Caring for a Sick Chicken- the basics

Caring for a sick chicken is difficult and challenging, there’s no way around it. Chickens are prey animals, so they try to act tough under all circumstances to prevent showing their weaknesses. Being able to recognize a sick chicken as soon as possible and learning how to diagnose poultry ailments is half the battle. However, once you realize that one of your chickens is sick, there are some basic steps you can take to possibly get the sick chicken back on the road to recovery! These six basic sick chicken care tips are ones that I follow as soon as I see that one of the flock members is ailing.

a Buckeye hen with the characteristic mahogany coloring and pea comb

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#1. Set up an Infirmary Pen

The first thing to do when you have a sick chicken is set up a place for it to be separated from the rest of the flock. Preferably this place should be completely away from the rest of the flock to keep them from being exposed to whatever issue the sick bird has. I like to call this quarantined area an infirmary pen.

An infirmary should be similar to a brooder, except for bigger chickens. The infirmary pen should provide protection, have plenty of space, be easy to access, and have good ventilation. I like to use dog crates as infirmary pens for my sick chickens.

The location where you put the infirmary pen is also important. It should be in a draft free, well protected area that is not exposed to any weather conditions. A garage, barn, small shed, or back entry will suffice. Make sure the infirmary pen is near an outlet in case you need to plug something in. You may also need to raise the pen up off the floor if you have other pets that also frequent that area.

Infirmary Pen Basics:

Litter- Use something that will give the chicken good traction. Straw or wood shavings are good options. Do not use newspaper, shredded paper, or other slippery surfaces. You can put down a layer of newspaper before you put down the straw or wood shavings for easy clean up. The litter should be laid down in a thick layer, about 3-5 inches thick.
Feeder- A feeder can be large or small, however, it should hold enough food for at least one day. Store-bought small animal feeder cups work good as do chick feeders. You can also make your own out of yogurt cups. Make sure the feeder can be secured onto the cage to prevent the chicken from knocking it over.
Water- A waterer can be fashioned in a similar way as a feeder. It should hold enough water for at least one day, though preferably more than one day. The waterer should also be fastened to the infirmary pen so that it doesn’t get dumped over and so that the water stays cleaner.

Infirmary Pen Tips:

Fasten the feeder and water just above crop level so that the chicken can easily reach them.
If the ailing chicken is unable to stand, you will want to put the feeder and water within the chicken’s reach.
Ailing chickens may benefit from supplemental heat if the area they are kept in gets cold. Places such as garages or barns may get cold during the winter or at nights. The less energy a sick chicken puts into staying warm, the more its body can heal.
Be cautious when supplying additional heat though. The same precautions should be taken as with supplying heat for baby chicks. The heat source should be an appropriate distance away from the pen and the chicken should have an area where it can move into to get away from the heat if it wants.
Heat sources should be safe and not present a fire hazard.
A monitor may come in handy if you need to give a chicken around the clock care or if you want to keep an eye on the chicken at all times.

gray plastic cage cups that clip onto wire cages and hold food and water for poultry

#2. Food- proper nutrition

Proper nutrition is essential for sick and ailing chickens. A lot of times a sick chicken will stop eating or the ailment that the chicken has prevents the chicken’s body from properly absorbing the nutrients from the feed. I have found that there are a couple of stages at which sick or injured chickens fall into as far as eating goes.

There’s the ones who eat willingly, the ones who need some encouragement, and the ones who are not interested in food at all. Here are some tips for feeding sick chickens at all of those stages.

Willingly Eating:

The main food that a sick or injured chicken should be eating is the original feed that you feed healthy birds. Whether that’s chick starter, layer feed, breeder feed, pelleted feed, whole grain feed, or other types of feed. A well formulated feed will have all of the nutrients and vitamins that a healthy chicken needs. Organic, non-GMO feeds will provide the most benefits. This should be the foundation of a sick chicken’s diet.

Often times sick chickens who are willingly eating will benefit from some additional protein. Illness, injury, and stress reduces the protein stores in a chicken’s body. Protein actually helps the body fight off disease. See my post on Winter Diet Considerations for Backyard Chickens for ideas on how to supplement protein.

It may be tempting to offer a lot of treats to a sick or injured chicken who is willingly eating. Resist the urge to supply many different treats or supplements. Only offer treats that are highly nutritious, and even then offer them in small amounts (no more than a tablespoon a day).

If you know what ailment or disease a sick chicken has, you can do some research and find out what supplements will aid in recovering from the disease.

Needs Encouragement to Eat:

You should follow the same guidelines mentioned above, however, there are some tricks you can use to encourage eating. Once a chicken stops eating, it’s body starts to shut down from lack of nutrition. Encouraging an appetite is important when nursing a sick chicken back to health.

Moisten the feed- I have found that chickens love moist feed. Feed offered in an oatmeal like consistency may be just the incentive a sick chicken needs to start eating.
Mix in some protein treats- While you will want to keep the treats and supplements to a minimum, mixing in some favorite high-protein snacks will at least get some nutrients into the ailing chicken.
Treat Options– Preferably, choose protein treats that also contain some beneficial nutrients, such as scrambled eggs or cooked chicken. You can also check out this list of high-protein sources for chickens!

Stopped Eating:

Once a chicken stops eating, the chances become slimmer that it will make a full recovery. Don’t give up hope just yet though. Even if the bird has lost interest in its feed there are a few supplements you can offer that may provide enough nutrients to get the chicken back onto a regular eating schedule.

Eggs are the first go to when a chicken stops eating. Naturally, an egg will provide small amounts of all the essential nutrients a chicken needs. Try offering scrambled, boiled, or fried eggs to a sick chicken.
If eggs don’t work, try cooked chicken, another cooked meat, or dried grubs. Something natural and meaty may encourage curiosity and an appetite.
Try to get the sick chicken to eat some raw honey. Honey provides sugar energy (calories) as well as works like a natural antibiotic.
You can also try a variety of other nutrient dense foods like leafy greens, berries, or fruits (they will also provide some beneficial sugars).
Add some appetite stimulating supplements to whatever you can get the chicken to eat. Ground ginger is a good appetite stimulant that can be sprinkled over foods or mixed with water.

For tips on knowing what a sick chicken should be eating, make sure you read What To Feed Sick Chickens!

a speckled sussex hen standing next to a poultry waterer that is hanging in the enclosure

#3. Water- staying hydrated

Keeping a sick or injured chicken hydrated should be a top priority, even slightly above eating. Water helps all of the body’s systems work properly and without enough water the chicken will become dehydrated, which can cause death.

As with food, sick or injured chickens will have varying degrees of interest in drinking water. For birds who are willingly drinking water, make sure they always have access to fresh, clean drinking water. Birds who show a little interest in water may need some encouragement. You can encourage a sick or injured bird to get a drink by gently dipping their beak into the water.

Chickens who refuse to drink are in a very dire circumstance. You can help get water into them by gently squirting some water into their beak using a pipette or syringe. Be careful not to get it down their windpipe though (squirt the water into their mouth, not down their throat to prevent sending water down the wrong pipe).

Water Supplements:

You can add supplements to a sick or injured chicken’s water as long as you know the supplements will help the chicken’s body and not confuse it. In general, vitamins and mineral supplements are okay to mix into a sick chicken’s water, as are probiotics.

Electrolytes may be beneficial if the chicken has diarrhea.
Garlic can be helpful when added to the water on occasion. A constant diet of garlic water would not be advisable.
Occasional herbal teas can be provided using herbs that will help promote healing, be an appetite stimulant, and provide nutrition.

If any supplement causes a chicken to stop drinking, immediately refill the waterer with fresh, clean drinking water. Excessive drinking may indicate a liver issue.

Natural Poultry First Aid Kit Supplies checklist

a salmon Favorelle hen with the characteristic muffs and beard

#4. Daily Care

Caring for a sick chicken will require daily dedication. A sick chicken will have all the same needs as a healthy chicken and then some. Here are some daily care tips for nursing a sick or injured chicken.

Daily Care Tips:

Make sure the chicken always has food and fresh, clean water.
If you offer any supplements or treats to the chicken, remove any treat that has not been eaten within a few hours. Feed that has been moistened should be replaced daily so that it does not start to go moldy.
Daily clean up any droppings in the litter. Depending on how long the sick or injured chicken needs to stay in quarantine, you may need to replace the litter once a week.
Try and care for your flock or healthy chickens before tending to the sick or injured chicken. This will help prevent you from being a carrier of disease from the sick chicken to the rest of your flock.
Care for baby chicks before caring for any other birds since baby chicks are the most vulnerable to disease.

First Aid Care:

For injured chickens, clean and wash the wound every day. Apply fresh bandages and tend to any infection, bleeding, or dirt that may inhibit healing.
For sick chickens, offer the appropriate medication as needed. Only offer medication if you have diagnosed an ailment and you know that the medication will help heal the chicken. Medication can come in two forms, conventional or natural. Follow the instructions on the label or from an avian vet when using conventional medicine. Take note of any egg or meat withdrawal periods as well.
Chickens that are really ailing may need hourly check-ups or around the clock care. Make sure you pay attention to your time and check on the sick chicken frequently throughout the day.

a Black Sex Link hen with gold streaking on her breast

#5. Quarantine Period

The time it takes for an injured chicken to heal or a sick chicken to recover varies depending on the severity of the injury or disease. Some may need a few hours to recover, others may need a few days, weeks, or even months to be healthy enough to rejoin the flock. As mentioned above, every day that a chicken is in quarantine its daily needs will need to be met.

Knowing when an injured or sick chicken is ready to rejoin the flock is critical to both the health of the injured/sick chicken and the rest of the flock. Putting a sick or injured chicken out before it has fully healed could cause it to get bullied and be neglected of the one-on-one care it still needs. Here are a few things to keep in mind when assessing if a chicken is fully healed.

Assessment Considerations:

For injured chickens, the wound should be fully healed and for the most part inconspicuous. There should be no infection and the chicken should be eating and drinking on its own. Wounds that draw attention could cause other flock members to peck at it and open the wound up again.
Fully recovered chickens should be eating and drinking on there own. They should be moving around and behaving like a healthy chicken.
The chicken should be off of any medication that it was on unless the medication is specifically for maintaining health after an illness.
A recovered chicken should have fairly normal droppings. If a bird has diarrhea but is acting normal in other ways, you may still want to keep it in quarantine to monitor its health and make sure the chicken stays hydrated.
If the chicken had a highly contagious disease you will want to do some research to see if it is even safe for the chicken to rejoin a flock. Chickens can still be carriers of a disease even after they have recovered from it.

a Svart Hona hen standing amongst a backyard flock in their enclosure

#6. Reintroduction to the Flock

Once you deem a sick or injured chicken well enough to rejoin the flock you will want to take some safety precautions. Since chickens have a pecking order (hierarchy) they can often be ruthless to birds who are just ‘plopped’ back into the flock. They need to teach the ‘new’ bird where it is at in the pecking order.

Depending on how long the sick/injured chicken was quarantined away from the flock will determine how smoothly reintroduction will go. If the chicken was away from the flock for only a few days, reintroduction should be pretty easy. However, if the chicken was away for even just one week, reintroduction may need to be taken carefully.

I have found that sometimes little ‘field trips’ help with reintroduction. If a sick or injured chicken is well enough to go outside, I will sometimes take it out for some supervised time with the flock. That way the other flock members remember that this chicken is still part of the flock. These ‘field trips’ should only be done under supervision and if the bird is healthy enough. Do not do these field trips with chickens who can’t move by themselves, have open wounds, or have a contagious disease.

Here are some factors that may play a role in how a recovered chicken is accepted back into a flock.

Reintroduction Factors:

How recently the chicken was added to the flock– if the chicken who got sick or injured was a flock matriarch and had been part of the flock for a while, reintroduction may go smoother. If the chicken was a newly introduced pullet, reintroduction may be rougher.
If the chicken is male or female- males are easier to reintroduce since their pecking order is separate from the females.
The color of the bird- if there are many chickens of the same color as the sick/injured chicken already in the flock, the reintroduced chicken will not stick out as much.
How the chicken looks- chickens are bullies in the fact that they will often pick on other chickens who look different. Chickens who are missing feathers, have bare skin, or other differences due to an injury or ailment will have a hard time being accepted.
The size of the flock- small flocks will be able to remember individuals better, which can either be helpful for reintroduction or cause problems if the sick/injured bird was disliked in the first place.

When considering how to reintroduce a recovered chicken to the existing flock, be sure to check out my post on Integrating New Chickens into a Flock.

a silver leghorn hen standing beside a tree stump in the chicken coop enclosure

Take Hope!

Now you should have some basic guidelines to follow when dealing with a sick chicken. From a safe place to stay quarantined, to proper nutrition and hydration, sick chickens will need some one-on-one care in order to get back on the road to recovery. Nursing an ailing chicken back to health is difficult, but it can be thrilling and rewarding to see a once sick chicken recover into a happy, healthy flock member! I hope these basic tips encourage you to not lose hope if one of your cherished flock members becomes ill!

Also, make sure you are a part of our weekly modern pioneer newsletter community! We share chicken care tips every week and you will get our free ebook on Raising Chickens Like a Pioneer!

by Alexa