It can be challenging to care for chickens for some. Novice backyard poultry keepers can spend sleepless nights worrying about some of the problems that can befall their flock. The best way to deal with common chicken conditions in your backyard flock is to identify them and treat them accordingly.
With the right knowledge and skills, you can treat most common problems without a visit to the vet. When you keep hens for egg production, you may eventually face problems such as egg binding or crop impaction. Here are some tips for resolving them.
When a hen becomes feeble, listless & apathetic, check her crop, the part of her digestive tract beneath her breast. It is likely that your chicken has an impacted crop if it is distended or there is a dense mass inside.
Healthy hens fill their crop when they eat, then gradually empty it during digestion. Grass or stringy greens, however, are difficult to digest, so a hen's crop may remain full longer. Eventually, the hen will lose interest in eating and look sickly when she cannot pass the blockage and death can follow.
The grass is usually fresh and plentiful in the spring, making crop impaction more likely. It can also affect chickens that eat moldy feed or bedding because they are hungry, young, or bored.
Crop impaction is characterized by the following symptoms:
The good news is that this problem can be easily treated. Read this article for treatment options: Sour Crop, Impacted Crop, Doughy Crop - Prevention and Treatments of Crop disorders
It shouldn't take long for one of your laying hens to go broody and attempt to hatch a clutch of eggs. If your hen stays in her nest all day, only leaving to eat or drink, she is broody. Additionally, she will pull feathers from her chest to line the nest.
Broody hens exhibit the following signs:
Brooding is also tough on hens. Broody hens usually stay with their clutches for 21 days. That's 21 days with almost no food or drink, leaving her vulnerable, skinny & weak, lacking nutrients.
You can break a broody hen by collecting her eggs constantly. If there are no eggs to incubate, some hens will give up. Next, take her out of her nest every day. When disturbed often enough, a hen will stop brooding.
In case neither of those tactics works put the hen in a "broody pen," a small enclosed area with food and water but no nesting space. After a few days, she'll quit brooding. Her return to normal will take longer if she's been broody for a while.
Hens usually recover quickly once they stop brooding. The hen may be dehydrated and malnourished after being broody for weeks. Providing high-calorie foods will help your hen gain weight if she's lost it. A thin paste of pellets mixed with water can help your broody hen rehydrate if you feed her layer pellets.
There are some breeds that are more likely to brood than others. Silkies, Cochins, and Buff Orpingtons go broody often. It's best to avoid keeping birds that are especially prone to brooding if you don't want to deal with breaking them.
A hen's reproductive tract gets stuck with an egg during laying. Egg-bound chickens can die within 48 hours if left untreated.
Prolific layers, first-time layers & hens with calcium or protein deficiencies are more likely to suffer from egg binding. A stuck egg can kill a mature, healthy hen, but it's comparatively rare.
Egg binding is characterized by the following symptoms:
To treat egg binding read this article: Egg Binding: Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention
A small chicken owner's worst nightmare is egg eating. A hen may start breaking eggs' shells if she discovers how delicious eggs are and wants to enjoy what's inside. Egg eating won't only keep you from getting eggs, but it'll spread like wildfire and be difficult to stop once it's started.
Signs of egg eating include:
One of the biggest causes of egg eating is weak egg shells. That can be from not enough calcium in the feed, too many treats and parasites. Some people think culling the perpetrator will stop egg eating. Due to the rapid spread of the problem, it's rarely just about stopping one hen. It's likely everyone in the flock is eating eggs if one hen does. Fortunately, it's not all doom and gloom.
Here's an article that contains solutions to this problem: Six Tips On Breaking Your Egg Eater
There are three possible causes of feather picking: A hen pulling out feathers and eating them, a flock pecking a chicken that's injured, or an overly-aggressive rooster pecking a hen while mating.
Stress, boredom, or protein deficiency make chickens more likely to pick at their feathers. Cannibalism can develop if picking is not treated. Injured chickens can even die from pecking. If you observe your flock, you can easily identify feather picking. If your hen has damaged or missing feathers, especially on its back or tail, then it is likely to have been picked.
It is best to prevent feather picking before it starts. It will be much more difficult to stop feather picking once it has taken hold. Make sure your hens have enough space to avoid feather picking caused by overcrowding and boredom. A variety of anti-picking products are available to chicken owners because feather picking is so common. These products include Hot Pick & Blu-Kote. You can apply these products to bald spots and damaged plumage to deter bullies.
Unfortunately, these products aren't going to stop feather picking once it's a habit. You may need to separate your bullies from their victims until their feathers grow back if you have space. You can protect your hen from bullies and amorous roosters by placing a cloth apron over her back, or a saddle, if you lack space to keep separate flocks. There are several online or in-store places where you can buy or sew a chicken apron.
Your chickens' health depends on the ventilation in their coops. When it gets cold in winter, it may be tempting to keep them in a tight enclosure in order to keep them warm, but you can put your birds at risk of health problems by doing so.
There can be chronic respiratory diseases and even death from chicken droppings due to their moisture and ammonia content. There should be better ventilation if you detect strong ammonia odors in the coop.
The best way to keep your chickens happy and healthy is to add vents at the highest point of their coop so fumes can escape without direct drafts reaching them.
Here's a great article that explores this topic in greater detail: Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!
In order to maintain a healthy flock, it is important to diagnose problems correctly and treat them as soon as possible. Once you notice things like sneezing, diarrhea, coughing, nasal discharge, loss of appetite, sores, tumors and others, then it might be time to visit a veterinarian.
A little observation and good biosecurity can enable you to enjoy fresh eggs for years to come if you watch your hens' behavior and spot symptoms early.
With the right knowledge and skills, you can treat most common problems without a visit to the vet. When you keep hens for egg production, you may eventually face problems such as egg binding or crop impaction. Here are some tips for resolving them.
Impacted Crop
When a hen becomes feeble, listless & apathetic, check her crop, the part of her digestive tract beneath her breast. It is likely that your chicken has an impacted crop if it is distended or there is a dense mass inside.
Healthy hens fill their crop when they eat, then gradually empty it during digestion. Grass or stringy greens, however, are difficult to digest, so a hen's crop may remain full longer. Eventually, the hen will lose interest in eating and look sickly when she cannot pass the blockage and death can follow.
The grass is usually fresh and plentiful in the spring, making crop impaction more likely. It can also affect chickens that eat moldy feed or bedding because they are hungry, young, or bored.
Crop impaction is characterized by the following symptoms:
- Apathy and weakness.
- Behavior that's characterized by self-isolation.
- A lack of interest in drinking & eating.
- Involuntary vomiting.
- An overextended crop.
The good news is that this problem can be easily treated. Read this article for treatment options: Sour Crop, Impacted Crop, Doughy Crop - Prevention and Treatments of Crop disorders
Broodiness
It shouldn't take long for one of your laying hens to go broody and attempt to hatch a clutch of eggs. If your hen stays in her nest all day, only leaving to eat or drink, she is broody. Additionally, she will pull feathers from her chest to line the nest.
Broody hens exhibit the following signs:
- An unwillingness to get out of the nest box.
- Hardly drinking or eating.
- An unusual territorial attitude.
- Plucking out the feathers from her chest.
- A reduction in weight.
Brooding is also tough on hens. Broody hens usually stay with their clutches for 21 days. That's 21 days with almost no food or drink, leaving her vulnerable, skinny & weak, lacking nutrients.
You can break a broody hen by collecting her eggs constantly. If there are no eggs to incubate, some hens will give up. Next, take her out of her nest every day. When disturbed often enough, a hen will stop brooding.
In case neither of those tactics works put the hen in a "broody pen," a small enclosed area with food and water but no nesting space. After a few days, she'll quit brooding. Her return to normal will take longer if she's been broody for a while.
Hens usually recover quickly once they stop brooding. The hen may be dehydrated and malnourished after being broody for weeks. Providing high-calorie foods will help your hen gain weight if she's lost it. A thin paste of pellets mixed with water can help your broody hen rehydrate if you feed her layer pellets.
There are some breeds that are more likely to brood than others. Silkies, Cochins, and Buff Orpingtons go broody often. It's best to avoid keeping birds that are especially prone to brooding if you don't want to deal with breaking them.
Egg Binding
A hen's reproductive tract gets stuck with an egg during laying. Egg-bound chickens can die within 48 hours if left untreated.
Prolific layers, first-time layers & hens with calcium or protein deficiencies are more likely to suffer from egg binding. A stuck egg can kill a mature, healthy hen, but it's comparatively rare.
Egg binding is characterized by the following symptoms:
- Straining and panting.
- Ventricular swelling that is abnormal.
- Having trouble standing (the stuck egg may be pressing against her legs' nerves, preventing her from standing).
- Pumping tail.
- Pale or drooping combs and wattles.
- An inability or unwillingness to eat or drink.
- Inability to defecate or loose and watery stools.
To treat egg binding read this article: Egg Binding: Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention
Egg Eating
A small chicken owner's worst nightmare is egg eating. A hen may start breaking eggs' shells if she discovers how delicious eggs are and wants to enjoy what's inside. Egg eating won't only keep you from getting eggs, but it'll spread like wildfire and be difficult to stop once it's started.
Signs of egg eating include:
- The production of eggs suddenly drops.
- Nest boxes with broken eggs or eggshells.
- Eggs with thin shells.
- Protein-deficient hens.
One of the biggest causes of egg eating is weak egg shells. That can be from not enough calcium in the feed, too many treats and parasites. Some people think culling the perpetrator will stop egg eating. Due to the rapid spread of the problem, it's rarely just about stopping one hen. It's likely everyone in the flock is eating eggs if one hen does. Fortunately, it's not all doom and gloom.
Here's an article that contains solutions to this problem: Six Tips On Breaking Your Egg Eater
Feather Picking
There are three possible causes of feather picking: A hen pulling out feathers and eating them, a flock pecking a chicken that's injured, or an overly-aggressive rooster pecking a hen while mating.
Stress, boredom, or protein deficiency make chickens more likely to pick at their feathers. Cannibalism can develop if picking is not treated. Injured chickens can even die from pecking. If you observe your flock, you can easily identify feather picking. If your hen has damaged or missing feathers, especially on its back or tail, then it is likely to have been picked.
It is best to prevent feather picking before it starts. It will be much more difficult to stop feather picking once it has taken hold. Make sure your hens have enough space to avoid feather picking caused by overcrowding and boredom. A variety of anti-picking products are available to chicken owners because feather picking is so common. These products include Hot Pick & Blu-Kote. You can apply these products to bald spots and damaged plumage to deter bullies.
Unfortunately, these products aren't going to stop feather picking once it's a habit. You may need to separate your bullies from their victims until their feathers grow back if you have space. You can protect your hen from bullies and amorous roosters by placing a cloth apron over her back, or a saddle, if you lack space to keep separate flocks. There are several online or in-store places where you can buy or sew a chicken apron.
Coop Ventilation in the Winter
Your chickens' health depends on the ventilation in their coops. When it gets cold in winter, it may be tempting to keep them in a tight enclosure in order to keep them warm, but you can put your birds at risk of health problems by doing so.
There can be chronic respiratory diseases and even death from chicken droppings due to their moisture and ammonia content. There should be better ventilation if you detect strong ammonia odors in the coop.
The best way to keep your chickens happy and healthy is to add vents at the highest point of their coop so fumes can escape without direct drafts reaching them.
Here's a great article that explores this topic in greater detail: Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!
Conclusion
There are many challenges associated with keeping hens. These include more serious illnesses such as Marek's disease, infectious bronchitis, fowl cholera, coccidiosis, fowl pox, and various other viral & bacterial diseases.In order to maintain a healthy flock, it is important to diagnose problems correctly and treat them as soon as possible. Once you notice things like sneezing, diarrhea, coughing, nasal discharge, loss of appetite, sores, tumors and others, then it might be time to visit a veterinarian.
A little observation and good biosecurity can enable you to enjoy fresh eggs for years to come if you watch your hens' behavior and spot symptoms early.
