Chickens are vigorous when they are healthy. They run around pecking everything they can get their beaks on. You will become acclimated to the pattern behaviors of your chickens. The way they behave when they are healthy. But what happens if one day your chicken starts acting out of character. Being sluggish everywhere it goes. They are lying down anywhere in the compound. First, even if it’s human, we know when someone behaves out of character, something is wrong. The person might be sick, or there are other circumstances like heartbreak that caused the change.
It is not normal if your chicken lays around all day. The cause varies from chicken to chicken. Yours might be sick, and It might have swallowed something poisonous, which is affecting it. It’s not normal. It is likely too sunny, so you should build a shade for your chickens. Please take note of the things different about it. I.e., is its feather shedding which can indicate diarrhea. Or is the feather very dull, which can hint at an underlying illness. When you notice these characteristics and behavior, you should take it to a vet for diagnosis and treatment. And learn what you can give them to eat and what you can not give them to eat. If there is no vet around you that you give your chicken to for treatment, you can ask an experienced chicken owner. Someone who has a lot of chicken and would have dealt with the situation at one point or another. Once your chicken is treated, take extra care of her to ensure the problem doesn’t repeat itself.
Another thing to take great note of is the life stage of your chicken. There are some things an adult chicken can eat and digest which is too sensitive for a young chicken’s digestive system. So make sure you give them food suitable for their life stages. An older chicken needs food to provide it with the strength to lay an egg, protect its young ones, and get fat. Protect your chicken environment very well. Please make sure there are no dangerous insects such as scorpions that can sting them or snakes around. Put appropriate barriers and prevention measures to protect your chicken from this menace. By doing this, you indirectly safeguard your investment in the chickens.
Pay proper attention to the water your chickens drink as well. The water should not be polluted. It should be something a human being can drink and be okay. This means clean water. The alkalinity or salt level of the water should not be too high or too low. As long as the water is okay for a man to drink, it’s okay for your chicken to drink as well. The containers used to provide food and water for the chicken should always be clean. It should pass the basic hygienic test. Don’t use just any container while you think it’s just chicken. What do they know about having a suitable container for food?
The chicken coup is subject to the utmost concern. Clean it out every morning and evening. If you can’t do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you. If chickens are left to just poop anyhow in their cages without cleaning it, it’ll invite flies. Not only flies rolling around in the poop is bad hygienically for them. Disease and other things grow and can make your chicken sick. Overall, hygiene is essential in taking care of your chicken. If you pay proper attention to their food, drink, cages e.t.c you are not likely to have any problems with their well-being.
How do you know your chicken is healthy
You should make sure to have a vet check on them from time to time to ensure no disease or infection. If there is a disease or illness, it can be dangerous for it. Condition not delayed or properly treated can spread among the rest of your chickens. This will cause more problems to you than having to deal with just one. Delaying treatment can make you lose lots of time, money, and your investment in the chickens. Pay proper attention to the chickens, and always watch out if there is a break in the pattern for them.
It’s easy to know when your chicken is healthy. As their owner, you get familiar with their behavior pattern over time. You know what they do when they are healthy. Healthy chickens usually move around, pecking food, running around, mating, and laying eggs. If there is a break in pattern from your chicken’s expected behavior, then be aware that there could be a problem somewhere.
How do you know your chicken is sick
There are so many ways to discover if your chicken is sick. If anything deviates from the normal on it, check. For example, the tongue is pink; if it becomes any other color, give it a health check. If you see feathers lying around, there is a big chance it has diarrhea. You should watch out for these small peculiar traits indicating one illness or the other in the chicken. If the comb and wattles look frail and slumped, it’s another hint to the under.
If you notice something peculiar in the chicken, separate it from the rest and observe its behavior. If it’s not normal as the rest, there is something probably wrong. Listen to the breathing of the chicken. It should be dry puffs; if its breathing sound is gasping, it’s a sign there is something wrong with it.
The tongue of your chicken is subject to checking as well. The standard color of the chicken tongue is pink, and it’s moist. If what you find your chicken is different, you might need to call a vet to make some health checks on it.
Check it anus if there is no poop clogging the place or something sticking out. Proceed to the legs and feet and check if there is any physical injury or swollen parts. The swollen parts indicate a problem in the inner part of its leg. Take time every day to observe your chickens from their physical body to their usual behaviors if there is anything different. If you do this, often you can easily deal with any problem from the onset before it becomes too hard to deal with it.
Pay for regular vet visits. Let the vets do check up on the chickens, their feed water, and anything relating to the chicken to ascertain that all is well. Vets checkup are not very expensive. It’s around a 100$ per visit. They can check thoroughly and more professionally if there is anything wrong with the chickens. The vets can give you suggestions on how to improve the life quality of the chickens.
You know your chicken is sick and notice the break-in pattern in them. When it starts behaving out of character, you should start taking chicken. Take them to a vet to use more sophisticated means to determine whether it is sick and what might be the cause.
What can you feed your chicken
This part is essential, and it’s a basic no-how for chicken rearing. You have to know what nutrients should be in the feed and what quantity each nutrient should be. They have core nutrients that they need to have proper healthy growth and life.
They don’t have gag reflexes. This will try to eat anything they can get their beak on. From small insects to grains they may find while foraging. What you feed your chicken and how much depends on the weather and other factors. During warm weather, they go out more than in cold weathers like winter or harmattan. They tend to stay in their shed or wherever their dwelling places are because of the extreme cold. Their primary food should be layer feed. In any form, the chicken can eat it. Layer feed is designed to have all types of nutrients required for healthy chicken growth and laying eggs. Although, during the warm weather, the majority of chicken food comes from their foraging.
During winter, the chickens don’t and can’t go out as much as they do during warmer weather. So their source of food depends 80% on what you give them to eat. You can give them leftovers from your food. They can eat almost everything man eats, and it helps prevent wastage.
Conclusion
What makes human beings who they are is their kindness. Chickens, like any other creature, deserve compassion and care. Even though they would later be killed for food, the time they spent should be in good health. So it’s essential to focus on their health and lifestyle when you are rearing some flocks. Pay attention to everything from the food they eat to the containers you use to serve them. observe them regularly to quickly detect if there is a problem with one of your chickens. You should quickly separate the sick chicken from the healthy ones.