A yearly chicken physical

[TreeFever]

If you were to perform a routine "physical" for your birds, say every couple months, what would your checklist look like for health?
I can think of:
- Clear and bright eyes
- sleek and clean scales on the legs
- well padded breast bone
- Check under the wings for mites ect

anything else?

 

[flakey chick]

Check the vent area for mites too.
Might go ahead and weigh them too.

 

[Matt A NC]

Open the mouth and look. The slit in the top of the mouth should be free of mucus and open. Look as far down the throat as you can. Everything should be a nice healthy pink. What you are looking for is any irritated places, scabs, yellow gunt, or anything else out of the ordinary. Also take a snif. If you smell anything sour or something that smells like infection you may have a problem.

Check the bottoms of the feet for any scabs or bumbles.

Matt

 

[patandchickens]

I blow the feathers apart to look for mites/lice (er, that didn't come out sounding right

... I mean, I blow into the feathers to quickly part them so I can look for buggies at skin level before they scurry away, you know?)

Pat

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Quote: