Chicken Health: Caring for Your Pet Chicken ⋆ One Source Pets

Chickens are wonderful animals. They can make great pets and friends. Chicken health care is important, just as it is with any pet.

In order to show off their most beautiful birds, some people will take their poultry to shows.

Obviously you will want to keep your chickens healthy, and therefore happy all of their life, which means you will have to inspect them often for any bugs that could otherwise cause them harm.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when it comes to your chicken’s health.

Lice Infecting Chickens

Lice are one of the worst bugs to infest chickens. They are itchy, annoying, and can even leave your chickens much more vulnerable to sicknesses and diseases.

There is no surefire way to keep these nasty bugs out from your flock, as lice are found pretty much everywhere.

They will frustrate your chickens and weaken them. Likewise, they will probably end up irritating you as well.

The best chance for your flock is to get them treated right away. Call a veterinarian, or purchase an over-the-counter medication like lice spray.

Mites and Parasites Impact Chicken Health

Mites are very common when it comes to keeping chickens. These insects of all sorts can be brought to your flock because they are in a way, contagious.

They come from wild animals and other wild fowl, and they can also infest your own flocks. After you have brought your chickens back from poultry shows, check them for mites.

If one person isn’t taking good care of their own birds, then it’s very likely that they will have mites that can infest your own brood. So it’s best to inspect your chickens after every show.

Even if you don’t show your chickens, it’s still best to inspect them for parasites, regardless.

These leeches are not a fun thing for the chickens or you. They are blood-suckers that can be very hard to get rid of, and very harmful to the birds. They can make them weak as well, and even kill them.

It’s important to treat mites and other parasites as soon as they’re discovered.

There many types of mites. Mites can range from the common chicken mites, to the northern fowl mites.

These nasty bugs can turn the chicken’s feathers and skin different colors. Likewise, mites can infect the whole coop, even in the nesting boxes, thus infecting the eggs.

You will definitely want to treat your pets right away, as well as the eggs and nesting boxes. If you don’t, you will have ill chickens who will eventually become emaciated, and might even die.

Illness Affects Chicken Health

The best way to treat your birds, is to first prevent an illness from happening in the first place.

Again, examine your birds often, whether you take them to shows or not. Wash the chicken coop, clean the pen and the run, even scrub out the nesting boxes using soap that will kill the bacteria every few days or so.

People who keep the habitats of their chickens clean are less likely to have problems. Always be sure to inspect the skin and plumage of your chicken every few days.

Also, you’ll want to keep their food and water clean and fresh as well.