Solitary chicken - need advice

[emmalou]

I have read a lot on here about health issues with chickens and it seems more often than not owners seem to manage to sort these issues out without the need of a vet. Whilst I want to be prepared for eventualites with my hens I also don't want to go out and spend a fortune buying things I may not need but on the flip side do not want to having to rush down the vets every time there is an issue with one of them. Is there anything I should definately look at having in stock for my hens without going mad? At the moment I am in the process of buying the food, grit, feeders etc but haven't got any further. As this is new to me I will just be having 5 hens. I am in an area where getting hold of chicken products etc is not great so need to have some bits in stock as ordering anything online can take time.

[Cat tails]

I would only suggest thinking about worming. Most people here use Flubenvet, but I struggle to get hold of that in the Netherlands. So I use Ivermectin instead.

[emmalou]

Ok thanks. We are getting our birds from a breeder locally who supplies to the garden centres. Not my original plan but being new to it all I wanted to try and be sure we were buying good quality birds. I presume they would be regularly wormed at 20 weeks? Are there normally any urgent health matters that may crop up regularly that may require me to get anything online? I am just a little concerned I may not be able to get something and have to wait ages for it by post. Judging on my first delivery of chickens bits n bobs it took two weeks so nit very impressed.

[Olly]

If you look at the FAQs you'll see 'Shopping List for Newbies'.

 

I wouldn't rush to buy stuff though. You will need to worm your hens regularly with Flubenvet. Purple antiseptic wound spray is useful, and available in farm and equine shops. I don't give my hens any supplements or additives and they are rarely ill. Don't forget that people post on here when they have problems; people whose hens are healthy don't come on here to tell us about it, so you can get a skewed perception of how many problems there really are.

[emmalou]

Eeek, do I need ground sanitiser too? That is a long list!

[sjp]

you don't need everything on that list the bedding for instance you only need one type for the coop including the nest and depending on which one you go for anther for the run personally I use woodchip horse bedding in both

the supplements at this stage you could go for Avipro or life guard tonic just for a week or two while the birds get over the move personally I keep a bottle of lifeguard because I've got a couple of birds that lay poor quality egg shelled eggs from time to time limestone flour should be used as nearly a last resort you can give to much calcium, cod liver oil is the best first step if you have shell problems. mixed grit I haven't used for 2 or 3 years I feed a good quality feed that has enough in plus my lot get out to free range most days

the pest control diatom and Red Mite Powder / Louse powder you'll need

cleaners

poultry shield best all round cleaner on the market gave a mate some to clean an old greenhouse after he'd tried washing up liquid and water and got nowere poultry shield brought it up like new can use it on drinkers and feeder as well

Stalosen F for outside and biodry for inside is my preference

medication purple spray and scaly leg are a must so is a metal bin plus a paint s"Ooops, word censored!"er dustpan and brush and a bucket and sponge

the rest of the stuff isn't a must have wormer you get when you need it 2 or 3 times a year if you go down the medicated feed then you don't get that until you need it anyway as it only has a short shelf life