What You Should Know about Chicken Health
Chicken health might be something that you do not really think about. However, there are so many different diseases and illnesses affecting the world today that it may be a good idea to think about what you are eating. Even more important is for the individuals that are growing our food to think about what they are doing with the product. There are things that they should be aware of in order to determine if the chickens are healthy. This article is going to briefly explore ways to keep the chickens healthy and ways to identify if they are not.
First of all, in order to promote positive chicken health it is important to keep their cages and their water supplies clean each and every day. You do not want there to be a lot of waste in the cages. This can spread disease and illness. Therefore, you are going to want to take the time to get all of the cages cleaned out and be sure that they have access to clean water. You are also going to need to keep any tools that come into contact with your chickens clean as well. This means any feed scoopers and other equipment such as gloves and such that you use around your animal.
The next step to proper chicken health is to take the time to clean any equipment that you use to move the chickens around. Therefore, if you are hauling the chickens, you are going to want to keep the back end of trucks clean and you will also want to clean off tires and everything. You never know when you have come into contact with something that is not safe and may cause your chickens to become ill.
If you have purchased a new bird, you are going to want to keep this bird away from any of the other birds for at least 30 days. This is going to give you time to determine if the chicken is healthy or if it may be sick. You do not want to place it with other chickens and take the chance of it contaminating other birds. Be cautious and let it sit by itself for awhile.
There are several different signs that you can be on the lookout for if you want to check the chicken health on your farm. You are going to want to watch for any sneezing or coughing. You are going to want to watch for trouble breathing in your chicken as well. If you watch your chickens on a regular basis you are going to know if your chicken is having difficulty walking. If you notice that they are wobbling or they are having difficulties standing you should be alarmed.
There are so many different diseases that can affect your chickens. You want to be able to pin point what is going on. Therefore, if you are concerned about chicken health on your farm, you are going to want to contact a vet as soon as possible. There are different antibiotics and medications that can be given for many different diseases. You may not have anything to worry about but it is better to be safe than sorry. You should always isolate the chickens when you notice strange behavior. This may keep any diseases from spreading.
If your children have chickens for 4H or other youth clubs, you are going to want to teach them about the importance of chicken health as well. Take the time to teach them about keeping things clean and making sure that water is changed on a regular basis. They need to also know the warning signs of poor chicken health so help them understand what to look for.
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