Diet 

Chickens need a complete diet, this ensures that their body will function correctly and give you lots of eggs. A complete diet means they have the correct amounts of protein, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals. Chickens are omnivores meaning that they eat both plants and meat. To achieve this your chickens should be getting a commercial feed such as pellets or mash an example is barastoc golden yolk. Most of these feeds you should feed ad lib meaning they have access to feed all day when ever it suits them. Always go off the recommended feeding guide on packaging. Then along with the pellets or mash chickens should be supplemented with greens and fruits. You can also give them protein supplements such as meal worms and meat scraps. The most important thing to have for your chickens is fresh clean water. Their water should be cleaned daily. Other things you can add to your chickens diet are water supplements such as minerals and vitamins. One I use is vetsense avi vital which you put in their water to give chicken vitamin and minerals. I also give my chickens vetsense avi calcium which you add to your chickens water. This gives your chicken calsium and vitamin D3 which helps chickens absorb calsium. You should also provide your chickens with grit such as shell grit. This gives your chicken calcium so the chicken lays well and has a good shell on the eggs. The shell grit also helps the gizzard by grinding up any food they have eaten making sure no blockages happen. 

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Parasite Preventative treatments

Worms 

There are many different wormers out on the market for worming chickens.

It is best if you use a few different types of wormer as if you use the same one

over, and over the worm will become resistant to it meaning the wormer will not

be affective on them anymore so they wont die.

Here are a few different wormers that I use:

 

Kilverm Pig And Poultry Wormer 

This treats large round worm, caecal worm and hair worms.

This is a wormer that you add to their water. 

 

Fluverm

This treats large round worms, caecal worm, thread worm and tapeworm.

This is a wormer that you can add to your chickens feed.

 

Avirol Plus Tablets 

This treats threadworm, roundworm, gapeworm, tape worm and gizzard worms.

This is a tablet form so can be a bit harder to give to your chickens but covers a few

more different worms, it also does come in a liquid form.

 

Mites

Mites are very tiny you can barley see them, you may not see them until your coop

is infested with them. An easy way to check is go out at night with a torch and look

for tiny little red things moving on perches, another place to check is the nesting boxes.

Most mites that you will come across will live in the coop but you can get mites that do live

on the chickens. If looking for mites on a chicken they will generally be around the vent area

unless they are scaly leg mites which live on the chickens legs.

It can be quite hard to get rid of them.  Some ways I keep mites away are spraying the

coop out with mite sprays such as Maldison 50 or malaban wash, this kills mites on contact

when getting sprayed with it. There are powders you can sprinkle in the coop , nests and even

on the birds, its called pestene powder, you can also put wood ash in chickens dust baths

and Diatomaceous Earth around the coop.

 

There is a new alternative which is a great way to kill mites. It is exzolt, a mite treatment that

you add to the chickens water. After chickens drink the water with the exzolt any mites that

drink their blood will die, and you do this again after 7 days to make sure any new mites that hatched

also die, so they cycle can be stopped and your chickens can be mite free. It is a more expensive

option but may be easier and better for your chickens. This treats read mites and northern fowl mites. 

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To kill scaly leg mite you just need to cover the chickens legs in an oil such as vegetable oil, you

may need to soak and clean the legs before covering the legs in oil. 

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Lice 

Lice are similar to mites and are usually easier to get rid of. Lice live on the birds and drink their blood.

Lice are usually found around the vent area and under wings but do go over the whole bird. If your chooks

have lice you may see little white lice eggs at the base of the feathers around the vent.

To treat them you can use the Pestene powder to sprinkle on the bird, you can also get sprays

you spray on the bird. You can also use ivermectin but this is not tested on chicken so its an

off use label. It can be used to treat lice, mites, fleas, and a few worms but if you are thinking of

using this for chickens consult your local vet as they will tell you the correct dosage and what

brand to use.

 

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