Julie Gauthier

As a chicken flock keeper, you’re concerned about the well-being, safety, and health of your flock. Although you can’t control everything, such as predators, pests, diseases, and injuries, you can take a proactive role to ensure your chickens thrive in your backyard.The following can help you raise healthy chickens so they can provide you with eggs and happiness for years to come.

Following are the most common questions that flock keepers ask about the health of their chickens. We provide quick, concise answers that you can take to heart or share with a fellow flock keeper in the time it takes you to check out at the feed store.What is that lump on the side of a chicken’s neck?Most likely, the lump on the side of your chicken’s neck is normal.

Here are ten of the most famous backyard flock-keeping myths. Busting these myths may burst some bubbles of wishful thinking, but hopefully, it also will ease some unnecessary worries.Mixing a new, healthy-looking chicken with the flock is safe.Many types of organisms that cause diseases in chickens can live hidden within a chicken, causing no signs of illness, or causing signs that are so mild that no one notices them.

During the postmortem exam of a chicken, you should evaluate the internal organs first. Then, move on to the head and neck, following by the joints and nerves. To inspect these items and finish up your chicken necropsy, follow these steps:Turn the bird around to face you.Use your scissors and cut through the corner of the mouth.

You may want to review chicken anatomy before you make your first cut. As you perform the steps, jot down notes about anything that puzzles you during the necropsy. Describe the color, size, texture, and location of the things you saw in simple terms so that you can look up your findings later or describe them to your chicken health advisor.

Besides the obvious role of holding up the chicken, the skeletal system has at least two additional important functions: calcium storage, and believe it or not, breathing! Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born Two types of bones make up the bird skeletal system: Pneumatic: These bones (say it: new-matic) are hollow and connected to the respiratory system via the air sacs.

Being able to refer to the common names of the outside parts of the chicken is helpful when describing a problem to someone long distance and to ensuring the health of your flock. Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born Eyes: Chickens have better vision than people, by several measures. Their ability to bring objects into sharp focus and to notice very small differences in color is better than human vision, even in newly hatched chicks.

Having a firm understanding of a chicken’s digestion system can help you figure out the reason behind a chicken’s digestive upsets. The figure shows the layout of the chicken digestive system, beginning to end. Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born Mouth: A chicken can’t physically stick out her tongue or say “Ahh,” so you may never see the inside of a chicken’s mouth.

Your chicken-keeping philosophy will determine how well stocked your backyard flock first aid kit should be. At a minimum, every flock keeper should have a hospital cage in which to assess and isolate a sick or injured chicken, and have the ability to humanely euthanize a hopelessly ill bird. Other items you may find useful in your first aid kit are A spare heat lamp and bulb (non-shatterproof) or other heat source to warm a chilled bird (especially chicks).