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Some pests and diseases
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Our birds have been quite hardy in general but it is always possible that a
chook dies. Fowl can potentially suffer from a wide range of illnesses and
it may be prudent to take them to the vet. Two very good resources regarding
diseases of poultry are Alanna Moore’s “Backyard Poultry –
Naturally” and the internet forum www.backyardpoultry.com
. While Alanna Moore lists many natural remidies in her book, the internet
forum provides help almost immediately when an urgent question is posted.
How you keep your chooks has a big influence on their health. They will not
fall sick as easily if they can
free-range and pick greens and insects and worms, and if they are housed in a
clean chook house that is not overcrowded and that has access to clean
water.
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- worming: regular worming is important.
Garlic is a natural worming agent. Garlic cloves can be ground up and
added to the chooks drinking water. Sulphur can be added to the
drinking water or a commercial worming preparation such as Piperazine
solution (which is not organic). If
the chooks look healthy and fit and carry good body weight then this
is an indication that worms are not a problem. Prevention against
worms include
- that feed is not scattered onto the ground but placed in dry feed
containers protected against the rain
- that the birds have enough room to free-range and that they can use
areas in rotation (no build-up of worm eggs)
- that the chook house
has a functioning deep litter system where worm eggs are destroyed as
the bedding composts |
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| - lice: we have never had a problem with lice.
All our fowls have the opportunity to take a dust bath as they wish
and they do it regularly. It’s a funny sight to see a chook
stretched out in the dust enjoying a dry bath. Chooks take these dust
baths to control lice. Lice cause skin irritations and itchiness and
the birds will scratch themselves and show bare patches of skin if
lice become a problem. The treatment against lice is to apply a
sulphur powder to the breast, under the wings and around the vent. If
the situation has become this bad the house and the perch and nest
boxes may need treatment too. |
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| - mites: scaly leg mites can cause great pain to
chickens. We have never seen scaly leg on our chooks but we have seen
it in many birds that were for sale at poultry auctions. Scaly leg is
easy to spot. The mites bury underneath the scales on the bird’s
legs and the scales lift up giving the legs a gnarly, unsightly look. A
simple treatment is to spread vaseline on the bird’s legs so that
the mites cannot breath. Red mites are another type of mite. They live
in the small crevices of the chook house and come out at night to suck
the chook’s blood. They can be treated with sulphur powder. |
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| - quarantine: when we buy a chook we put it into
a chook tractor for a couple of weeks to make sure it does not develop
an illness. Unfortunately this does not always work: the new bird may
carry an illness to which it is immune itself but the others are not.
No signs of sickness can be observed in the new chook but the old ones
might still get sick once they are together. This happened to us once
and there really is no way to avoid it. Out of a flock of 16 fowls one
died after we introduced two new layers to the group. In any case
quarantine is important. |
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| - coccidiosis medication in chicks: chick
crumble contains coccidiosis medication and the young chicks are
protected while they are fed with chick crumble. At eight weeks of age
the chicks are introduced to grower crumbles that do not contain
coccidiosis medication. This is a time when coccidiosis can strike.
Coccidia are single celled parasites that exist in many different
strains and are found almost everywhere. They attack the intestinal
lining and the birds show –among other symptoms- bloody droppings.
Older birds are immune to the local types of coccidia but chicks have
to develop this immunity first. If coccidiosis is detected early
enough and promptly treated with medication (available at the pet
shop) there is a chance of recovery. If the fowl were held in
isolation from the local wildlife, if they had no access to water in
puddles or creeks, then the chance for them to attract coccidiosis
would be a lot smaller. We prefer our chooks to have a natural life
where they can free-range, even if this increases the risk of
coccidiosis. |
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