Diseases
As with people and other animals, chickens can suffer from a wide range of illnesses and ailments. However, a few are particularly common or fatal:
The Poultry Keeper website is an excellent resource for disease information.
- Mycoplasma - a respiratory disease with symptoms that include watery or 'bubbly' eyes, swollen face, wheezing and difficulty breathing
- Infectious bronchitis - symptoms include wheezing, drooping wings and twisted neck
- Newcastle disease - symptoms include wheezing, drooping wings and twisted neck - this is a notifiable disease in the UK
- Impacted crop - squishy, dough-like crop in the mornings when the crop should have emptied overnight
- Coccidiosis - bloody diarrhoea, rapid loss of weight, ruffled feathers, hunched appearance. Usually only affects young birds
- Marek's disease - herpes virus that causes tumours anywhere in the bird. Symptoms include rapid weight loss despite good appetite, staggering and paralysis of the legs and/or wings
The Poultry Keeper website is an excellent resource for disease information.
Pests
- Red mite - perhaps the most common parasitic blight for poultry keepers. Symptoms include anaemia, poor plummage, aversion to going into the coop and eventual death
- Scaly leg mite - as the name suggests, the legs become encrusted and scaly
- Gapeworm - gaping is the most obvious symptom, and untreated an infestation will lead to death. Flubenvet is amongst the most common wormers for poultry
Predators
- Foxes and badgers - Foxes and badgers can get into runs and coops, especially when hungry. Weldmesh wire is far better protection than chicken wire/mesh, so try to use that on any runs. Remember to secure any loose boards when building flat-pack coops (my first coop had planks in the nest box that could be pushed up from underneath...totally defeating the purpose of locks on the doors), remember foxes can jump up to 6ft so provide a roof to the run, and remember foxes and badgers dig underneath coops and runs (place your set-up on slabs and/or make a weldmesh 'skirt' for the outside of the run if you can). Both foxes and badgers can be deterred by the scent from male urine, and many people find human or dog urine works well. Electric fencing is also an option.
- Rats - Many people don't realise rats pose a threat to chickens. While it's unlikely a healthy adult chicken will be killed by a rat, youngsters and chicks are definitely at risk, and many rats carry diseases we don't want around our poultry. Rats dig their runs under coops and decking, so try to buy or build a coop that is raised off the ground (this also provides extra run space and shelter for your chickens). Try not to leave chicken feed or corn out overnight as this only serves to attract rats. Remember that rats can chew through plastic (so keep feed in metal food bins if possible), and they chew threw wooden structures (such as sheds) and electrical cabling (potentially causing fires) so regular inspections are a must. Rats exist everywhere, whether we see them or not, but good management can keep their numbers undetectable.
- Birds of prey - By no means as common a threat as foxes, badgers or rats...but birds of prey can and do take chicks and adult chickens. Some species, such as red kites, seem less intimidated by the presence of humans so I find the best system is to allow the chickens to free range only when they can be supervised and to have at least a weldmesh roof on every single run.