Keeping Your Chickens Healthy Part I

Here we will cover the most common health problems facing your chickens and what to do about them. These topic will certainly not cover everything, but having the knowledge to handle the most common issues goes a long way towards having a healthy flock that can be sustained indefinetely.

Parasitic Diseases

Parasites that commonly attack chickens are mites, lice, ticks, and worms. The best solution to parasites is prevention. Keeping a clean chicken coop goes a long ways to suppressing parasites before they have a chance to even get started. Prevention comes in the form of regular cleaning. If your chicken coop has things like dirty bedding or chicken poop everywhere then this fosters and environment that favors parasitic infiltration. So regular cleanings and periodic big time blowout cleanings that make the chickens home even hospitable to you staying in it have the ability to drastically reduce the number and veracity of these parasitic infections.

It is important to know what you are looking for if you are to identify parasites and sign of parasitic infections. Signs include the loss of feathers, irritation of the skin, lethargic chickens, and a loss of appetite.

These diseases are typically treated with insecticides a medicinal treatments given to the birds. In a SHTF situation, access to modern treatments is going to be completely out of the question. However, there are things you can do before during and after an outbreak.

One such remedy to try is spraying the area around and in the chicken coop with vinegar. Click to find out how to make your own vinegar. Sprinkling black pepper can also be done. These two treatments are said to help with ants, earwigs, silverfish, fleas, and millipedes. Also, planting mint or basil around the chicken coop is supposed to help drive away these pest.

Fleas

Fleas can be targeted by giving them a shampoo. Use a 50/50 mix of soap and vinegar. Add just enough water to form a solution. Pretty simple.

Flies

To help keep flies away from your chickens try planting basil, dill, rosemary, mint or citronella aka lemon grass around the run and chicken coop.

Lice

Mix 1 part salt to 4 parts water. Soak the chicken in this solution. Then, soak the chicken in a solution of soap and vinegar. The first solution is likely not going to be an option since salt will be more valuable than Gold. However, do what you can spar. The soap and vinegar solution should be enough to completely cover the chicken's body. Give it a few minutes and you should see the dead lice float to the top.

If you see lice on a chicken you can try hitting the area with a shot of apple cider vinegar.

Mites

Sprinkle hardwood ash in the dust bath area and on the floor of the chicken coop. Hardwood ash is very basic and can be a very powerful deterrent to mites.

Viruses and Bacterial Diseases

Viruses have the ability to kill all of your chickens so they should be treated as if your life depends on it... because that may not be an exaggeration in a SHTF situation. There are numerous viral diseases, fortunately you do not need to know much about each one and how to recognize it. Most viruses will cause the victim to display similar symptoms and the treatments are pretty much the same.

A viral or bacteria infected chicken will display symptoms such as sores, coughing and sneezing, poor egg production as well as, nasal and eye discharge or swollen faces.

Vaccines are the only real tool you have to prevent viral diseases. If you think any of your chickens have a viral infection it is best to quarantine that bird to prevent it from spreading the virus. The remainder of the chickens should be split into as many different groups as is possible.

It is quite likely a bird or more have already been infected. So splitting and separating the healthy flock could prevent all of your chickens from contracting the disease.

Prevention comes from having a clean chicken coop.

Fungal Diseases

Fungal diseases show up as pneumonia usually in young chicks and ringworms which infected chickens will show as white layer on the chickens combs. Prevention is the key. Keep chicken coops wiped down and clean and clean water containers. Other than that there isn't much you can do other than quarantine.

Ticks

Free-ranging guineas are the only option for controlling ticks.

Mice, slugs, spiders, snakes and roaches will need to be handled manually.

Proceed to Chicken Doctor Part II