How to keep healthy chickens?

[acates]

What advice would you give a first timer on raising healthy chickens? What is the most important thing you can do for your flock to insure their health?

 

[Nambroth]

1) Know the origins of your birds and their flock history. While some disease can find your chickens no matter the precaution, many of them need a vector. If you are not buying direct from a hatchery, research carefully to make sure that you start with healthy birds.

2) Some find it very useful to contact their local agricultural/poultry extensions, as maintained by the state. They will have a good idea of what diseases are more common in your area. Consider vaccinating against said diseases, if they are prevalent locally. Note that some vaccines must be administered when the chicks are newborn, so learn about this ahead of time.

3) Prepare for your birds before they arrive. Make sure that they have safe, clean, roomy, and secure areas to sleep. Depending on predators in your area (this includes local dogs, sadly), you might want to consider how best to protect them. Some people prefer large enclosed runs. Some do 'supervised' free range. It depends on your level of comfort with risk. It is a personal decision.

4) Keep the coop reasonably clean. They are chickens and it won't be spotless 100% of the time unless you have a lot of free time... but it doesn't need to be filthy either. If you open the coop and it doth offend thy nose and eyes, consider making some husbandry changes! The easier it is for you to clean the coop, the more likely you will be to do it. If you don't have a coop yet, be sure to buy or build one that is easy for you to keep clean and well tended. Consider the needs of the birds, and what breeds you will keep. If you plan on having heavier breeds, things such as lowered roosting perches can go a long way to prevent leg and foot problems. Some people like to use "poop boards" (you can do a search to learn more). Decide what method of bedding will work best for you.

5) Anything you can do to reduce stress will only benefit the overall immune systems and health of the birds. Consider that you are a 5lb ground-dwelling bird that nearly everything in the universe would like to eat. What things would reduce your stress? Don't over-crowd your birds, give them more room than you think they will need. Don't keep them next to a large, threatening dog, etc.

6) What goes in comes out. Provide the best nutrition that you can and you will be rewarded with healthier birds and healthier eggs. Quality foraging is great (don't use chemical treatments or insect control on your lawn, consider letting the weeds get a bit taller than you usually do for the chickens to graze on, etc), but formulated feed is important for most keepers too. Make sure the feed is FRESH, DRY, and of good quality ingredients. Moldy, wet, and stale feed are recipes for disaster!

7) Keep the waterers clean and full. Chickens drink more than you think they will!

8) Practice good "biosecurity". The idea behind this is that it is very easy to spread disease to chickens, so if you ever visit a place that has poultry, be aware you can track home diseases. Consider washing yourself and your shoes/clothes before visiting your own chickens when you get home. Same for bringing home new birds... quarantine for 30-60 days in separate airspace from your current flock, and know that even this is not a guarantee against a bird carrying latent disease.

9) Keep a first aid kit on hand for the most common chicken problems. "Common" issues are: Coccidiosis, egg binding, minor injury (pecking, minor cuts, etc), minor deficiencies (lack of protein during molt is an issue, sometimes lack of calcium is a problem, etc), parasites (internal and external such as worms and mites). Search for chicken first aid kits on the forum to see what other people keep on hand just in case!

10) Learn who your local vets-- if any-- are before you have a problem. Similarly, find out if your state does low cost testing in case you DO have a problem! Know this info beforehand and you will be armed with knowledge.

11) Familiarize yourself with normal chicken behaviors, postures, etc. The better you are at observing your birds, the faster you will realize if there is a problem or abnormal behavior. Birds hide illness, so the sooner you notice that something is wrong, the better your chances of saving the bird!! Along these lines, be comfortable with occasionally handling the chickens to check them over. Some problems are only a major issue if they are neglected for a long time...

12) Enjoy them!! They certainly are good for my health most of the time.

 

[gander007]

Good feed I use turkey grow ...

Clean water and worm once to twice a year ....

Clean living environment ....

 

[cafarmgirl]

Not much to add to what's already been said but something I've found very helpful to do is to start a chicken medical care notebook where you can keep track of how to treat various injuries, illness or diseases as well as what to use and what dose for routine things like deworming etc. as well as where to obtain various medications. Veterinary care for chickens is very hard to come by in many areas or not available at all, not very many folks are lucky enough to have access to an avian vet and most other vets either won't see or just don't know anything about chickens. And if you do find one cost is often prohibitive. So most of us learn to treat as much as we can ourselves.

 

[acates]

What can I use to sanitize food and water containers? Or clean poop boards? Do you just rinse them or can you use soap?
Do I need to give them antibiotics to prevent illness or only when there is a problem?
When should I worm them. My pullets are about 7 weeks old.

 

[cafarmgirl]

What can I use to sanitize food and water containers? Or clean poop boards? Do you just rinse them or can you use soap?
Do I need to give them antibiotics to prevent illness or only when there is a problem?
When should I worm them. My pullets are about 7 weeks old.

Antibiotic's should never be used in an attempt to prevent illness, only to treat a known illness.

As far as cleaning, I don't have poop boards but I just rake up droppings from under the roost every morning and remove it. If you have a poop board you might sprinkle it with Sweet PDZ or even a thin layer of shavings to make sweeping it off each morning simple. I don't do a lot of scrubbing of feeders and water containers, I just rinse and change water every day, but when I do I just use some dish soap.

I deworm adult birds twice a year. Once in the summer and once in the dead of winter when laying is decreased anyway since you need to discard eggs. Good dewormers include Valbazen and liquid Safeguard for goats. I do the first deworming around 8 months old or so. How often you need to deworm depends on your location. Hot/dry climate = less deworming, warm/wet = more parasites and more need to deworm to stay on top of it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My list toward raising healthy chickens includes first and foremost, keep things dry. A wet brooder, coop, or run is an unhealthy place for chickens. When the weather sets in wet it can be real hard to keep a decent sized run dry, but do the best you can. If it starts to stink with an ammonia smell, it is probably wet.

I only medicate when I have a reason. Prevention of a possible problem is not a reason to me. I prefer to develop their immune system. Feed them dirt from the start so they can work on building up a strong immune system.

Don’t coddle them by giving them extra heat. Once they feather out, they don’t need it. Let them get acclimatized.

Clean water is essential. I don’t worry about sanitizing it, just keep it fresh. If the watering containers start turning green with algae, I will use a weak bleach solution to clean them, but I do not try to keep them in a sterile environment. I want their immune system to protect them. But remember, clean water is essential. Change it regularly to keep disease bugs from growing in there as well as mosquito larva rom maturing. Dump it out regularly, don’t just refill it.

I don’t worry about trying to keep their coop pristine. A little dried poop won’t hurt a thing. Poop building up to a thickness that it stays damp is a problem, and it will probably stink. You do need to manage the poop so it does not smell, but dried poop will not smell and will not cause diseases. Their immune system is a much greater protection than anything else you can do. Allow their immune system to stay strong.

If they want to play in the rain, let them once they feather out. Rain won’t hurt them. They will probably like it.

Feed them a balanced diet. Chicken feed by itself is a balanced diet, but like most other people on here I like to feed them extra. Just feed extra in moderation so their diet stays relatively balanced, and try to vary what that extra is a bit. Think moderation, not abstinence.

Heat kills a lot more chickens than cold. Make sure they have shade and cooler places to go when it gets hot.

I consider biosecurity important. The more they are exposed to other chickens the more likelihood there is that they will catch something, so limit their exposure.

The coop need good ventilation, winter and summer. Summer for the heat, obviously, but in winter you need to get rid of moisture from their breathing and poop as well as ammonia from decaying poop. In the winter openings above their heads when they are on the roosts are good. In the hot summer, all the openings you can give them is good, high low, or in the middle.

In summary keep their area healthy, which means dry but not sterile, use their immune system as your first line of defense, and let them be chickens. Good luck!

 

[gander007]

What can I use to sanitize food and water containers? Or clean poop boards? Do you just rinse them or can you use soap?
Do I need to give them antibiotics to prevent illness or only when there is a problem?
When should I worm them. My pullets are about 7 weeks old.

I use hot water and Dawn dish soap then rinse very well ..... Now is fine ...

 

[Nambroth]

What can I use to sanitize food and water containers? Or clean poop boards? Do you just rinse them or can you use soap?
Do I need to give them antibiotics to prevent illness or only when there is a problem?
When should I worm them. My pullets are about 7 weeks old.

Use of antibiotics, which are medicine, without treating a specific illness is just asking for trouble! Never give antibiotics preventatively unless there is a specific problem that warrants their use. Overuse (mostly use when unnecessary) of antibiotics is starting to become a really bad problem, globally.

A good priobiotic, which is supplemental beneficial bacteria, is a useful thing to add to feed though! You can buy it as a powder and a little will last most flocks a long time.

 

[acates]

Is yogurt a good probiotic? Also I have herd of water tablets..is that necessary?