Keeping a Healthy Flock
Healthy and Safety
A healthy flock of chickens is a joy to watch and to own. You do have to be aware of the potential for predators, disease, parasites, insects, stress, and improper diets to seriously affect your chickens. These problems can come on fast and wipe out your entire flock. Most of these problems can be prevented, some can be treated, others just happen unfortunately.
Predators
There are several predators that you probably have never seen in your yard before you got chickens that you will see when you do. Your flock is in danger twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. They are in danger from above and from below.
These predators include the following:
Raccoons – These critters are remarkably strong and intelligent. If there is a way into the coop at night, they will find it. We had one raccoon tear the roof off of one of our coops to get in. Another burrowed underneath. Still another reached a paw through the chicken wire and pulled our birds out piece by piece.
Coyote/Fox – A coyote or fox is more likely to grab one of your free ranging birds than to try and break into the coop at night, but they are also very smart, too.
Weasel/Mink – They are mean and can squeeze into impossibly tight areas. They will kill every chicken in the coop and eat only parts of them.
Skunks – Have you ever found a headless chicken just laying there, with nothing else eaten? That is likely a skunk’s work.
Hawks/Owls – Don’t underestimate the strength of one of these birds of prey. They can land inside an enclosed area grab a chicken and fly out. If your birds are in a mostly enclosed area, and you don’t have a roof any creature can get in and out.
One way to confuse birds of prey is to hang some CD’s on fishing line at various points in the yard. These will reflect the sun and throw them off. For the owl, a criss-cross pattern of fishing line over the area where the chickens run will prevent a scoop and grab.
Possums – Consider these guys to be as bad as raccoons. Maybe worse.
Bobcats – When a bobcat pounces, it is with accuracy and lethal consequences. They are always on the prowl, but seem to strike at night mostly.
Snakes – If your egg counts seem to diminish, or some smaller chickens are disappearing, you may have a snake problem.
Dogs/Cats – You may find a stray dog or cat is helping themselves to your flock.
Squirrels – It’s rare, but some squirrels will attack chickens and yes, I’ve seen it happen.
Insects – While not as obvious as those above, fleas, lice, ticks, and mites can attack your flock without your knowing it. These pests will bring disease, and kill your birds at a much slower rate than others. Dusting your birds with a safe pesticide like Sevin dust will kill most of these without harming the chickens.
It might also help to dust your yard, the coop and other areas with Diatomaceous Earth. DE is safe for all animals. For insects, it strips away their outer skin and dries them out quickly. For the insect encountering DE, it’s akin to crawling through an acre of broken glass.
Protecting your flock from all predators is important. But whether you free range or confine them there is a good chance that you will lose a few. Some recommend using a synthetic predator urine spray at the edges of your property, others use the reflective ‘predator eyes’ in various locations around the coop, and others use motion sensor lights to a varying degree of success.
Hygiene
Chickens need clean conditions to remain healthy. Unfortunately, the feces builds up quickly and unless it is being shovelled or washed out regularly, the chicken feed that falls on the floor will be contaminated. For the most part, chickens clean themselves through regular dirt baths and preening. One major rule of chicken hygiene is more for humans’ benefit than for the chickens.
Salmonella poisoning occurs mostly in the kitchen when handling raw chicken, but the truth is that the salmonella bacteria is on live chickens, eggs and in their feces. Make sure that after handling the eggs, the chickens or after cleaning the coop that you and your kids wash your hand thoroughly.
Natural Organic Pest and Disease Control
As mentioned before, the use of DE on your birds and in their living area is perfectly safe as it is a natural pesticide. For fleas, ticks and ants, DE can work wonders. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only pests that feed on chickens. Mites are smaller than fleas and DE cannot kill a mite.
Mites attach themselves to the chicken and feed on the blood transmitting disease and weakening the bird. Check your birds’ anal area for a tiny red dot. These dots are mites and can kill your birds slowly. Apply Sevin dust to the anal area and over and around each birds’ back.
The best chance to stay entirely organic as a farm in regard to mites is in prevention. Clean up the coop every week, replace the bedding regularly. This is still not one hundred percent effective and if you find a mite, you will have to use some kind of chemical to kill them.
Lovely healthy rooster and hen