Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the pad of the chicken's foot, an infection that can eventually kill the bird if it is left un-
treated and spreads. The best prevention is a clean coop. If it's too late and you have a
lame hen with a sore, bleeding foot you must capture her, restrain her, clean her foot, and
soak it in warm water and Epsom salts. (Make sure to wear latex gloves!) Then spray
on Neosporin, wrap the leg, and let the bird heal in a separate, safe, clean cage. Repeat
many times.
CALCIUM DEFICIENCY
You might walk into the coop one day and find the ghost of an egg in the nest box: a
filmy, shell-less blob. If the weather is hot and your birds seem to be drooping, they
might have calcium deficiency. A hen's eggshell is 94 percent calcium carbonate so, as
you can imagine, your birds can use a vital boost if you can supply it. I feed my hens
oyster shell in a small pie pan by their feed. Others offer a crushed limestone, or dry out
and crumble the hens' old shells and add them back to their feed. Make sure the crushed
shells do not resemble eggs, lest your birds get ideas about snacking on their own.
COCCIDIOSIS
Caused by a dangerous parasite, this brutal intestinal disease is often associated with
younger birds—and chick loss. It removes the birds' interest in life. They no longer care
to drink or eat and become droopy and listless. This easily transferable and high-mortal-
ity wasting disease is the best argument for keeping babes on medicated feed.
It is spread through droppings, so a clean brooder and coop are the best prevention. Most
coccidiostats (drugs that control coccidiosis) are sulfa-based antibiotics. Antibiotics can
treat it (survivors make it back in 10-14 days), but a clean environment and medicated
feed beat the stress and expense of treating your flock, many of which you may lose.
FOWL POX
Chickens can come down with chicken pox too, but it's not related to the red, itchy
bumps we might remember from childhood. Fowl pox is a wartlike infection that leaves
scabby growths on the birds' non-feathered areas (like the head, legs, feet, and vent).
Sometimes it infects the inside of the animal instead causing growths in the mouth or
airways. It slows the animals down and can halt egg production. It can be transferred
from bird to bird through open wounds or mosquitoes. The good news is that fowl pox
is slow to spread, so if you find an affected bird you can remove it from the flock and
the others may not catch it. Let the hen heal on its own (which may take two weeks)
