❤ Chickens And The Problems You Might Run Into. ❤
Chickens are my best friends but you may run into a lot of problems so this is a guide to help you out. Enjoy
There are many things that can happen to your chickens but most of the times there are ways to fix it without having to go to the local vet. Here are some of the problems I have had with my chickens and ways to prevent or treat them.
Bumble Foot
Bumble Foot is an infection that a chicken gets when they cut or puncture the bottom of there foot and becomes infected. After a while they can start to have trouble walking and may stop walking causing wait loss and death. If you find it early enough some times you can clean the wound and it will heal itself but most of the time you have to perform chicken surgery to remove the infecting. The way to do that is you have to take and cut out the infection in their foot, be sure that you cover the chickens head and hold them very still. Also make sure you have a sterile knife, a towel, triple antibiotic, gauze, Epsom salt, a very sharp knife or box knife and band aid pads. First soak their foot for about 5-10 minutes in the Epsom salt. Then slowly take the box knife and cut around the big spot of infection until it is loose but try not to damage the foot by just slicing away. The main infection also called the cork should just pop out once you have loosened it enough. Once you have removed it make sure there is no more infection by kneading the foot pad and feeling for any more hard spots in the foot. Once you are done fill the hole with some triple antibiotic and cut a small square out of the band aid pad. Take the square and put it one the hole and rap the foot in gauze. Separate the chicken for a couple days to keep the foot clean while it heals. If you don't clean out all of the infection an keep the foot clean there is a good change the Bumble Foot will just come back and you will have to threat it again. Your Chicken should heal up fine but keep changing the band aid and putting triple antibiotic on the wound to keep it clean and prevent infection.
If you would like a video on how to do bumble foot surgery then here is a link to help you out -
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( Images from Google images )
A really bad case of bumble foot.
Egg Eating
Egg Eating starts when a hen finds a broken egg, eats it and learns to love it . An egg can get broken from a hen stepping on it to the other hens pecking at it. After awhile the hen will start looking for broken eggs and start breaking them herself. Sometimes the hen is eating the eggs because she is low on protein, calcium or because she's bored. If you suspect your chicken is suffering from a calcium deficiency mix some crushed oyster shells into there feed or put them in a dish in their pen. The oyster shells will supply them with the calcium they are missing. If you are suspecting a protein deficiency try feeding them protein rich foods like sun flower seeds, fish or even some cat food.
Make sure to remove any broken eggs from the nest as soon as you find one so the hens don't eat it. Also try to keep lost of bedding in the nests to prevent the eggs from breaking when they are laid.
Make sure to collect your eggs often to help prevent egg eating. If you don't have time to constantly be collecting eggs you should consider getting a roll away nesting box. These nesting boxes have a built in slant so the egg will roll out of the next and where the chickens can't get to it when it's laid.
( Image from Google images )
Chickens are my best friends but you may run into a lot of problems so this is a guide to help you out. Enjoy
There are many things that can happen to your chickens but most of the times there are ways to fix it without having to go to the local vet. Here are some of the problems I have had with my chickens and ways to prevent or treat them.
Bumble Foot
Bumble Foot is an infection that a chicken gets when they cut or puncture the bottom of there foot and becomes infected. After a while they can start to have trouble walking and may stop walking causing wait loss and death. If you find it early enough some times you can clean the wound and it will heal itself but most of the time you have to perform chicken surgery to remove the infecting. The way to do that is you have to take and cut out the infection in their foot, be sure that you cover the chickens head and hold them very still. Also make sure you have a sterile knife, a towel, triple antibiotic, gauze, Epsom salt, a very sharp knife or box knife and band aid pads. First soak their foot for about 5-10 minutes in the Epsom salt. Then slowly take the box knife and cut around the big spot of infection until it is loose but try not to damage the foot by just slicing away. The main infection also called the cork should just pop out once you have loosened it enough. Once you have removed it make sure there is no more infection by kneading the foot pad and feeling for any more hard spots in the foot. Once you are done fill the hole with some triple antibiotic and cut a small square out of the band aid pad. Take the square and put it one the hole and rap the foot in gauze. Separate the chicken for a couple days to keep the foot clean while it heals. If you don't clean out all of the infection an keep the foot clean there is a good change the Bumble Foot will just come back and you will have to threat it again. Your Chicken should heal up fine but keep changing the band aid and putting triple antibiotic on the wound to keep it clean and prevent infection.
If you would like a video on how to do bumble foot surgery then here is a link to help you out -
( Images from Google images )
A really bad case of bumble foot.
Egg Eating
Egg Eating starts when a hen finds a broken egg, eats it and learns to love it . An egg can get broken from a hen stepping on it to the other hens pecking at it. After awhile the hen will start looking for broken eggs and start breaking them herself. Sometimes the hen is eating the eggs because she is low on protein, calcium or because she's bored. If you suspect your chicken is suffering from a calcium deficiency mix some crushed oyster shells into there feed or put them in a dish in their pen. The oyster shells will supply them with the calcium they are missing. If you are suspecting a protein deficiency try feeding them protein rich foods like sun flower seeds, fish or even some cat food.
Make sure to remove any broken eggs from the nest as soon as you find one so the hens don't eat it. Also try to keep lost of bedding in the nests to prevent the eggs from breaking when they are laid.
Make sure to collect your eggs often to help prevent egg eating. If you don't have time to constantly be collecting eggs you should consider getting a roll away nesting box. These nesting boxes have a built in slant so the egg will roll out of the next and where the chickens can't get to it when it's laid.
( Image from Google images )
Marek's Disease
Marek's Disease is a very dangerous disease that paralyzes one or more of the chickens limbs and attacks the liver, heart, lungs and other organs. Marek's Disease is extremely contagious so isolate the bird as soon as you see symptoms. The symptoms known for Marek's Disease are paralysis of limbs, difficulty breathing, dilation of the crop, depression, lymphocyte infiltration of the iris (making the iris turn gray), unequal size of pupils, blindness, and round firm lesions at the feather follicles. There is no known treatment for Marek's Disease, once it has infected the chicken. You can give your bird the vaccination for it but it only helps to prevent the disease. Most of the time it is best to put the bird down so it doesn't infect the rest of the flock. If you can talk to your local vet on how to clean your cage after dealing with Marek's Disease. Oxine or Virkon S are recommended for cleaning the cage but the virus can live on any surface for up to a year. Try to clean out the top layer of dirt in the chicken pen and clean out the hen house but not with cleaners that are unsafe for the chickens, I would just try to take out all the nesting and burn it. You can use some cleaners but before you use them make sure to research and see it it is o.k. for chickens to be around it and that it kills the Marek's Disease. You can also ask other BYC members for advice on cleaners to kill the disease without hurting your flock.
Slipped Tendon
A slipped tendon is a very easy thing to treat. A slipped tendon is when the – slips out of the joint causing the chicken severe discomfort. If this happens your chicken will avoid using it's leg and the – will be very swollen.
To treat a slipped tendon take the chicken and bend the leg back like the chicken is stretching and knead the – to help it slip back into place. You should feel it pop back into place if you have done it correctly. Sometimes the joint will pop back out of place so you will need to wrap it. Take vets tape and wrap the joint with the leg in a stretching position. Make sure to wrap it pretty tight so the joint doesn't slip back out of place but not too tight so it damages the leg. Keep your chicken isolated for a couple days or until the swelling has gone down and the chicken has resumed using it's leg again.
I want to thank Backyard Chickens for making available such a helpful site so that people can
learn how to care for their chickens and give them happy healthy lives. I really hope this information helps. You can find more helpful info on chicken emergencies at - https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures .