Am thinking of bringing my two pullets to the vet for a basic checkup.

Carolyn252

Mother of Chickens
15 Years
Feb 23, 2009
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Freeport/NassauCounty/L.I./NY
I only have two chickens. Have had them about three weeks now. They're about five months old. Seem perfectly healthy and content. Should start to lay soon as their combs and wattles are getting a bit bigger and definitely redder.
They do a fair amount of feather preening and they lose about three or four feathers every day. They are the best of friends and are always together.
They eat and drink well; poops seem soft formed and not loose or smelly.

I mist them twice a week or so with "Poultry Protector", lifting their wings and their tails to get the mist onto their skin as best I can. Lots of food-grade DE sprinkled with sand into the deep-litter pine shavings in the coop and all over the run.

There's a local vet office that calls itself an Animal Hospital and Bird Clinic, so I'm thinking of calling him and asking him if he's experienced with chickens at all.

If he is, I'd like to bring HennyPenny and ChickenLittle to the vet for a "well-baby" checkup. Just to make sure that there are no mites or lice itching them. And maybe a blood test to make sure that they are free of any blood-detectable problems.

Seems like a good idea to establish that the two girls are healthy to start with.
Has anyone else done this?
 
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why waste money? Are they sick
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Yes, don't worry too much. You take good care of them already.
I would ask the vet if he treats chickens for when you really need it and after that relax and enjoy your birds.
 
I dunno ... bringing in a couple of perfectly healthy pullets for blood tests is likely to give you a reputation as a crazy chicken lady ... I don't see how it would be beneficial to spend money on something like that, especially since the chickens aren't going to like it and the vet is likely to think you're nuts.
 
Hmmm... Now this may prove to be an interesting post. Some people have chickens strickly for pets. They bring their dog and cat in annually for a well pet visit, why not chickens? They could check for the overall health of the bird that you may not see, do a fecal check, check skin, etc. It may sound funny, but is it?...
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with that idea at all. That being said, I think you're likely to find that they are perfectly healthy.

While it will give your vet a baseline on what each of your birds is like now, they will fill out considerably over the next 6 months, and it may be better to do a well-bird visit at a year, when they'll be their adult size.

I have 19 pet chickens, and have had a couple go to the vet. We have a bird clinic that has two poultry trained vets, who are both in love with chickens. I feel very blessed to have them here, and I hope you find someone like that, too!

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Its your money. Do what you want with it.

I side with those who say it isn't needed if there are no problems. If it would add to your peace of mind and cost is no object (last vet visit I paid for cost an a** of money), then go for it.
 
The chances of a small-animal-and-bird vet having any CHICKEN experience are very small. You'd have better luck, in terms of actual chicken mileage, with a farm animal vet. I mean, the basic biology of a chicken is generally similar to, like, a parrot, but small-animal-and-bird vets are pretty unlikely to have chicken-specific experience or knowledge.

Of course if you want to spend upwards of a hundred dollars on it, and don't think the chickens will be overly stressed by it, sure... but otherwise, I sure wouldn't. Unless you have no other pets whatsoever, in which case I suppose an argument might be made for it. But even so I dunno.

Really, if you have no other pets, your best bet would be to adopt a couple cats, or dog(s). Honest
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And then take THEM to that clinic, or some other vet who will at least entertain the notion of seeing chickens should an emergency arise. Much of the time, if you have an existing (good) client relationship with a vet because of OTHER animals you own, they can be talked into seeing chickens if it should become necessary.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 
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This is something Pat has wrestled with recently in fact. She is in a good position to give this advice.

Not to greatly hijack, but how did that turn out, Pat?
 

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