Chickens can catch many diseases.They can be either annoyances or threats to a bird's life.In order to keep your chicken healthy, you will need to prevent disease.You will need to keep your chicken's home clean and give it preventative health care if you want to do this.You can keep your chicken disease free with a little time and effort.
Step 1: Your chicken's house needs to be cleaned.
You should replace bedding and straw with new material every month.You should wash and clean their feeders and waterers every six months.mold, parasites, and ammonia can build up if the bedding material is not cleaned.There are diseases that can be prevented, such as chicken's feet and parasites.Rodents and pests can be kept at bay by regularly cleaning your chicken's coop.
Step 2: Hang water and containers.
There are two ways hanging waterers and feeders can prevent disease.They keep the poop and bedding out of the chicken's food and water to prevent it from becoming ill.Hanging food and water containers make it harder for pests and rodents to get into your chicken's house.It is important to clean up any food that the chickens spill even if you have hanging food containers.Rodents or other pests can be attracted to spilled food.If you attach feeders to the side of the cage or another elevated area, make sure that your chickens can easily access them to feed.
Step 3: Food and water should be refreshed every day.
You need to give your chicken's home some attention every day to keep it clean.Make sure that your chicken's food and water supply are clean and full in the morning.The chickens will drink water and eat food if this is true.If the chicken's food and water dishes are clean, you can refill them.Before refilling them, you should clean them out.Chickens don't like dirty water which can cause dehydration.It's important to check the water every day.Chicken's water can freeze in cold winter weather, potentially causing dehydration, and can evaporate or get used up quickly in hot summer months, also creating the potential for dehydration.
Step 4: Feed your birds food.
Good feed should contain about 20% of the animal's body weight in food, but not too much.Giving your chickens a good diet will help keep them healthy.Feed your chickens enough so that they can eat throughout the day.Depending on how many chickens you have and the size of your feeders, the amount you put in your coop will be different.Chicken feeders can hold a lot of food.Feed your chickens the right nutrition and they will be able to fight off infections.People use commercial feeds for chickens.You can make your own mix at home, but you need to make sure it has the right macro and micro-nutrient ratios.
Step 5: Chickens should be kept in a large coop.
Depending on the size of the chicken, the space requirement is 2 to 4 square feet per bird.You will be surprised at the impact the requirement has.Keeping your birds healthy and happy will be helped by this amount of space.They will need 10 square feet for each bird.Giving your chickens the right amount of space reduces their instinct to compete for more space, which can affect their health and ability to fight off disease.
Step 6: Chickens should be allowed to roam.
Allowing chickens to free range around your yard will help keep them healthy.They will eat the food they find in the yard, such as weeds, grass, and worms.This will make them healthier.There are dangers to letting chickens run free.They are more at risk of being preyed on if they are not kept safe.Consider fencing off an area of pasture or grassland for your chickens to roam in, and make sure there is some type of overhead coverage to ward off birds of prey.During daylight hours, you should let your chickens out and put them back in the house before dark.This will keep them out of harms way.
Step 7: New chickens should be kept away from other chickens.
Don't add new chickens to the flock when you get them.Chickens may carry a disease if you buy them from a person.If you want to prevent this, you need to make sure the chicken isn't carrying a disease.You should keep chickens for at least 7 to 30 days.During this time, watch for signs of illness, such as fluid coming from their eyes or scaling on their legs.You should look for signs of infections in their bodies.
Step 8: Visitors can spread disease.
If you have friends or family who also raise chickens, you should not allow them to have contact with your flock.Humans and chickens can spread diseases.Make sure that visitors have clean clothes and shoes and that they have washed their hands before touching your birds.
Step 9: Give your birds regular check-ups.
Chickens are flight animals so they will often hide their symptoms until it is too late to save them.Even if your birds get sick, you can still catch it before it's too late.There are a number of signs to look for, including lethargic behavior, breathing difficulties, blood in stool, or worms.
Step 10: If you have signs of illness, have it checked out and treated.
If you see signs of illness in your bird, take it to the vet.It is possible to identify and start treatment for illness right away.If your bird has symptoms of an illness in the past, you may want to start the treatment right away.If your bird has wounds, you should clean them immediately.If you think a chicken is sick, isolated them.This makes it less likely that they will pass a potential illness onto the rest of the flock.
Step 11: Do not feed your chickens.
Chickens can suffer from disease in the past.If they've been in multiple flocks or there's an outbreak of disease in your area, you should get them a vaccine.Vaccinations can be purchased from a breeder or farm store.Chickens can bevaccinated for diseases such as Marek's disease, which can cause paralysis and tumors.There is a disease that can result in a lot of symptoms.There is an infectious bronchitis.A drop in egg production is caused by infectious laryngotracheitis.There are wounds that may cause irritation.There is a disease called fowl cholera, which results in vomiting, abdominal pain, and death.