From bright eyes to a red comb, avian vet, Victoria Roberts BVSc MRCVS, outlines the positive signs of wellness in chickens.
Sort out your priorities first. Why are you keeping chickens? Do you want lots of eggs per week, or only a few? Some meat, some birds for beauty, to conserve rare breeds, as pets or for the weeding of a vegetable garden?
No single type or breed will fulfil all of these requirements and it is so important that you like the look of the hens you buy – they will become part of the family. Also, check with your local authority that there are no regulations to prevent you keeping chickens and remember to inform your neighbours, re-assuring them that there will not be a cockerel as hens lay without one.
Once your new hobby is established, it is amazing how far neighbourly goodwill is enhanced by the gift of fresh eggs.
CHICKEN CHOICES:
- Commercial hybrids: if you need lots of eggs, don’t mind if they look the same, don’t mind replacing after two years, cheapest, not very hardy.
- Free-range hybrids: good numbers of eggs, can get different colours. Live a year or two longer, more expensive, hardier.
- Pure breeds: some eggs, most of year, different colours and patterns, live 4-7 years, most expensive, hardiest.The poultry keeper will spend much time just observing the birds and this is invaluable, necessary and pleasurable. Positive signs of health need to be known in order to discover abnormalities.
POSITIVE SIGNS OF HEALTH IN CHICKENS:
- Dry nostrils
- A red comb (some breeds have naturally dark ones)
- Bright eyes (colour varies with breed)
- Shiny feathers (all present)
- Good weight and musculature for age
- Clean vent feathers with no smell
- Smooth shanks
- Straight toes
- Alert and active.
The great secret with all bird-keeping is to be able to recognise signs of ill health as a deviation from normal in the early stages. Because they are a prey species, birds have an ability to disguise signs of disease until it is often too late. This is usually the stage when they are presented to a vet, so if a bird can be seen at an earlier stage of a disease, there is a much greater chance of a treatment being successful, thus improving welfare.
Most people are keen on giving treats to their pets but obesity in chickens can be a problem. They need to be fit not fat and the way to establish this is to check the body condition score (BCS). Feeling the pin bones where fat is stored is very helpful (see diagram).
The health of a chicken’s respiratory system depends very much on good ventilation: damp stale air will quickly cause problems. High levels of ammonia (droppings are made mostly at night) from the litter prevent the removal of phlegm and so invite bacteria and viruses to multiply – if you can smell ammonia in the hen hut, there is too much, so keep the litter cleaner and increase ventilation at the top of the hut to avoid drafts at the bottom, hens do not thrive in drafts.
UNDERSTANDING NORMAL BEHAVIOUR
Many common conditions or diseases of poultry can be avoided if something is understood about their behaviour. Poultry are creatures of great habit – life is safer that way – so any change in routine can upset them. This can range from a sudden snowfall, when they will not venture outside as the ground has changed colour, to a sudden change from meal to pellets, one of which does not look like food. This is not stupidity: their confidence is easily dented, which of course is part of the survival mechanism. The key word here is sudden: they will cope with most changes if these are gradually implemented.
Victoria Roberts
ABOUT VICTORIA ROBERTS
Victoria Roberts BVSc MRCVS has been involved with poultry all her life. She has had over 50 years of breeding and judging exhibition poultry and waterfowl, is a Panel B judge and has been a member of the Dorking Breed Club since 1987, then Secretary from 1993. She is a small animal and avian vet and has several books on poultry in print plus edited the two previous British Poultry Standards.
This article was taken from the March 2025 edition of The Country Smallholder.
