ASSESSING YOUR CHICKENS HEALTH 

If you are concerned your chicken is unwell please download the Hen Health Assessment Guide below and check through the list. 

As chickens are prey animals they generally mask any illness until they are extremely ill.  Any hens that stand around with their feathers fluffed up and head drawn in to their body should be checked immediately.

 CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A HEN HEALTH ASSESSMENT TABLE 

 The next thing is to check that your chickens don't have any lice or mites on them and check the housing for red mite.  Are they eating, drinking and behaving normally?  Is their comb still red and healthy?  Are they showing any signs of illness? Download our Health Assessment Sheet from the link above to eliminate all possibilities. 

 

Ensure your chickens are eating their Layers pellets or mash.  A diet of corn or scraps will equal very few, poor quality eggs from todays carefully bred hybrids. Modern hybrids need a well balanced prepared ration.

Flubenvet  can be obtained either online, from your vets or local country store. 

Many people use commonly available herbal worm treatments but Flubenvet (or the water soluble version 'solebunol') is the only proven, effective treatment if your hen has worms.

Click here for an informative article on worming at Poultry Keeper. 

If the hen is not moulting, the problem could be feather pecking.  It can be caused by a lack of protein in the diet, but I feel the most common cause is boredom.  In 15 years of having my hens completely free ranging I have not had a single chicken feather pecking, but when I have to put them into large pens for breeding, I will get the occasional chicken start to feather peck which does back up the boredom theory.

Please download a specific Feather Pecking help sheet by clicking here. 

If your hens feathers are generally 'thinning' but you can see feather buds appearing through the skin it is moulting.  If the area is bald and smooth with no sign of new feather growth then is is more likely feather pecking.  Moulting hens will regrow feathers straight away. 

Some chickens only pull out the feathers when they are perching at night, so it is very hard to catch them at it, but it does explain why your chickens will be 'plucked' in certain areas - it's where the offender can reach at night.

Above:   feather pecking with bald areas around the vent and underside of the hen. 

It is a problem that needs addressing as soon as you spot it, if not it can become ingrained behaviour and a very bad habit.  As a first course of action you can try anti-feather peck sprays and Gentian violet.  Secondly, I would remove and isolate the offending chicken for a few weeks which may break the habit.  When she goes back in, the other chickens will have re-grouped and may not put up with her pulling their feather's. 

If this doesn't work you can try a 'beak bit'  or a Bumpa Bit- it is a plastic device that clips into the nostrils and prevent the hen closing her beak and gripping the feathers.   You may find you can remove it after a month or two but be aware that the hens cannot eat mash with a beak bit in, they will have to have pellets.

Click here for an information sheet on how to fit a beak bit.

If the pecking is in the common place which is the 'saddle' area then try putting a poultry saddle on your chicken.  We have these in stock and they will protect feather pecked areas.

I have seen very good results by using a combination of using a poultry saddle and spraying any exposed skin or damaged area with purple spray such as Septi Clense or Gentian Violet. 

If all else fails the only option may be to re-home her, ideally to a free range home.  Don't necessarily feel you are passing the problem on to someone else - If you know someone with a group of older or more dominant chickens it is highly unlikely she would dare peck them.

Red Mite on the underside of the perch - The first sign is the grey dust like deposits, look closer & you can see the mites in the cracks.

Red mite after being sprayed with 'Poultry Shield'.

Red Mite is the most common chicken problem (probably why there are so many products on the market to treat it).  It tends to strike in warmer weather when it multiplies rapidly.  I check around the perches every few days as if you can catch it earlier it is far easier to treat.  It is still possible to get red mite in plastic housing,  but it is easier to eradicate in plastic housing, and is easier to spot.  Obviously some of the suggested treatments below relate to wooden housing.

Red Mite Symptoms

Check the underside and ends of perches regularly at night, Red Mite can hide anywhere in the shed but tends to be most concentrated where the chickens are easily accessible at night.  Look in any screw heads or tiny cracks of crevices.  If you find small cream or grey mites crawling on you when you have been in the shed (barely visible to the human eye) these are immature red mite that have not fed on blood - mature red mite are larger and dark red when they have fed.

Another tell-tale sign is a dusty grey ash like substance near areas where the mites hide (see photo above).

If your chickens are reluctant to go into roost in the house at night check carefully for red mite, this is usually the first sign and by this time you may have quite a problem.  If you notice anything crawling on you when you have been in the house or feel itchy after being in there.  If you have had the problem for a while the chickens combs may become paler as they become more anemic as the mites take more blood.  

Also check for any little red smears and spots on the perches and eggs - these are squashed blood filled mites!

To confirm that you have it, go into the house when it is dark and the chickens are roosting - carefully check all over the house with a strong torch for mites.  Run a white tissue along the perches and nestboxes, any red streaks or red spots indicate mites.

 Red Mite Treatment

If you catch it at an early stage, remove and burn all the bedding.  Soak the house with Poultry Shield/Smite or similar which will kill any living red mites it touches.  These products usually have no residual effect so when the shed is dry, dust Louse Powder or Diatomaceous Earth all over the house covering every surface, paying particular attention to the perches and corners.  This will then kill any mites that have been missed by the spray.  You will need to repeat this every few days for a few weeks. In smaller houses and plastic houses I have excellent results with Ardap spray which I now have in the shop.  

There is no magic cure for red mite - it is necessary to look out for it all the time and treat it repeatedly (one treatment will have little effect).  If you delay in treating it, it will multiple rapidly and the only cure will be burning the shed and replacing it.

This is an excellent article I have found on other methods of treating red mite:  The Poultry Keeper

11. What other sorts of lice can my birds get?

Wild birds, mice and rats bring in lice and mites meaning they are impossible to avoid.  If a single wild bird feather drops in, or a wild bird feeds or nests in their area - lice, coughs, colds & infections can arrive as well. Please check the skin around the birds vent feathers and under the wings every time you pick the birds up (or every few weeks).  Lice hatch within hours and spread incredibly fast so are best caught early.   

Watch out for Red Mite in the warm weather, Northern Fowl Mite in the cooler weather, and body lice all year around.  Red Mite and Northern Fowl Mite can kill if you have a bad infestation.

Above - Northern Fowl Mite

Above - Lice Eggs at the base of the feathers

Above - Body Lice on the base of the feathers

Body lice and Northern Fowl Mites live on the chickens and there are various ways to treat them. Dust the chicken all over with a Louse Powder that contains permethrin making sure you brush it right down to the skin, especially around the vent - it is essential to repeat this after 5-7 days to kill the eggs that have hatched otherwise you will never stop the cycle.  A spot on Ivermectin treatment such as Pharmaq for poultry, can also be used alongside other methods to treat lice and Northern Fowl Mite, but does require a withdrawal period from eating the eggs.   It will only kill adult mites that bite the bird so treatment for immature lice needs to be carried out alongside it.

If your chickens are not allowed to free range, ensure they have access to dust baths (a large container or low bucket filled with fine sand) into which you can sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth or Louse Powder so they can coat themselves when they bath.

12. Scaly Leg Mite

If your hen has raised scales on her legs this will be down to Scaly leg mite,  a mite that burrows under the scales on the chickens leg and causes intense irritation.  A severe case can cripple your chickens and deform the legs.

There are many scaly leg treatments as well as the traditional remedy of holding the leg in surgical spirit for 30 seconds (to kill the lice) followed by  smearing vaseline up and under all the scales to suffocate and remaining lice. Although the mites will have gone and the irritation ended, the scales will not return to normal until the hen grows new scales.

 3. I think my hen is broody - what should I do?

 Typically a broody hen will not want to move off the nestbox, she will make a distinctive sound (see the video clip), fluff up her feathers if you put your hand near her and may even peck you.

 If you don't want to hatch chicks it is advisable to stop the broodiness.  She will not be laying eggs whilst broody and will get very run down.

The best way is to place her in a 'broody crate' - this needs to somewhere cool, light and uncomfortable so that she can't make a nest.  I use wire dog crates with no bedding, but it possible to construct something similar with wire (if you do an internet search for 'broody crate' there are many great ideas). 

 Put her in for 24 hours and see how she is behaving, if she is still clucking and showing broody behaviour leave her for another 24 hours and check again.  Some hens will stop the behaviour after 24 hours, others will take 3 or 4 days!

It is essential that she has free access to food and water in the cage.  Expect her to be very angry - she will probably pace up and down looking agitated, but you have to be cruel to be kind and leave her in until she stops.

14. Could my hen be egg bound?

Egg binding, although rare, is worth considering if you have a hen that is unwell.  It is caused by many different factors such as genetics, obesity (internal fat, your hen may look outwardly fine, limit the corn!) old age and just plain bad luck.  The egg becomes stuck in the oviduct due to cramp and the tightened muscles preventing it being passed.

A hen who is egg bound will quickly look unwell, she will generally look healthy but within 48 hours can have died so prompt action is necessary.  The symptoms to look out for are your hen going in and out of the nestbox looking agitated, becoming quiet and lethargic, the tail moving up and down or actually trying to strain.

Gently pick up your hen and check her vent to see if there is any sign of discharge or pieces of eggshell.  If you can see yolk or eggshell the egg may have broken inside her, in this case antibiotics can be given.

If there is no sign of the egg it could be stuck higher up inside the hen.  Try very gently putting your hen in warm water for a while to ease the cramp.  

Alternatively, try the steam method:  Put the hen in a cage with a wire floor,place a large flat pan of steaming water beneath the cage.  Keep the water warm under her, but don't let it get so hot that it burns her.

If possible provide overhead heat from a lamp and enclose the whole cage in a blanket to keep the moist heat in.  It is vital she has access to drinking water at all times!

If she hasn't passed the eggs after 3 hours it is likely not to be egg binding.  A hen who is truly egg bound and untreated will die within 48 hours so prompt action is vital.

15. What plants are poisonous to chickens?