I used to have dogs at the past, their vet was the best in the area of 20 miles. He performed 11 surguries for breast cancer to one of my dogs in a period of 8 years, that dog lived untill 14 yo and died of a heart attack naturally couple of years ago. I called that vet and asked him to see my chickens, and he refused, because they are "only chickens" I asked the local pet shop for a vet and they didnt bother to help me, because they are "only chickens" I want to make sure my hens are healthy and i want to pay for it but i am propably lost. My questions: Do chickens need a special vet? Arent they animals like the rest? Are those people (vet+petshop) ignorant, or am i ignorant by asking them for help for my chickens Should i look for a chicken vet? Is that a different proffesion other than the vet? I find my "only chickens" more important creatures than i find those people as human beings edit: Is calling random unknown to me vets and asking them if they care about chickens normal?
I use the State Vet at the Dept. of Ag, she is great, really helpful, and so far everything is free! Also you can email Peter Brown, AKA "the chicken doctor", at [email protected]. He sells meds. and helps you figure out which one(s) you need. He is great.
I am not sure vets view them as only chickens as much as for the most part they are considered livestock and treating them costs more than replacing them. I have a vet that is very interested in my hobby but tells me he simply has not had enough experience with birds to help me very much. When I have been in real trouble I have taken either a bird that died or one that I sacrificed to the university here and had them autopsy and tell me what was going on. I think the long and short of it is that there is not enough demand for pet chicken vets for them to get enough experience to treat them adequately. I live in a very rural area and I can find a vet for everything but my chickens. I think this is true in a lot of areas. Most chicken vets will work for a feed company or a large layer or grower operation. They often have a specialist on staff.
Ok thanks for the posts, now i know! I propably expect much from those people. Time to become my personal chicken vet hehe
First, not all vets are this way, but unfortunately , many are. Also, the anatomy, diseases and treatment of avian illness can be quite different than for mammals. Try to find an avian or exotics vet. Some of them may still give you that attitude, but hopefully you will find some that will be willing to work with you. An alternate route is to find a livestock (farm) vet who is willing to help you out. You address is listed as Mediterranean Sea, so I don;t know what country you are from to be even able to begin guessing at government resourses that might help you find a vet. Here is the US, every state (I think) has a Department of Agriculture, and at least one of the jobs in that office is State Vet. At the very least they can provide informational resources. Our counties (a political subdivision of a state) have extension offices that deal with agricultural issues, which could include providing lists of vets who will work with specific animals. An alternate resource would be to find a local poultry club and ask members if they have a vet that will treat chickens that they would recommend.
I had a hard time finding a good chicken vet in Seattle. You definitely need an avian vet, but even then, ask specifically if they know about chickens as opposed to only parakeets and such. In fact, I've changed the question I ask veterinary receptionists from "Does the vet know about chickens?" to "What experience does the vet have with chickens?" By the way, I totally sympathize with the "only chickens" thing. I ended up taking one of our girls to an ER about a month ago, and the vet refused to even TOUCH my chicken! I was furious. Good chicken vets are hard to find but they ARE out there. Good luck!
Go to the country & find a vet. Most vets that deal in livestock will also deal with your chickens. City vets probably have never seen chickens.
Quote:This is not true in my area at all. The country vets here are very familiar with everything on the farm except for poultry. I have a great vet that sort of specializes in odd stock such as LLama, pot bellied pigs etc. He was very empathetic with my need for a poultry vet but said he simply did not have enough experience to help me very much. With the exception of the "pet Chicken" folks, and I am not being critical of them the treatment of a chicken outweighs its value so not very many treat individual poultry issues. If I have an issue that I feel may be systemic I will cull a sick or dying bird and take it to the university where they will do a necropsy and give me some course of action for the flock.
Might be a bit of a drive or fly for ya but weve got a pretty good one here in my hometown. He treats anything with a heartbeat right down to our chickens if needed and a common grackle that my wife saved from certain death as a baby. I once took a hen to him to remove a treble hook she found and swallowed in her travels. I just didnt have enough hands for that. But in general chickens should need very little if any actual vet care and can be treated for most ailments by you.
