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