Poultry Advice

Please be aware that as of October 1st 2024, all poultry owners will be required to register their birds, regardless of the number of your flock size.  These changes are being instituted due to avian influenza outbreaks. Owners will need to provide their contact details and details about the birds they keep to the government guidelines. Owners will also need to keep medication records of any medicines administered to their birds for 5 years (see below). More information on this will follow when it is available, but owners are recommended to register their birds before the upcoming deadline, please click here for further information.

Licensed poultry keepers (all keepers after October 2024) will need to keep medicine book for 5 years, including:

Record the following information on the day of administration:

If any left over or out of date medicine requires disposal, record the following:

We see individual poultry cases (including chickens, ducks, geese etc.). Please note that we cannot provide home visits to assess the premises, and so are unable to prescribe medication for birds we have not had in for a consult. Therefore, if you have multiple birds that need to be assessed for the same problem, it may be more suitable to go to a veterinary practice that is able to provide flock visits.  Search for 'Large Animal Vets' in your area.  For further information on our home visiting, click here.

The British Hen Welfare Trust is the national charity devoted to the welfare, rescue and rehoming of battery hens.  Rescuing any pet can be very rewarding.  Not all battery hens live a long life due to the life they have led before homing, but none the less they make great pets and are often have fabulous personalities.  For further information please visit their comprehensive website, click here.

Please note: Registration needs still apply regardless of where you source your chickens from.

You should always aim to provide as much space as possible, as a guide:

Enrichment is just as important for chickens as any other pet.  Providing housing with runs to encourage natural investigation of the ground is advised or allowing your pets free roaming.  Whatever you decide, keep your chickens safety in mind, eg protecting from neighbouring cats and birds of prey or from escaping.

There is a wide choice of bedding material for chickens. Whatever your choice, it is important that it doesn’t get too wet, as this can lead to an increase in the level of bacteria, and cause ulcers to develop of the hen’s feet

Dust-extracted wood shavings or chopped straw is a good choice. Straw is good for insulation and provides good scratching material. Avoid long straw as this is more difficult for birds to use for scratching or dust bathing. Wood-shavings can reduce moisture in the coop, but provide less insulation than straw

Shredded paper provides good insulation and is absorbent, but often needs changing more frequently as it can get damp easily. 

Other options include chopped hemp, or flax-based products

We do not advise hay as bedding material as this is prone to mould and can cause crop impaction if chickens ingest it. 

Dust bathing can help chickens keep clean and reduce parasite burden. 

A dust bath can be created using sand, wood ash or dry loose soil. It is important to keep the area dry and protect it from rain.

Diatomaceous earth powder can be added as a desiccating powder, and to reduce mite burden.

When choosing your chicken food, consider the following points:

Water
Chickens drink about 50ml/kg per day, with laying birds requiring additional water. Water should be provided fresh every day. Ideally drinkers will be suspended or elevated (e.g on bricks) to reduce the risk of contamination of the water and to keep the ground in the surrounding area dry.

Food

Note: It is illegal to feed kitchen scraps to poultry, which includes any food that has passed through the kitchen. Vegetable matter from the garden that has not come into contact with animal material can be fed however. 

Regular hygiene procedures will reduce the risk of disease spreading through your flock.  Ideally, the housing would be cleaned weekly, and thoroughly disinfected on a monthly basis.  It is important to clean and disinfect the drinkers and feeders regularly, e.g. on a weekly basis

Suggested cleaning/disinfection routine: 

It is recommended to keep different poultry species separate due to their different husbandry needs, and to reduce the spread of disease between species. 

Mixing birds of different ages can also lead to the spread of disease to the younger naïve birds, so it is sensible to rear birds of different age groups separately. 

Any new birds have the possibility to spread infectious disease, so it is sensible to isolate these birds initially.

Please note that we do not stock vaccinations for chickens, due to the large quantities we would have to stock and the low number of chickens that see us for vaccination. Vaccinations may be beneficial for flocks with over 20 birds, but are not as necessary for flocks of smaller sizes than this. 

There are several species of worms that affect chickens. Most affect the gastrointestinal tract, with 1 species (syngamus trachea, or gapeworm) affecting the respiratory tract.

Worms usually don’t cause serious clinical disease in chickens, but signs can include diarrhoea, weight loss, drop in egg production, anaemia.  However once a heavy worm burden has developed this can lead to severe disease. 

Prevention includes regular cleaning and disinfection of the coop. Rotating the outdoor area the chickens have access to can also help reduce worm burden, e.g. moving runs onto fresh ground regularly.

Consider routine worming with a licenced worming product every three months. 

Don’t keep chickens together with turkeys, as turkeys are susceptible to a parasite carried by worms (histomonas meleagridis, or blackhead) which chickens can also become infected with. 

Red mites can be transferred from newly bought chickens, wild birds and rodents, as well as clothing and equipment.  Red mite infestation can become a serious, debilitating condition and rapid response with the right treatment is required to protect your birds.

Treating your birds
A specific veterinary prescription medication is needed, this is added to the birds water and must be the sole water source for your birds.  Once the treatment schedule has commenced and the medicated drinking water is ingested any mite feeding on the treated birds, will die quickly.  This breaks the mite life cycle and will rapidly reduces mite numbers.    Housing and equipment also need cleaning and treating ...

Treating your pet's housing and equipment

Any equipment owners use for cleaning their coops, such as brushes, will inevitably be carrying mites, so during treatment they should put these items close to the chickens, so any mites that are hiding will come out and feed on the chickens, and die. Mites will primarily be feeding at night so this is the time to make sure any equipment is close to the chickens.

There is no need to treat equipment with any other antiparasitic products before or after treatment with a suitable veterinary prescription anti-parasiticide.  
Do not use any repellent substances while your pet is under their veterinary treatment programme.
Cleaning their housing thoroughly is also necessary and replacing all bedding, (see section on 'cleaning and disinfecting' below).

The Chicken Vet - click here.

British Hen Welfare Trust - click here.

RSPCA, Keeping Chicken's as Pets - click here.