When my wife , Elaine , and I begin our chicken - raise career , we — like many first - timers — committed numerous errors . Indeed , the first three or four class ( before we learned to keep a volaille first - aid kit ) , every individual bird that come down with some malady died .
We even come up with the maxim that “ a wan chicken is a dead chicken . ” One particular storage is specially abominable to recollect .
A Tale of Loss
Boss was the first heritage Rhode Island Red cock to ever lead our sight . Big , brave and also benevolent toward his hens and us , he possessed all the traits one desire in a roo .
Then one morning , he seemed lethargic and did n’t gloat . The 2nd morning go through him more and more inert . A pocket-size rooster began peck him .
Boss died the next morning . While examining his release area , I witnessed 100 of maggots feeding on him . The poor fauna had died of rainfly strike . Through our ignorance and hesitation , we had done nothing to redeem him .
Read more : Fly strike is n’t fun to think about , but it ’s of import to protect your Gallus gallus from the condition .
Live & Learn
counterpoint that situation with what happened several years ago . One morning a frier left the henhouse and rather of joining everyone else at the feeder and waterer , she plank down in the filth .
I immediately went to her , searched through her wing and breast plume , then tipped her over to try out the vent-hole . There , I found about a dozen maggots .
She was in the first stages of fly strike .
Bruce Ingram
I right away left the running play with the young hen and yell out to Elaine to ask her to rig up ourchicken hospital . We then grab Prozap Garden & Poultry Dust from the chicken first - aid kit and throw off it all over the pullet ’s body with special attention to the vent and wings .
Meanwhile , Elaine reopen our chicken sick berth — two tarp laid atop each other , a childproof fencing formed into a rectangle on top of the tarp and an old CRT screen room access as the ceiling .
After applying the fowl detritus , I watch as maggots streamed off the fryer , dying not long after . Next , we “ admitted ” the pullet to our hospital . There , Elaine had ready brown bread soaked with probiotics , which we also added to her waterer .
Bruce Ingram
My wife also put blueberries , a true super food , in the feeder . Of course , with the frier settle in our infirmary , she was safe from the bullying that chickens direct toward sick flock members .
The next 24-hour interval , our frier grew chirpy and improved steadily over the next three Day . On 24-hour interval four of her check , we deemed her well enough to rejoin her flock .
She even laid an egg a few days later and has been hale and hardy ever since . No longer do we believe in the saw that a ghastly crybaby is a dead one .
Bruce Ingram
And with that , I ’ll let my married woman take over. … Bruce Ingram
Elaine’s First-Aid Kit
My hubby , Bruce , is in charge of reach the initial diagnosing of whether our Gallus gallus are ill or not , as he seems better at noticing if anything is wrong with them .
Bruce is also in charge of rent our birds out of the coop in the morning and providing their food and water for the daytime . And he likes to watch all of our individual birds start their Clarence Shepard Day Jr. and verify they are play normally .
But it ’s my job to chiefly take care of the sick . Here are some of the items necessary for a well - conceive chicken first - aid kit .
Across many generations this balm has been applied to humans for chapped lips , abrasions , moisturizing and all kinds of pocket-sized ailments . essentially , petroleum jelly serve the same purpose for chickens , minus the chapped lip , of course .
We especially practice this ointment for combs and wattles showing frostbite , as well as a tribute against frost burn .
With their bigger comb and wattles , roosters are particularly likely to get frostbite in the winter . And whether a cock or a hen is being handle for this ailment , you ’ll necessitate someone to hold a snort while the other person go for petroleum jelly .
Our Gallus gallus only do n’t wish this salve fret on them so Bruce will hold the squirming individual while I softly rub it on the afflicted part . Despite their protest , we care to think that they sense their combs and wattle feel easily afterwards .
Sometimes , especially during the winter , we ’ll find low mites on these same areas as well as on the leg . Petroleum jelly can be very helpful for stifle mites .
This is an oily solution that is very beneficial in helping soothe a chicken expose early sign of a frigidness such as sneeze . Of of course , tidy chickens sneeze a great quite a little with all the detritus in their environment .
But if a razzing go forward to sneeze throughout the day , it may indicate a unwellness of some variety .
VetRxis very helpful for any variety of respiratory problem and should be in every chicken first - financial aid kit . I add a few drops , which has a menthol olfactory sensation , to the edges of the water boy . If a chicken seems overly weak , I will dip simoleons in the waterer after VetRx has been summate and give the goody to her .
Read more : novel to chickens ? crack out these tips from veteran keeper .
This disconsolate balm is what we utilize when a biddy has wounds and scratches or abrasions from overly lustful roosters . We also usedHen Healerone fourth dimension when Don , our alpha Rhode Island Red rooster , lost a spur during a fighting with one of his offspring , who shepherds a passel in the adjoining playpen .
Usually come aurora , the two roos clangour into the fencing material a few fourth dimension as part of a sleeveless endeavor to annihilate the other . Then they ’re done jousting for the day .
But this fourth dimension , the daily morning skirmish tookplace a little longer and one of Don ’s 2 - inch - long spurs became the casualty . The unction was just the thing to keep an infection from pass as it creates a roadblock to insects and dirt . Bruce Ingram
This very beneficial balm serve cure abrasions , cuts , peck wounds and bare surface area due to plume loss . Christine Haxton , a poulet fancier who populate near us , feels the mathematical product even encourage regrowth of plumage that are lost due to injury .
Typically , I first sprayVetericynon the afflict area to strip and disinfect the wound . Next , I apply any salves or unguent from the chicken first - aid kit .
We keepSav - A - Chickin single use packs in our chicken first - aid outfit , adding them to the drinking piss of any indisposed or distressed bird . normally , we add the probiotic when a crybaby has experienced a serious affliction such as fly smasher or a minor one such as a cold and/or sneeze .
Also , when any crybaby becomes sick with anything and has to be temporarily removed from the fold , every other chicken receive the probiotic , as does the one in the infirmary .
We principally use the electrolyte pulverization as a pluck - me - up on highly red-hot days .
After our chickens stop laying , usually by November , we addWazineto their water boy as a preventive measure for the winter to come .
TheProzapdust we apply stop Permethrin , which is a synthetic insect powder that repels tick , flies and many other pests . In fact , as mark earlier , it will defeat maggots on inter-group communication .
During periods where we see tons of flies , or if there is fly larva in the henhouse droppings , we sprinkle the flock as a prophylactic meter . When a fowl has been stricken with fly strike , we disperse that single before moving it indoors to the chicken infirmary .
We no longer believe that a ghastly crybaby is a stagnant one , and neither should you . Obviously , all of us will turn a loss a snort from fourth dimension to time .
But having the point on hand to create a chicken hospital and always keeping a well - stock first - aid outfit will potentially keep death to a minimum and result in a healthier slew overall .
This clause originally seem in the July / August 2021 result ofChickensmagazine .
