KEEPING YOUR HOME FLOCK HEALTHY

Water availability

Like all living things, chickens need to stay hydrated to thrive. Easy access to fresh, clean and cool water at all times is critical, especially over the hot summer months. Pay particular attention to water temperature in summer and try to avoid black plastic containers, as they will heat up very quickly in the sun.

Use the following table as a guide to how much your chooks are likely to drink. Bear in mind that actual consumption will depend on the size of bird, level of egg production, the season and the type of drinker you’re using.

Water Quality

Water quality is commonly overlooked as an important factor in caring for backyard chickens. Your chooks’ favourite drop should be fresh and free from chemical contaminants, water-borne parasites and infectious agents. Water with a high salt content is also not good for chickens, and can cause poor shell quality and wet litter.

If you’re using surface water (dam, river or irrigation) or any water from a source that has potentially been contaminated by waterfowl and other wild birds, it must be sanitised first. Your produce store or pet-food store should have everything you need to do this.

As a rule of thumb, try to give your flock water that you’d be happy to give a person! Potable and treated tap water is absolutely fine. It’s also a good idea to keep drinking water off the ground so it stays clean and free of droppings.

Note: In extremely hot weather a good
rule to follow is to provide at least three
times the usual water allowance.

GOOD HOUSE-KEEPING

Keeping your backyard flock healthy isn’t difficult and comes down to good basic house-keeping and hygiene practices. A little routine goes a long way, and we’ve provided a breakdown of the tasks you’ll need to do daily, weekly and monthly, as well as a couple of the jobs you’ll need to do occasionally in special circumstances.

Daily

• Check that there is sufficient cool, fresh, clean water available.
• Top up the feeder. Chickens should have enough food to eat when they need to.
• Give your chickens a visual check over to make sure they look lively and have no obvious signs that would indicate a health problem.
• Collect eggs twice a day and put them straight in the fridge! This will maximise their freshness and help avoid broodiness and egg eating in your flock.

Weekly

• Clean out dirty nests and any droppings in the hen house. This is essential to minimise the risk of disease and fly problems. If you’re going to use the manure on your garden, make sure you let it mellow in a composter first.
• Remove damp litter or soil and replace it with clean, new material which will significantly reduce the risk of nasties like coccidiosis.
• Check over the hen house to make sure there are no new gaps or faulty latches which might allow predators in at night.
• Check for signs of rats or other pests.
• Move the run to a new place to ensure their grazing area remains fresh.

Monthly

• Deter mites and lice by painting perches with a mix of lime and water.
• Thoroughly clean out and sanitise nest boxes.
• Fix up leaky drinkers or taps. Damp conditions promote the build-up of internal parasites in the flock.
• Dust chickens with a powder that kills lice and mites. e,g. Pestene powder.

Occasional tasks

• Before introducing new birds to the hen house, all old litter material should be removed and the house should be washed down with a detergent.
• You should also sanitise it with an approved sanitiser for poultry houses. Ideally, to control external parasites and litter beetles, the house should also be treated with an approved insecticide.

COMMON PROBLEMS

Even with the best of care, chickens occasionally do get sick. A sick chook will do her best to hide her symptoms (an evolutionary defence against predators), so it’s important that you know what to look for. Table 1 provides a summary of the most common illnesses, as well as their causes, symptoms and some good ways to prevent and manage them.

From time to time, just like other domestic animals, chickens can also exhibit behavioural problems. A summary of the more common ones is provided in Table 2, along with suggestions for their management.

WHEN TO CALL A VET

Unfortunately, once chickens get seriously ill they tend to go downhill very quickly and are unlikely to recover without professional help.  In this situation, you will need to make the difficult decision about whether you want to have your hen medically treated or whether it would be more humane to have her euthanised.  It’s a choice nobody wants to make, and you should take into consideration the hen’s quality of life, the cost of treatment and the likelihood of success.

It’s also worth remembering that not all small animal vets are experienced with the treatment of chickens. You may want to do some research ahead of time (i.e. before you have a sick chicken) to find the best place to go.

TO HELP PREVENT DISEASE AND BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS IN YOUR BACKYARD FLOCK, IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP STRESS TO A MINIMUM, FEED A COMMERCIAL COMPLETE AND BALANCED DIET  AND IMPLEMENT GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AND QUARANTINE PRACTICES.

COMMON HEALTH PROBLEMS

Aspergillosis

Fungal disease caused when the spores of Aspergillosis germinate and are inhaled causing respiratory problems in chickens.

• Laboured breathing
• Lethargy
• Seizures

If left untreated can lead to death.

Management of aspergillosis infection involves stress management, environmental cleaning with antifungal agents and antifungal medications where required.

Bumblefoot

Severe swelling of the foot caused by the bacteria, Staphylococcus auerus.

• Once bacteria become established in a cut or ulcer, balding of the chickens scales and redness and swelling result

Remove affected birds and treat early injuries by daily cleaning with sterile saline, diluted Betadine (weak tea colour) or antibiotic creams.

Coccidiosis

A disease caused by the intestinal parasite, Eimeria that causes symptoms from diarrhoea to death. Birds under 14 weeks of age are most at risk. Beyond the point of lay, birds will generally have developed an immunity to coccidia.

• Diarrhoea
• Weight loss
• Bloody droppings
• Hunched posture
• Ruffled feathers
• Huddled

If left untreated, is often fatal.

Good animal husbandry practices that avoid damp ground litter in the hen house (which encourages the survival and maturation of the occyst-the infectious stage of the coccidiosis life cycle). Given the prevalence of coccidiosis, use of an anticoccidial feed additive is advised for chicks and pullets.

External parasites

External parasitic infestations include ticks, lice and mites which can live on the birds or in the hen house and feed off the chickens when they roost.

• Drop off in egg production
• Leg scales that are enlarged and start to lift are indicative of scaly leg mite

• Deter mites and lice by painting the perches with a mix of lime and water every month
• Regular use of a poultry lice control or dust will help to remove lice parasites which infest birds around the vent and neck

Vent problem

A problem with the vent (the area where the egg, urine, faeces and urates pass) due to Infection (Vent Gleet), being egg bound or a prolapse.

• Swelling in the area
• Redness
• Discharge
• Feathers stuck to vent
• Odour
• Pecking at the backend

Actual vent problems are serious and should be seen by a veterinarian. Treatment involves feeding the chicken back to full health, increasing immunity, reducing stress, and medications for any infection.

Wounds

Wounds can range from small scratches to severe open cuts caused by objects in the environment, the action of parasites or aggression from other birds.

• Missing feathers
• Signs of blood
• Withdrawal from the flock

Small wounds

• Trim feathers around the wound
• Wash with warm sterile saline
• Consider an approved antibiotic ointment

Large wounds and with bleeding

• Consult a vet

BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS

Egg eating

When a chicken breaks and eats an egg and develops a liking to it. It often starts as an accidental exposure to a broken egg, which leads to curious pecking and a liking to it A chicken may also eat egg shells if deficient in calcium.

Presence of broken eggs in the nests

First make sure the culprit is not a snake,  rat or other wildlife. As chickens imitate each other and follow suit it is critical that this behaviour is stopped as soon as it is detected. This includes prompt removal of broken eggs and collecting eggs twice a day, and recondition behaviour preparing a bad tasting egg mixture for the culprit hens.