Help Wanted With Personal Project

[EChicky]

Hello community members


I am wondering if I might solicit your advice and assistance with something.


My daughter is in 10th grade and they are tasked with doing a personal project, which is defined as a “topic of their own choosing that benefits the community.” This means it can be any topic they are passionate about and would culminate in a presentation of the material in any way they choose.


My daughter just so happens to be passionate about the care and wellbeing of animals. We have a beautiful flock of hens and she has always been the one to research and find ways to help them when they seem ill. It has always been a source of frustration that the information is so hard to find, and vets are so expensive. She refuses to give up on a sick animal and always turns to this group for support.


With this in mind, she has chosen to do her personal project on chickens. She wants to compile a resource where fellow chicken keepers are able to look for advice on how to help with certain illnesses and home remedies.


We often find that, when chickens are sick, there is a small window of time where you can help them, since they hide their symptoms for so long. This resource would help the community find that information more quickly.


That is where I need your help. No one person has all the information and everyone has different ideas on how to treat each ailment. I was hoping that you could share your experiences, advice, and information about maladies that have affected your chickens. What are the some both commonly occurring and/or afflictions you have encountered, and what ways have you treated sick chickens? Both home remedies and veterinary advice are welcome!


The information you share, and the end project, will not be used for profit or shared broadly and it would come with a precaution, so those reading will know that these are suggested remedies, not proven. If you would like, she can even give individuals credit in her book/website.


Thank you so much, as always, for all your support!

 

[alinas2010]

Hello community members


I am wondering if I might solicit your advice and assistance with something.


My daughter is in 10th grade and they are tasked with doing a personal project, which is defined as a “topic of their own choosing that benefits the community.” This means it can be any topic they are passionate about and would culminate in a presentation of the material in any way they choose.


My daughter just so happens to be passionate about the care and wellbeing of animals. We have a beautiful flock of hens and she has always been the one to research and find ways to help them when they seem ill. It has always been a source of frustration that the information is so hard to find, and vets are so expensive. She refuses to give up on a sick animal and always turns to this group for support.


With this in mind, she has chosen to do her personal project on chickens. She wants to compile a resource where fellow chicken keepers are able to look for advice on how to help with certain illnesses and home remedies.


We often find that, when chickens are sick, there is a small window of time where you can help them, since they hide their symptoms for so long. This resource would help the community find that information more quickly.


That is where I need your help. No one person has all the information and everyone has different ideas on how to treat each ailment. I was hoping that you could share your experiences, advice, and information about maladies that have affected your chickens. What are the some both commonly occurring and/or afflictions you have encountered, and what ways have you treated sick chickens? Both home remedies and veterinary advice are welcome!


The information you share, and the end project, will not be used for profit or shared broadly and it would come with a precaution, so those reading will know that these are suggested remedies, not proven. If you would like, she can even give individuals credit in her book/website.


Thank you so much, as always, for all your support!

That’s an awesome project for your kido, she sounds like she has a great heart!

You’re in the right place for advice on chicken ailments. People come here because there is often limited access to avian vets and sometimes vets willing to see chickens don’t offer the greatest advice. I’d trust a lot of the educators here more than some vets we see.

Have you checked out any of the articles here on the site? There are some great ones for a lot of different ailments.

Myself, I have had to treat a chicken for what I thought was a yeast infection in her crop after a course of antibiotics for a reproductive infection. Her crop grew really large and did not shrink. She quit eating and only pooped liquid. Her crop was sort of doughy. Her symptoms really didn’t fit any of the classic crop “illnesses” like impacted crop or sour crop. She was ailing very fast, getting skinny and not eating. I used a women’s yeast infection medication as a last ditch effort because I did not know how to treat as I couldn’t narrow down what she had going on. The medication was recommended in one of the articles, only the symptoms were a little different than what she presented. But it worked! Her crop shrank and she got better. The story and struggle to get to the solution is much longer, but that’s the short and sweet of that one!

Injury-wise, basically, always treat for shock first as that can kill faster than most injuries. This is done by separating the injured chicken somewhere warm, dim and quiet and getting some electrolyte and sugar water solution into them. Something such as pedialyte or Gatorade at room temp work well. Homemade electrolyte solutions can be googled, also. Depending on the state of the injured chicken, you may need to dip the beak in or dribble some fluid on the side of the beak to get them to ingest some. Never directly pour fluid into the beak otherwise you risk aspiration. Work very quickly. Next rinse any wounds with saline or warm water to remove debris, then spray with a wound spray such as Vetericyn or hibiclense. Slather the wound in a triple antibiotic ointment such as neosporin, after that. No gauze. Make sure you never use anything with pain relief in it, as it is toxic to chickens. Do this wound care process x2 a day until the wound heals. You will usually need to keep the chicken isolated until healed to avoid pecking to the injury. Sometimes a chicken will not eat well isolated when recovering, give them time and remember they’re in pain, scared, possibly in shock and in a new place (isolated inside the house probably) especially a young chicken. If after a few days the chicken doesn’t resume eating, I recommend bringing in a friend for short supervised visits. This usually perks them right up!

You could also search threads about first aid kits people keep for their chickens. Sometimes people list the reasons why they keep stuff on hand on those threads.

 

[Penpal]

I have found that frankincense essential oil will stop bleeding. I have used on puncture wounds when my dog was bitten by a foster dog and it worked great. Chickens can take frankincense orally or dabbed on the skin. It is potent and needs to be diluted.

Lavender is another good essential oil and much less expensive than frankincense. It is also easy to grow and very pretty. Chickens will only eat it if they need it.

 

[EChicky]

Thank you so much! I’ll check the things you mentioned out!