What Can I Feed My Sick Chicken?

What can I feed my sick chicken? Ailing chickens are often picky and can loose their appetite quickly. Once a chicken stops eating, things go down hill quickly, once they stop drinking, you know you have little time left to do anything to help them recover. That’s why it is so important to keep a sick chicken’s appetite stimulated and to keep them hydrated. When feeding a sick chicken, you want to encourage a good appetite as well as feed the chicken foods that will stimulate a speedy recovery. Hopefully these tips for feeding a sick chicken will help!

a lavender Cochin hen foraging in a patch of clover

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A Diet for Ailing Chickens

As soon as you notice one of your chickens is not feeling well you need to immediately think about their diet. After you take the usual sick chicken precautions you will want to dive into the nitty gritty of figuring out what is causing them to ail and how you can help. Your flock’s diet plays a big role in how healthy they stay.

Food and water is what keeps a chicken alive and ensures that all of the body’s functions are working properly. Deficiencies and imbalances in the diet can both cause health issues. However, sickness in general, even if it is not caused by the diet, can also be significantly impacted by what a chicken consumes.

Signs of improper feed and water intake include:

diarrhea– a chicken who does not eat will often have bile in their poop (bile is green)
thinness- if a chicken is not recieving the nutrition that it needs it will start to loose weight, feel on either side of the breast bone to check for thinness
shrunken/pale comb and wattles– these areas are some of the first places that get restricted nutrition and blood flow
long, sunken facial features– as a chicken looses weight and suffers from malnutrition, its facial features will begin to look sunken, making the face look long and narrow

Always Feed This to Sick Chickens:

The first thing to feed a sick chicken is their original, usual homestead feed. Whether that’s layer feed, maintenance feed, grower feed, whatever you usually feed your flock, continue to offer that to the sick chicken. If a sick chicken is still interested in food and water, even better! Still offer them the usual feed. Here is why that is so important:

You should be feeding your flock a complete ration that has all the required nutrients in the right quantities for a chicken to survive. These essential nutrients will nourish a sick chicken.
Sick chickens need those essential nutrients more than anything else to help keep the basic body functions working.
Anything else added to a sick chicken’s diet will dilute the nutrients in the complete ration and will mess with the balance of nutrient quantities.

Despite the original ration being so important, sometimes supplements need to be introduced. Supplements can help treat certain ailments or replenish deficiencies.

Be aware that sometimes the feed that you are feeding your flock could be causing them to get sick. Moldy feed causes illness as does old, stale feed. Sometimes mixed feeds can cause nutritional deficiencies if they are mixed wrong or are lacking in a nutrient. Adding supplements to the feed can cause nutrient imbalances.

Over-treating or feeding too many additional foods to your flock can lead to dietary imbalances. The best way to prevent dietary imbalances is by giving your flock as much control over their diet as possible. A whole grain feed or mash feed pairs well with the foraging, scrap-eating lifestyle of a homestead flock.

Always buy from reputable feed sources and know how to use feed supplements properly.

a backyard hen resting at the base of a tree

What if my chicken is not interested in its feed?

Once a chicken looses interest in its original feed, you will need to take some persuasive actions to get the chicken to continue eating. If a chicken’s stomach becomes empty, the stomach will stop producing hydrochloric acid, which is a very important acid that affects the pH levels in the stomach. In turn, pH levels play an important role in fending off harmful organisms and digesting protein (learn more about pH in this post on How Vinegar Affects Chickens).

Ensuring that a sick chicken’s stomach always has something in it is important and difficult. If you notice that your sick chicken has lost interest in its food or is decreasing its consumption of food, try these tricks:

Get the feed wet and make a mash. For some reason I have found that chickens are attracted to wet feed. Be careful that it doesn’t get moldy though. Replace any uneaten, wet feed every 12-24 hours.
Better yet, offer some fermented feed! I make my own homemade fermented feed that my flock loves!
Add apple cider vinegar to the sick chicken’s drinking water to stimulate water consumption which in turn stimulates the chicken’s appetite.
When all else fails, try offering special treats. Keep the treats healthy though!

Healthy Treats to Stimulate the Appetite:

scrambled or hard-boiled eggs
cooked squash, pumpkin, or sweet potato
cooked meat scraps

The first healthy treat that I usually offer a sick chicken who is off their feed is scrambled or boiled egg. Eggs contain all the essential nutrients except for vitamin C, which healthy chickens manufacturer on their own. I also offer cooked meat (like chicken or beef) or soft vegetables (like squash). At this point, you are just trying to get something nutritious into the chicken to stimulate the appetite and gives the chicken’s body something to run off of.

Diet Tip #1. Using Herbs for Sick Chickens

At any point after you start caring for a sick chicken you can incorporate herbs into their diet. However, there are some guidelines you need to follow. Here is how I use herbs when I am treating a sick chicken:

Start off by offering fresh herbs free-choice. Hang bunches of fresh herbs in the sick chicken’s pen.
If you only have dried herbs available, offer them in a separate dish as free-choice. However, I have found that fresh herbs always go over better than dried herbs.
If you know that a certain herb can be used to treat or help with the ailment that your chicken is dealing with, you can incorporate that herb into the chicken’s diet.
To incorporate an herb into a chicken’s diet, you will want to use the dried form of that herb (some dried herbs are called spices).
Make sure you know the specific quantity that you are adding to a specific amount of feed. Keep a journal of what you do and how it works.
As a basic guideline, I usually start with 1 teaspoon of a dried herb/spice per 2 cups of feed. Increase the quantity as you see fit or know is safe.
Don’t add an herb or spice to a sick chicken’s feed for more than 7 days. Take a break for a few days, then if the problem continues, resume using the herb or a different herb for a few more days.

Since herbal remedies have not been thoroughly scientifically researched for use on chickens, it is important that you keep a journal of what you do for your sick chicken. Write down specific quantities and keep track of how long you use the herb in the sick chicken’s diet.

Basic Herbs for a Sick Chicken:

parsley
turmeric
garlic
cinnamon
oregano (this is a strong herb)

chicken first aid kit supplies checklist FREE printable

an olive egger pullet foraging in a raspberry patch

Diet Tip #2. Adding Feed Supplements

Feed supplements are tricky, especially when it comes to adding them to a sick chicken’s diet. Like I said earlier, the first thing to feed a sick chicken is their original feed with no added supplements. Before you add supplements to a sick chicken’s diet, first do some research. Find out these basics before using supplements:

What ailment are you dealing with? (this one is tricky because sometimes, as homestead chicken keepers, we just can’t make a sure diagnosis)
What supplements have been used or are recommended to use for the ailment?
Are there specific quantities that have been documented to use?

Once you have an idea on what supplements you can use, then you can add them to your sick chicken’s diet. Just like with herbs, use specific quantities for a specific amount of time. As a general guideline I usually don’t mix more than 1 T. to 1/2 c. of supplement per 2 cups of feed. Offer the supplement for a set amount of time, then stop. This will allow you to monitor how effective the supplement was. Here are a few supplements that you can start using with a sick chicken:

dried kelp– mix into feed, provides additional nutrients
brewer’s yeast– mix into feed, provides additional nutrients
whole oats– mix into feed or offer free-choice in a specific quantity; can help stimulate appetite

Other supplements you may want to look into using for specific ailments include blackstrap molasses, green tea, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, and elderberry syrup.

Diet Tip #3. A Liquid Diet

Sometimes we have to resort to a liquid diet when dealing with a sick chicken. Ailing chickens loose their appetite fast, and no matter how much you try to encourage them to eat, they just won’t. As long as the chicken’s quality of life is still good, you can try treating them with a liquid diet.

You can also start a liquid diet once you notice that they are decreasing their food and water intake. A liquid diet can be helpful for getting medication or supplements into the chicken and can help keep a chicken hydrated.

When referring to a liquid diet, I am talking about anything that includes water or that can be drunk. Adding supplements to a chicken’s water is the surest way to get something into them because they can’t pick it out like they can in feed. That also means you need to know what you are doing when using a liquid diet.

Here are some holistic remedies that can be offered through a liquid diet:

Liquid Diet Supplements:

crushed garlic- no matter the ailment, when I notice one of my chickens has a bad poop or is ailing, I give them some garlic water (note: your chickens must be accustomed to garlic water otherwise they won’t drink it)
herbal tonics- I buy herbal tonics through moonlightmileherbs.com.
fresh herbs– fresh herbs can be chopped up and put in water to infuse their healing properties into the water
probiotics- after garlic, my next liquid diet supplement is usually probiotics
vitamins- be careful with vitamin supplements since they can cause an imbalance in vitamins when combined with other supplements
electrolytes- electrolytes can help keep a sick chicken hydrated which helps keep all the body functions working properly.
honey water– honey contains all sorts of illness-fighting properties and can easily be dissolved into warm water

an olive egger pullet standing behind a patch of chives

Diet Tip #4. Assisted Feeding

You can’t force feed a chicken solid foods. However, you can assist feeding them a liquid diet. This measure may need to be taken when you notice that the sick chicken has stopped eating and drinking. Assisted feeding is simple, but it is a two person job. Here is how I assist feed a sick chicken who is on a liquid diet:

Have one person hold the sick chicken securely. This may mean you need to wrap the bird in a blanket to keep it from freaking out.
The other person should be using a pipette to measure out a specific quantity of liquid.
The person with the pipette should gently pull down on the bird’s wattle and insert the tip of the pipette into the bird’s beak.
Squeeze the liquid from the pipette into the chicken’s mouth. This may need to happen quickly or slowly, depending on how much liquid you are dealing with.
I have found the .1mL of liquid can be squirted into the chicken’s beak quickly. However, .3mL of liquid needs to be done slowly so that the chicken can ‘drink’ it.
Caution: Don’t stick the pipette too far back into the chicken’s throat. This could cause the liquid to go down the wrong pipe.

Liquid diet supplements that I like to use are: herbal tonics, elderberry syrup, garlic water, probiotic water, and electrolytes.

a display of natural feed supplements for chickens including whole oats, ultrakibble, and lentils

What should I feed my Sick Chicken?

Start off by making sure the sick chicken has access to its normal, daily feed. Offer free-choice herbs that the chicken can peck at if it wants. Encourage the chicken to eat by making the feed damp (or fermenting the feed) or occassionally offering healthy snacks like cooked egg or squash. As you get a better diagnosis on the ailing chicken, you may learn that you can offer specific herbs or natural supplements to help treat an ailment.

Incorporate natural remedies into the sick chicken’s diet or use a liquid diet method to administer remedies to the sick chicken.

Keeping a sick chicken fed and feeding it the right stuff is important to give the chicken a chance of recovery! Hopefully you now have a better understanding of what to feed a sick chicken! From regular feed to adding herbs to using supplements to administering a liquid diet, you should now be all set to manage your sick chicken’s diet properly. Don’t forget, keep good documentation of what you do! Keep a homestead journal of your natural remedies to use as referance in the future and as documentation of your research.

I try to share as many natural chicken keeping tips for the homestead flock as I can in our modern pioneer newsletter community! Join us on our homestad journey and don’t miss any natural tips that I use on my homestead flock!

by Alexa

Additional Resources:

To aid you in using herbs and supplements with a sick chicken, I have put together this collection of posts that give guidelines and information for using herbs with chickens and adding feed supplements into a chicken’s diet.