One of the most important things for the poultry owner is the chicken first aid kit. If any of the chickens in the flock shows the illness signs, you should immediately separate that one from the others. Otherwise, the ill chicken can spread its illness among the other hens, and the flock of chickens will be at risk.
However, the chicken first aid box is very helpful for you when you detect your hen is becoming ill. You can immediately treat the sick one if you have the first aid kit.
What Equipment Do You Require For The Chicken First Aid Kit?
The basic chicken first aid kit contains several pieces of equipment. So before arranging the first aid kits, you should determine which type of illnesses or injuries you will treat. Chicken’s most common trauma types are pecking injuries or predator attacks. So, some basic supplies are necessary for taking care of the hen’s wound.
But before arranging the supplies, you require to know how to treat chicken wounds. Having a clear idea about the treatment is also essential. Otherwise, you will not be able to use the kits ideally. However, you can build the kit box on your own or buy a ready-made First Aid Kit according to your convenience.
If you already have an injured or sick bird in the flock, you can save time by planning. First, you should separate the sick one from the other to prevent the illness from spreading. Also, give your ill chicken a safe, quiet, and stress-free area to reduce further injury. The sick bird requires a safe place to recover.
Some of the safe area options are the large pet carrier, hospital cage, or wire dog crate. Depending on your chicken’s injury type, you should ensure enough space for the bird to move around the coop. However, giving too much space could also lead to further injury to your chicken. And thus, you should ensure enough and adequate space for your chicken to recover.
What Are the Supplies For Chicken First Aid Kit?
So, preparing a first aid kit requires different types of supplies. In the following table, we presented all those. So take a look at the table below:
| Essentials First Aid Kit | Advanced First Aid Kit | Other First Aid Kits |
| Surgical gloves | Electrolytes | Nutridrench |
| Eye dropper | Poultry vitamins | Super glue |
| With and without needles syringes in various sizes | Calcium supplement/tums | PRID drawing salve |
| Tweezers | Probiotic | Basin or small tote for soaking |
| Scissors | Betadine solution | Preparation H |
| Thermometer | Epsom salts | Rubbing Alcohol |
| Gauze pads | Vetericyn solution | Basin or small tote for soaking |
| Nail clippers | Saline solution | Pinless peepers |
| Cotton balls | Antibiotic ointment | Small notebook for taking notes |
| Elastic bandage materials | KY/sterile lubricant | Popsicle sticks |
| Cotton balls | Styptic powder dower | Paint sticks or tongue depressors |
| Gauze pads | Corid//Amprolium | Antibiotic ointment for chickens |
| Medical tape | Poultry vitamins | Polyvisol & scale |
| Hospital cage | Salve or Vaseline | Magnifying glass |
| Headlamp/flashlight | Disposable gloves | PRID drawing salve |
| Old towels | Styptic Powder for chickens | Medication chart |
| Chicken nail clippers | Vet wrap | Piston irrigation syringe |
Can You Make Your Own Chicken Frist Aid Kit?
Of course, you can make the first aid kit for your chicken on your own. If you are already a chicken flock owner, you should begin to make the kit. Gathering all the supplies, you can keep them together in a small plastic box.
One of the best options for keeping the first aid box together is using the fishing tackle box or the toolbox. Keeping the essentials in a toolbox helps you to keep them organized. And whenever you require them, you can easily find them in a specific place.
Where Can You Find the First Aid Kit Supplies?
The above listed most of the kits are available at the pharmacy. You can buy all these from the local store if you are much more conscious about your budget. Also, you can create a first aid kit for your chicken by restocking or scratching your existing equipment. Conveniently you can also buy the entire first aid box from different stores.
Putting together all the supplies in the first aid box is quite expensive. Thus, you should arrange the kits one by one. Sometimes buying all these kits can be expensive for you. So avoid buying all these together and collect the equipment one by one according to your convenience. In no time, you can have a healthy stock of first aid kits even if you buy a few items per month.
How To Use The Chicken First Aid Kit Supplies?
If you are a poultry owner, you are well-known for the fact that there is no specific period regarding when you will require the first aid kit. No matter how safely you keep your chicken in the coop, they can be ill anytime. And whenever your hen gets sick, you will fall in trouble.
However having a first aid kit box for your chicken is essential, but the more important thing is knowing how to use these. You should research how you can use the first aid kit to save your chicken and how you can easily manage the hen’s illness.
If you prepare in advance, whenever an injury or illness attacks your chicken flock, you will be able to take action against them immediately. Taking immediate action greatly helps to recover your chicken.
How To Take Care of the Injured Chicken
Taking care of your injured chicken is the most important thing, and it ensures your hen’s quick recovery. When the hens get hurt, you should do the following to help them:
- Clean the wound and treat it perfectly
- Keep the hen away from different insects and flies
- In a warm and quiet spot, keep the bird isolated
However, snagging chickens or overzealous roosters are responsible for most of the minor wounds to your chicken. When the hens catch themselves with the coop’s fence wire, it causes injury to them. But, chickens with a lot of feathers can keep them safe during snags or other damages.
The feather can sufficiently hide the small wound, but you need to clean the wound perfectly. Give a Bluekote spritz to the wounded chicken, and it will safely rejoin the flock after a few times. However, if the injury is more extensive, you should keep that chicken separately in a warm place.
The injured chicken also spreads risk among the healthy birds. Moreover, the hens are vicious, and if they see the injured bird, they can attack them. You can keep the injured one simply on your porch’s large black tub. Also, using the same setup, you can raise your chicks.
However, the first step in taking care of an injured bird is to keep it separate from the entire flock until the bird recovers completely. To avoid the contagious illness’s further spread and to avoid extreme injury, you should do it. Make sure the recovery place where you kept the bird is safe, quiet, and warm for your chicken. Keep your injured chicken in such a safe place until it fully recovers.
Returning Injured Chickens To The Flock
Before returning the injured hen to the flock, make sure that the bird has no visible sign of scabbing or blood. Ensure your chicken’s complete healing and then keep them together again with the other birds. For safety purposes, you can cover your chicken with a purple dye product and then leave them with the other fresh and healthy chickens.
When you are reintroducing the wounded chickens to the healthy flock, you should treat the injured one like a new bird or stranger. However, for a conflict-free reunion, you can follow the Playpen Method. Again the key to success is patience. Thus before returning the injured chicken to the flock, you should keep the ill chicken separate for a considerable time.
Wrap Up
Keeping the chickens is relatively easy if you can ensure a clean and dry place to live, quality feed and fresh water to eat, and a well-ventilated coop. But the chickens can easily get injured also. When a chicken becomes sick, you can first try to give treatment to the wounded one at your home. And thus, you require the chicken first aid kits.
In the above discussion, we already explained what types of supplies you require to make a first aid kit box. Now you can arrange the essential supplies on your own from the local store, or you can bring all these together.
However, whatever way you prefer, you should make arrangements and get the first aid kit box in advance. Any time the chicken can get wound, you may need the necessary kits to give treatment to your chicken. Thus make preparations in advance.
