Julie Gauthier

Answers to Ten Common Questions about Chicken Health

Step by Step / Updated 06-14-2021

Following are the most common questions that flock keepers ask about the health of their chickens. We provide quick, concise answers that you can take to heart or share with a fellow flock keeper in the time it takes you to check out at the feed store.What is that lump on the side of a chicken’s neck?Most likely, the lump on the side of your chicken’s neck is normal.

Ten Common Misconceptions about Chicken Health and Treatments

Step by Step / Updated 02-15-2017

Here are ten of the most famous backyard flock-keeping myths. Busting these myths may burst some bubbles of wishful thinking, but hopefully, it also will ease some unnecessary worries.Mixing a new, healthy-looking chicken with the flock is safe.Many types of organisms that cause diseases in chickens can live hidden within a chicken, causing no signs of illness, or causing signs that are so mild that no one notices them.

Necropsying a Chicken: Head, Neck, Joints, and Nerves

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

During the postmortem exam of a chicken, you should evaluate the internal organs first. Then, move on to the head and neck, following by the joints and nerves. To inspect these items and finish up your chicken necropsy, follow these steps:Turn the bird around to face you.Use your scissors and cut through the corner of the mouth.

Necropsying a Chicken: The Internal Organs

Step by Step / Updated 06-17-2021

You may want to review chicken anatomy before you make your first cut. As you perform the steps, jot down notes about anything that puzzles you during the necropsy. Describe the color, size, texture, and location of the things you saw in simple terms so that you can look up your findings later or describe them to your chicken health advisor.

The Digestive System of a Chicken

Article / Updated 06-14-2021

Having a firm understanding of a chicken’s digestion system can help you figure out the reason behind a chicken’s digestive upsets. The figure shows the layout of the chicken digestive system, beginning to end. Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born Mouth: A chicken can’t physically stick out her tongue or say “Ahh,” so you may never see the inside of a chicken’s mouth.

Life Outside the Egg: A Chick’s First Few Weeks

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

For the first few days after hatching, a chick can’t maintain her own body temperature and needs to be kept warm, either by mother hen’s body heat or by a supplemental heat source that you can provide. The egg yolk, which the chick absorbed into her abdomen during the last few days before hatching, provides an energy source to keep the chick going for a couple of days, while she’s figuring out how to eat and drink.

Biosecurity: The Most Important Prevention Tool for Your Chickens

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Biosecurity is a set of practices — things you do every day— that helps keep infectious organisms, such as viruses and bacteria, out of your chicken flock. If a disease-causing organism manages to find its way into your backyard chicken flock, the same biosecurity practices can help prevent the spread of the disease between your chickens, or the spread outside your flock to someone else’s chickens.

Causes of Common Problems of Hens

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Some of the problems that backyard chicken flock keepers most frequently see in their hens are respiratory illness, feather loss, and strange eggs. The following contains some common causes for some chicken ailments. Other things could be responsible for the signs you’re seeing, but they’re less likely to be the culprits than the causes listed in the table.

First Aid Kit for a Backyard Chicken Flock

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Your chicken-keeping philosophy will determine how well stocked your backyard flock first aid kit should be. At a minimum, every flock keeper should have a hospital cage in which to assess and isolate a sick or injured chicken, and have the ability to humanely euthanize a hopelessly ill bird. Other items you may find useful in your first aid kit are A spare heat lamp and bulb (non-shatterproof) or other heat source to warm a chilled bird (especially chicks).