I recently taught a Backyard Chickens 102 – workshop. The first workshop (101) covers how to get chicks, how to care for them until they can go outside, and how to house chickens. It’s a how to get started with chickens class.
The second class covers, now that you have chickens how do you take care of them.
One of the things I cover is a basic first aid kit that all chicken owners should have ready *before* they need it. (Just like you should be looking for that dog crate now instead of later.)
Here’s my list based on our chicken experiences:
First aid kit for chickens
- Betadine – cheap and effective, just be warned that this stuff stains
- Anti-biotic ointment – Neosporin or the generic similar
- Gatorade – to be added to drinking water, especially during very hot weather, or if you have a sick chicken
- Orajel – or generic, I don’t know if it works on chickens but I’d like to think it helps with pain when you need to make an incision
- Scapel/straight razor – to lance boils or abscesses
- Non-stick gauze pads – to cover wounds
- Wrap – you don’t want to use adhesives on chickens, it could pull off feathers, they make an athletic wrap that sticks to itself, use that instead
- Tweezers – just like the lion stepped on the thorn, at times your chickens might have sticks or large splinters stuck in their feet, if they are limping, you need to look
- Gloves – trust me, you’re going to want to use these especially for things like a prolapsed uterus or any kind of surgery. Get the disposable tight fitting ones and not the “plastic bag” type
- Epsom salt – to be used as a soak for infected and swollen feet
- Scissors – sharp – get a pair of cuticle scissors, as well as, full size – go top brand here, if you are using scissors to cut off something you want a clean cut
- Cotton balls – use the large size and good quality, they tend to leave less fiber behind
- Preparation H ointment – one of the best things you can put on a swollen infection (after some antibiotic ointment) Preparation H works at reducing swelling – it stinks but it works like a charm (BTW – my son the gymnast uses this all the time on his hand rips)
- Flashlight – not all chickens get sick or injured during the day
- Dog Crate – we already talked about why you MUST have one here
- Killing cone – it should be part of your first aid kit in case you need to put a bird out of its misery (note: this is optional but based on our experience, I’m going to start recommending this in all my classes.)
So that’s my basic kit. I keep everything in a bucket ready to be used when needed.
I know that many of you don’t think you could ever attempt any kind of surgery on your chickens but you should keep the tools ready just in case, you’d be surprised at what you can do if it means the difference between life and death.
All you chicken owners out there, do you have anything to add to this list? If you put it in the comments, I’ll periodically come back and update this post.
Betadine and Killing Cone - difference between life and death
