Keeping chickens is easy, until one of your birds starts acting out of character and ends up sick or injured. Luckily, chickens are very resilient and will overcome most ailments. Still, to give your chickens their best chance at survival when something goes wrong, it is a good idea to be prepared by having a fully stocked Poultry First Aid Kit.
Below you will find an alphabetical list* of things we incorporate in our first aid kits.
Let us know in the comments if you have something else you include!
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Product: |
What it is useful for: |
How it works: |
 Blu Kote |
Any time there is a lot of visible blood. | Turns blood from red to blue color to prevent hen pecking while wound is healing. |
 Electrolytes |
Heat exaustion,dehydration, treating shock from predator attack, treating stress from shipping or some other cause, injury, lack of appetitie, diahrrea | Adding electrolytes to chicken’s water helps them stay hydrated or rehydrate faster. It will help treat shock after an animal attack or some other source of shock as well, by hydrating the bird. Electrolytes do these things by replace sodium, potassium and minerals in the body lost due to stress, overheating or dehydration. They also regulate pH levels to help maintain proper bodily functions. |
 Epsom Salt |
Bumblefoot, eggbound hens, mild respiratory issues, almost anything. | Epsom salt baths are one of those “cure-alls” that you do not know exactly what it does but it works for everything. The bath relaxes the bird’s muscles and draws out toxins, helping them to pass an egg, fight infection, calm down, and so much more. |
 Gauze |
Dressing wounds | Add a bit of neosporin, drawing salve, or just protect your gal’s open wounds. Especially useful for treating bumblefoot. |
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Sterilizing work area, wound and tools. | 70% alcohol or greater in contact with surface for at least 20 seconds will sterilize harmful bacteria. |
 Neosporin |
Dressing wounds | Reduce risk of infection and promotes healing in mild wounds. Contains neomycin, polymyxin B, and bacitracin to fight infections. |
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Blocked Crop | Help sooth throat and allow blockage to pass through esophagus more easily when teating a mild case of impacted crop. |
 Prid |
Bumblefoot, pesky splinters | Prid is a drawing salve that will pull bring foreign bodies–bacterial infections or splinters–to the surface and allow easier removal. Treat bumblefoot by adding a good sized drop of this to the foot and wrapping with gauze and vet wrap. |
 Razor Blade |
Bad bumblefoot, home surgery | Please sterilize before using, but a razor can come in handy if you need to clear an impacted crop or quickly remove a bumble from your chicken’s foot (although we recommend the less invasive method using Prid). |
| Poultry Lice, keeping mites down | Powder coop and chicken vents if poultry lice are spotted. | |
 Spices |
Insecticide, respiratory ailments, digestive health, circulatory health, etc. | Check out our blog post on common spices we feed our flock here. Easy to just sprinkle on top of food, or in some cases, mix into water. |
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Treating splinters, bumblefoot, clearing nasasl passageway, ingrown feathers, etc. | Use to genly grasp splinters, bumbles, or grass stuck in nasasl passage. |
| Vet Wrap | Dressing wounds | Self-sticky vet wrap allows you to wrap up a wound without tape that will stick to and pull out feathers. PLUS, it comes in fun colors. |
| Vetericyn Plus | Cleaning wounds, bumblefoot, frostbite, vent prolapse | Spray on to an open wound to prevent infection. Active: Hypochlorous Acid (0.012%). Inactive: Electrolyzed Water, Sodium Chloride, Phosphates, Sodium Hypochlorite. |
 VetRx Poultry Remedy/Aid |
Respiratory problems, allergies, colds, roup, scaly legs, and eye worm | Another “cure all” for poultry problems. It helps with respiratory problems and can help treat and prevent certain types of worms. VetRx Poultry Remedy contains Canada balsam, camphor, oil origanum, and oil rosemary, blended in a corn oil base. |
*We do not receive any monetary incentive for this article. The above links are just common places to find these items. We do not condone or condemn any one supplier.