I would like to add, for all the time I have had chickens up until about 6 months ago, I had no access to a veterinarian that would treat chickens. In the course of that time I have dealt with many illnesses. Fortunately not many actual injuries. My first treatment was for a prolapse of the cloaca which required me to break the egg. There was no other way. I found a way to manage it.
I have only given antibiotics twice in my time as a chicken keeper. Once to cure Daisy's, the greatest hen ever, salpingitis. The damage from the salpingitis would prove fatal in the end anyway. The second time was to try and treat Patsy's possible E Coli infection, also unsuccessful. (I think that whatever was wrong with Patsy, the E Coli was secondary to it).
Perhaps the veterinarian could have diagnosed Patsy but who knows if she could have saved her. Since I have found a veterinarian, I have had no reason to take anyone to see her. I feel truly blessed by that.
Mostly I have learned the following in my now 8 years of backyard chicken keeping.
- Watch for any signs of changes in behavior. You must know how they normally behave. Starting with what is normal behavior based upon the weather conditions and their condition (molting). What is normal for Hattie when she is molting is different than when she is not. Hattie will also seem lethargic compared to Phyllis when it is hot out.
- Chickens can have off days. Sometimes I think they get headaches or tummy aches just like us.
- You don't always need to act immediately. Because they have off days, in general I don't intervene day 1. In fact, I leave them alone. If they aren't up to snuff that day they don't need me manhandling them.
- Treat conservatively. Don't worm or use antibiotics unless you are certain that something is actually happening. Resistance to both is real and can develop quickly if you use them too much. Without a vet, antibiotics are very hard to obtain. I had to be careful using them. I might not have been able to get more. This helped me to remember to conserve those bullets I did have.
- Every odd colored poop does not mean they need treated. @CrazyChookChookLady was down yesterday and we were watching the girls roam the yard. Miss Aurora had a nasty runny black poo right in front of us and I off handed commented to Miss Aurora that she needed to knock that off or I was going to have to do a float on her. CCCL heard me and quickly said, "that's a pretty normal poop for eating a lot of grapes". Now I wasn't going to test after just one weird poop and I certainly wasn't going to worm her. There are a lot of grapes on the ground because I have been cleaning up the grape vines. Which leads to.......
- It's usually not a zebra. In my experience it is almost always something simple and they can take care of it themselves. Chickens do have pretty good immune systems. Somehow they know what to eat of drink. Yes sometimes they need help but most of the time they just need access to choices. Free range time or more selections from you will do more to help them than any medical intervention ever would.
- Leave them with the others if at all possible. The tribe is their support system. Unless it would somehow be infectious, I would not remove an unwell chook from the tribe. Both Patsy and Daisy were with their friends right to the end.
I'm going to stop here as this has gotten really long. In short, be conservative, give them a chance to right themselves, and above all, know your chicken's normal.
with you 
for her. That is a pretty intent expression!
I finally got the camera to connect to the computer
is the one in the back right. 'Dusty" she has a pretty dusty grey/beige color. Yeah, I know..
my naming scheme isn't too original 
, RIP. She was always a naked chicken when molting. I miss her dearly.)
