Official BYC Poll: What Do You Do With Seriously Sick/Injured Chickens?

[BDutch]

So far I didn’t have many sick chickens.
It depended on the illness and situation what I choose to do.

problems so far:

1
I had sneezing chicks, they contaminated each other before I could seperate. Asking advice. Forum members suggested
- Go to a vet and ask for antibiotics.
- Wait and see because with antibiotics you get weak chicks.
I choose the last. Finally they all recovered.

2
Chicken with pasty but/ thin stool. Been reading about treatment. Quarantined. Gave feed with DE. Recovered after a week. Gave all the chickens feed with DE in intervals after that. It reoccurred once more. Other chickens never had this.

3
This spring I had a sick chicken with a strange belly and a difficulty to walk . It didn’t seem infectious for the other chickens but an internal problem. I waited and see, but had no high hopes. I let her sleep in a box she choose to sleep in. Gave feed and drink in front of her. Next day she died.

 

[Waves]

If a chicken is clearly dying and there's nothing i can do, i do this:

If on a clear downhill spiral but very subdued/out of it: comfortable crate inside with favorite stuff available until she passes in her sleep

If i can do anything, i try all my best and sometimes it goes well, sometimes not.
Actually haven't culled any chicken so far, I'm not able to do this, even when it would be a good idea.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I'd probably try to stabilise in a cage indoors, ask the forum for advice, and find a vet appointment soon

 

[Ascholten]

Bring her in, take care of her as best as I can, if it's something that she won't come back from, then Id humanely cull her. Otherwise TLC and heal.

aaron

 

[Mtnboomer]

My chickens are livestock. Minor injuries or illness is treated but serious issues are culled. Less pain and suffering for the animals and less risk to the remaining birds.

 

[Ascholten]

My chickens are livestock. Minor injuries or illness is treated but serious issues are culled. Less pain and suffering for the animals and less risk to the remaining birds.

Not to mention, time consuming, if you are spending 2 hours a day tending to sick birds, that's two hours you are NOT spending on the garden, the rest of the animals etc etc.

Aaron

 

[Tclloyd0812]

1. Separate/quarantine
2. Try my best to diagnose the problem from experience as well as research and experienced BYC members' help.
3. Try my best to solve the issue with TLC and medication that you can get at the feed store or online.
4. If not treatable or if it causes me to have to close my flock, I will cull the bird and possibly all of my others if they were infected too.

I say I would cull because last year I had a beautiful flock. I introduced 2 new laying hens (adults) and quarantined them for a few weeks. Everything seemed fine and then all the sudden my birds starting getting watery eyes, couldn't breathe and were falling like flies. I tried everything but from research and experience it seemed my birds contracted mycoplasma. I culled the whole flock (what was left) and even the ones that were more like pets. It was absolutely horrible. But I had silkies in the incubator (from another farm) and I didn't want to have to forfeit my silkies because they would end up getting sick too. We had to clean the coop a couple times the best we could, sprayed it out and aired it out for 6 weeks before we introduced any new chicks. Now we will never bring home a grown hen. And non of the ones I have now that are now all laying have been sick or what have you... but I would cull again if it meant preventing a closed flock. We breed birds and would not risk contaminating someone else's flock. It's not a fun thing to go through.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Honestly, it depends on the situation.

What I always do first is take the injured bird inside, and put it in a tub with shaving, food, and water, in the house so I can watch the chicken closely.

I first try to see if I can spot what’s wrong, but if I can’t, or don’t know what to do, then I ask on this amazing forum.

Usually the experts on here give advice (and ask a lot of questions) and I try my best to follow what they say.

(Like a recent time with a Rhode Island Red named Ponyo who we believe had reproductive cancer and Azygous was super helpful, told us what we could do to try and help her (we originally thought she was egg bound, but soon realized it was worse, Ponyo passed after a few weeks of care. She had seemed to get better, but then suddenly turned for the worse)

If it’s minor, like a small bump on an eye, I usually wait and see if it’s going to get better, but if it doesn’t in a few days, then I quarantine the bird.

I’ll visit the vet if it’s not something I can help with at home, like with Jasmine the Black Australorp with nerve damage in her legs. She couldn’t walk at all, but now, after many months of care, she’s like any other chicken! Running around to get all the mealworms and try to slip out the gate when I go to feed them!

I’ve never had to cull a bird because of injury, I usually hope for the best, but I assume sometime I might have to do that.

 

[cassie]

I treated injuries. If I had a chicken with what appeared to be an infectious disease I would put it down and carefully dispose of the carcass. Poor doers I put in the pot. Nursing these along is an exercise in futility.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've only had one injured bird and found the treatment information I needed here. She recovered with isolation in a dog crate and antibiotic ointment.

I cannot envision spending money on a vet visit for a chicken. They're livestock, not pets.