How to Do Chicken First Aid

Are you poultry first aid certified? Me neither, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know how to treat basic injuries and ailments that appear in your homestead flock. Chickens are notorious for getting suddenly injured or mysteriously becoming ill. Knowing a few poultry first aid tips will help you deal with those situations. In this chicken first aid crash course I hope to provide you with useful, helpful information to enable you to take the best care of your flock!

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Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian. All of these treatments and suggestions are based off of my personal experience and research.

You may already know this, but as a homesteader, I like to stick to natural, holistic methods of treating injuries and ailments. I try not to immediately resort to chemical or synthetic treatments for my flock. That being said, I do buy some commercially formulated products that I feel are safe for me, my flock, and the environment. In the following chicken first aid crash course I will reference natural remedies and store-bought remedies that I use on my own flock.

Eye Ailments

Symptoms– foamy, bubbly, swelling, sunken, watery

Treatment- I have had success treating minor eye ailments with colloidal silver and saline eye drops. During the winter, when the temperatures would suddenly dip below freezing, a few of my birds would get bubbles in their eyes. I treated those cold-weather induced bubbles with saline eye drops.

When one of my hens got a local bacterial infection above her eye which caused it to swell and make her face look puffy and disproportionate, I used colloidal silver to treat the infection.

• saline eye drops- 1 to 2 drops a day in the affected eye until the condition clears up (1-2 days); use for minor eye irritation
• colloidal silver- 1 to 2 drops a day in the affected eye until the condition improves, administer for no longer than 5 days; use when an infection is suspected

Potential Diagnosis:

Symptoms in the eye can mean something as minor as getting some dust stuck in the eye or something as serious as chronic respiratory disease. If symptoms do not clear up quickly, consider these possible diseases:

• Marek’s disease
• Conjunctivitis
• Chronic respiratory disease
• Infectious coryza
• Avian influenza
• Infectious bronchitis

Comb and Wattles Injuries

Symptoms- bleeding

Treatment- The most common injury that will occur to the comb and wattles is when they get cut, scraped, or torn. Combs and wattles bleed like crazy! The reason being because a chicken uses its comb and wattles to regulate its body temperature, so a lot of blood gets pumped through those extremities.

I have always treated comb and wattles injuries with Vetericyn wound and skin care. Here is how to deal with a bleeding comb or wattle:

• Stop the bleeding by applying pressure with a soft cloth or paper towel. Hold on tight since the chicken will more than likely not tolerate someone grabbing its comb or wattle.
• Check periodically to see if the bleeding has stopped or slowed. If you think the bird is losing too much blood, apply some cornstarch to help stop the bleeding.
• Once the bleeding has stopped, spray on the Veteriycn. If it is a serious injury, you may need to apply the Vetericyn for several days to aid with healing.
• Don’t put an injured bird back out with the flock, especially if it still has dried blood on itself. Create an infirmary pen for injured chickens.

Potential Diagnosis:

While minor injuries don’t tend to indicate serious ailments, other symptoms of the comb can be a warning. Shriveled, pale, swollen, dotted, or off-colored combs and wattles can indicate these ailments:

• parasites
• dry pox (spotted comb and wattles)
• chronic respiratory disease
• fatty liver syndrome
• Marek’s disease

Frostbite is a common cold-weather ailment of the comb and wattles. Check out my post on Frightful Frostbite for tips on dealing with frostbite.

Respiratory Issues

Symptoms- coughing, gurgling, rales, sneezing, rattling noises

Treatment- I have had success with treating minor respiratory issues using VetRx and elderberry syrup. During the winter, I noticed that a few of my hens developed a rattling noise when they breathed and would sneeze frequently.

I started administering .5mL of homemade elderberry syrup (dried elderberries and honey) each day to the affected hens. A pipette came in handy for getting the syrup into the hens’ mouth. I also used a Q-tip to rub VetRx around the hens nostrils and on their comb to help clear the respiratory system. I did these administrations until the symptoms cleared up, but for no longer than 7-9 days at a time.

• .5mL elderberry syrup– every day until symptoms go away but for no longer than 7-10 days; check the ingredients of store-bought syrup before giving it to your chickens
• VetRx– applied around the nostrils for as long as needed to aid with breathing

Potential Diagnosis:

Chickens have very sensitive respiratory systems that can be irritated quickly. An occasional sneeze, cough, or gasp should not cause too much concern. However, there are also a long list of diseases that affect the respiratory system. When a prolonged respiratory issue appears in your flock, consider these potential diseases:

• Chronic respiratory disease
• Fowl pox
• Infectious bronchitis
• Infectious coryza
• Laryngotracheitis
• Marek’s disease

Feather Damage

Symptoms- broken feathers, torn feathers, pinholes in feathers, bloody feathers

Treatment- Treating feather damage is tricky because chickens typically only grow in one set of new feathers each year. There are many things that can cause feather damage, such as roosters, parasites, boredom, and deficiencies. Here are some tips for dealing with and preventing feather damage:

• roosters (torn feathers)- put a hen saddle on the hen’s back; if the rooster causes bleeding, separate the hen, stop the bleeding and apply Vetericyn
• parasites (pinholes in feathers)- treat for parasites (Treating Northern Fowl Mites)
• boredom (feather picking, missing feathers)- add stimulative activities to your flock’s enclosure
• protein deficiency (plucking feathers, eating feathers)– increase protein in the feed

It is very hard and nearly impossible to ‘treat’ broken and missing feathers. You basically have to wait until the chicken molts before the damaged feathers or missing feathers will be replaced.

Diarrhea

Symptoms– bloody, foamy, watery, yellow, greenish, excess urates, bile

Treatment- Because there are so many reasons for a chicken to have diarrhea, it is extremely hard to ‘treat’ diarrhea. The best option you have is to evaluate the situation and see if you can identify a potential cause. Then choose the best treatment. Here are a few diarrhea cases I have had to deal with:

• worms (present in dry poop and watery diarrhea)- administered wormer tonic sold by moonlightmileherbs
• kidney issues (diarrhea with excess urates)- administered super bird tonic sold by moonlightmileherbs; this was a suspected ailment, not a confirmed ailment
• bile (green mixed with diarrhea)- encouraged food consumption, offered healthy treats like cooked chicken and eggs; unknown cause

Keep in mind that diarrhea can mean minor things like drinking too much water or eating too much dairy or blackstrap molasses. A chicken who is suffering from diarrhea will more than likely be dehydrated. Giving the chicken some electrolytes and probiotics can help restore body fluids while you try to diagnosis the cause of the diarrhea.

Potential Diagnosis:

A lot of chicken diseases are characterized by diarrhea. If one of your chickens has diarrhea, first consider if it is from internal parasites, lack of food (bile), too much water, or feeding certain treats, like dairy. Then consider these potential diseases that cause diarrhea in chickens:

• coccidiosis (bloody)
• Avian influenza
• Newcastle
• Cloacitis (smelly)
• Infectious bursal disease (watery)
• Liver diseases (urates and yellow/green color)

Leg Injuries

Symptoms- limping, bleeding, swelling, warmth, discoloration

Treatment- I have had to deal with several leg injuries in my flock. Most of them having to do with limping. Sometimes I would have a bird develop a mysterious limp from which I had no idea what was causing it. Inflammation can cause mysterious limps that come and go depending on the chicken’s activities or the weather.

Here are a few first aid tips for dealing with leg injuries:

• limping- soak in Epsom salt foot bath for 5 minutes one to two times a day for as long as the condition exists; if severely limping, wrap the leg in Vet wrap for additional support
• broken- create a splint using anything small and supportive (popsicle sticks work well), wrap the splint and the leg in Vet wrap, soaking in Epsom salts will help bring down any swelling and prevent infection (make sure the leg is not wrapped when you soak it)
• scaly legs- caused by scaly leg mites, treat for scaly leg mites
• bleeding- stop the bleeding by applying pressure, spray on Vetericyn and wrap with Vet wrap if necessary; for more serious scraps and cuts, apply anti-biotic ointment on a gauze pad and wrap the gauze pad onto the injury with Vet wrap, replace the bandaging every day

A rooster can acquire leg injuries if his spurs grow too long and curl around to touch his leg. Try to prevent that from happening by monitoring the growth of your rooster’s spurs.

Foot and Toe Injuries

Symptoms- limping, bleeding

Treatment- Chickens walk bare-feet all the time, so it makes sense that they will have sudden or mysterious injuries happen to their feet and toes. Foot and toe injuries are fairly easy to treat using Vetericyn, anti-biotic ointment, and Vet wrap. Follow these steps for treating injuries to the feet and toes:

• stop any bleeding by applying pressure; if bleeding persists, use a blood clotting agent like cornstarch
• spray with Vetericyn to aid in healing
• apply anti-biotic ointment to a gauze pad and gently press the gauze pad onto the injury
• you can also place fresh oregano leaves against the wound and wrap them with the gauze
• fasten the gauze pad onto the foot/toe/leg using Vet wrap and securely wrap the injury
• change the bandaging everyday until the injury is healed

For leg, foot, and toe injuries, when in doubt: soak, spray, and wrap! For broken toes, you will need to create a small splint that will stabilize and support the toe until it can heal.

Potential Diagnosis:

A common ailment of the foot in chickens is bumblefoot, which is a staph infection. Check out my post on Treating Chicken Disease Naturally to learn how I treat bumblefoot. Other issues that affect the feet, toes, and legs include:

• cuts and scraps from free-ranging
• broken toenails
• fowl pox (dry)
• scaly leg mites
• gout (excess protein)

Hopefully this chicken first aid crash course will help you be prepared to keep your homestead flock happy and healthy! Knowing how to do basic first aid like stopping bleeding, splinting broken toes, and soaking swollen joints can prevent an injury from becoming serious. It is also helpful to know when to administer certain natural remedies, like colloidal silver, elderberry sysrup, and herbal tonics. Keeping your flock healthy and safe should be simple after you have reviewed these basic chicken first aid skills!

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by Alexa