapeworms cause chickens to become much thinner than is usual. Like other parasites, you can check for it by acquiring a stool sample. Make sure to diagnose what kind of problem you think you have before undergoing any treatments.

Make sure your coop is completely free of flies and you can avoid tapeworms usually altogether. Beetles, slugs, and flies can cause tapeworms. There are wormers available to rid your flock of these parasites.

Ammonia Burn

Painful looking black marks on legs are known as ammonia burns. They will cause lopsided eggs, watery eyes, blindness, and facial swelling among your chickens.

Vitamin A can help treat ammonia burns, but make sure you replace the bedding with dry material first. This is because ammonia burns happen most commonly from stepping on too much excrement. Cleanliness is key in preventing Ammonia burns in your flock.

Learn more about chicken helath. Stop by David Daffae’s site where you can find out all about Chicken information and what it can do for your flock.