Why chickens fall on their feet: reasons, what to do and how to treat

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 20:55

Keeping chickens is a rather troublesome and responsible business. And of course, any owner of a household plot is very upset if a fed bird suddenly falls ill and dies. One of the most common problems faced by domestic farmers is the situation when chickens fall on their feet. Why this happens, and how to prevent this - we will talk about this later in the article.

Main reasons

Of course, the reason why chickens fall on their feet is always some kind of disease. Most often, farmers encounter such a problem when a bird is struck:

• rickets;
• gout;
• arthritis;
• Marek's disease.

By properly diagnosing the disease, it is possible to cure chickens that have already fallen to their feet and prevent the remaining chickens from developing this problem.

Rickets in chickens

In another way, this disease is called hypovitaminosis D. Why do chickens fall on their feet in this case?Actually, rickets itself develops in a bird, primarily due to an improperly designed diet and inappropriate conditions of detention. With a lack of vitamin D in the body, chickens simply decalcify the bones.

It is quite easy to determine that it was hypovitaminosis that caused the bird to fall on its feet. In this case, the shells of eggs laid by chickens will also be soft. In addition, this disease is characterized by symptoms such as:

• loss of appetite;
• a sharp decrease in motor activity;
• discoordination;
• diarrhea.

Not only the bones of the legs, but also the beak, claws and skull can become soft in chickens with rickets.

Prevention of hypovitaminosis

Vitamin D in the body of chickens is produced when their body is illuminated by the sun after eating a large amount of green fodder. Stimulate the formation of this substance in the tissues and cells of the bird, thus, UV rays. That is, vitamin D is not produced directly in the barn in the tissues of laying hens and broilers. After all, light enters the chicken coop through glass that blocks ultraviolet radiation. That is why rickets is the most common answer to the question of why chickens fall on their feet in winter. After all, at this time of year they spend almost the whole day indoors.

To prevent the bird from becoming ill with hypovitaminosis, it must be let out from time to time. That is, next to the barn should be equipped on the farmspacious walk. Letting the bird outside to prevent rickets for a while is useful not only in summer, but also in the cold season.

You can walk chickens in the fresh air, of course, only if they are kept outdoors. If birds are raised in cages, the following measures are usually taken to prevent hypovitaminosis on farms:

• Food rich in vitamin D is introduced into the diet of chickens;
• actively used as an additive fish oil (1 g per head per day) and concentrated vitamin "D" (2-3 drops per adult per day);
• to prevent bone decalcification, the bird is also given tricalcium phosphate (1.5-2.5 g per day).

Besides this, birds on cage farms are artificially irradiated with ultraviolet light.

Rickets is the main answer to the question of why laying hens fall to their feet in winter. Therefore, UV lamps in the poultry house should be installed even when the chickens are kept on the floor. Most often, for irradiating chickens on farms and in private households, EUV equipment is used, which is installed at a height of 2-3 m from the floor. At first, the bird is irradiated for no more than 30 minutes. Subsequently, this period is gradually increased to 6-7 hours a day.

Treatment

So, rickets usually becomes the most likely answer to the question of why chickens fall on their feet. How to treat the bird in this case? Unfortunately, it is possible to help chickens with such an ailment mainly only in the early stages of its development. Chickens with such a disease are primarily transferred to morea spacious and bright room, and even in the cold season they begin to let it out for a while (or install a UV lamp in the barn).

Of course, the diet is also being reviewed for poultry, introducing food rich in vitamin D into it. Also in the menu of chickens without fail include fish oil. You can also add concentrated vitamin D to sick chickens, of course. The dosages of both of these substances during treatment are chosen a maximum of 2-3 times more than during prevention. Too many vitamins and fish oil should not be given to sick chickens. This, unfortunately, can lead to the development of hypervitaminosis D in the bird.

Why laying hens and broilers fall on their feet: gout

This disease is also quite common in farms. The symptoms of gout are quite different from those of rickets. Therefore, it is most likely not difficult for the owner of the farmstead to correctly diagnose the disease and, accordingly, choose an effective method of treatment.

You can identify gout in chickens that have fallen on their feet by the following signs:

• tumors in the area of the joints;
• white litter;
• gluing the cloaca from feces.

You can confuse gout with rickets in chickens mainly only because in this case the bird also loses its appetite and reduces physical activity. Laying hens and males usually begin to suffer from gout due to too intensive development of the body or due to active masonry with a lack of vitamins in the body."B" and "A".

Most often this disease in chickens manifests itself if:

• bird too cold for too long;
• the bird had too much calcium and too little phosphorus in the feed;
• chicken lacked drinking water.

In addition to an unbalanced diet, crowded content can also lead to gout in chickens.

Prevention

Gout is one of the most common answers to the question of why chickens fall on their feet. Unfortunately, this disease, also called uric acid diathesis, among other things, is considered incurable in poultry. When the symptoms of gout become noticeable, the disease usually goes into a late stage and nothing can be done to help the chickens. Therefore, it is important for farms to take preventive measures aimed at preventing the development of this disease in chickens.

In order for the bird not to fall to its feet due to uric acid diathesis, as with rickets, the owner of the farmstead first of all needs to pay maximum attention to developing the right diet. In the menu of chickens, it is imperative to introduce foods rich in vitamins "A" and "B". In no case should you feed poultry on the farm with feed containing any chemical additives. Unfortunately, this is what often leads to the spread of gout in the livestock.

When diseased chickens are detected on the farm, in order to stop the disease, fish and meat and bone meal, as well as yeast, are usually excluded from the diet of birds. At the same time, more carrots, herbal flour, beets andnettles.

What to do with a sick bird

So, on the farm, it was revealed that it was gout that caused the chickens to fall on their feet. What to do in this case? If the disease is already in an advanced stage, the chickens, unfortunately, can only be slaughtered.

If the disease was diagnosed early and has not yet fully manifested itself, you can try to drink the bird with the following compositions:

• an aqueous solution of bicarbonate of soda 2%;
• Carlsbad soda solution 0.05%;
• urotropine 0.25%;
• novatofan 3%.

In large farms, most often in the treatment of gout, feed is leached with bicarbonate of soda. This food is given to chickens for 2 weeks. Then they take a break of 1 week and again feed the bird with leached food for 2 weeks.

Arthritis and tendovaginitis

These diseases are also sometimes the reason why the chicken falls on its feet. Treatment of this disease, unlike those described above, is often quite effective even in the later stages. Actually, the body of the chicken in this case practically does not suffer.

Arthritis is called inflammation of the joint bag in young chickens. Older individuals are more likely to develop tendovaginitis - inflammation of the tendons.

The main causes of these diseases in poultry are dirt in the chicken coop and crowded content. All sorts of viruses that multiply in unclean bedding cause such ailments. It also contributes to the disease of chickens with arthritis andtendovaginitis unbalanced monotonous diet (decreased immunity). Broiler chicks can develop arthritis from growing too fast.

The main symptoms of these two diseases in chickens are:

• limping, inability to sit on a perch;
• increase in leg temperature;
• formation of cones on the legs.

Preventive measures

Laying hens rarely suffer from arthritis and tengovaginitis. Most often, this disease still affects broiler chickens. Therefore, the prevention of such ailments is usually carried out by farmers who contain hybrids. In order to prevent such chickens from getting arthritis or tengovaginitis, the house should first of all be kept perfectly clean.

Also, for broilers, it is imperative to develop the right diet. In the process of development, the bird must receive all the substances necessary for its body. This will strengthen her immunity and prevent infection with viruses.

Can it be cured

Arthritis, therefore, is often the answer to the question of why meat chickens, cochinchins, various hybrids and broilers fall on their feet. But, of course, in some cases, this disease can also manifest itself in laying hens.

In any case, unlike gout and rickets, arthritis and tengovaginitis, as already mentioned, are not considered deadly diseases of chickens. In any case, such ailments are treatable. However, only a veterinarian can help the bird in this case.

Treatchickens with such a problem with various kinds of antibiotics, which in our time, unfortunately, can only be purchased by prescription. It is believed that, for example, Ampicillin, Benzylpenicillin, Sulfadimethoxin help broiler chickens with arthritis and tengovaginitis.

Marek's disease

This disease is also quite often the answer to the question of why chickens fall to their feet and die. In another way, this disease is called avian polyneuritis. It most often affects chickens and young hens. The cause of its development is infection with a virus. Unfortunately, Marek's disease usually takes the form of an epidemic in the livestock and affects a large number of individuals. Symptoms in a bird with this ailment are observed as follows:

• loss of appetite;
• severe indigestion;
• layering conjunctivitis;
• failure.

Sick chickens with such a disease begin to limp a lot, fall to their feet, twist their neck a lot. Their tail and wings are drooping. The body temperature of a bird with such a disease does not rise.

Prevention and treatment

To prevent the development of this disease on farms and backyards, they usually use such a proven method as vaccination. The herpes virus causes Marek's disease in chickens. Also, effective measures to prevent this disease include periodic cleaning in the barn.

Marek's disease, unfortunately, quite often becomes the answer to the question of why chickens fall on their feet. Heal her atpoultry is impossible at all. There are currently no drugs on the market that can treat this disease. When this disease is detected, the poultry on the farms are slaughtered, and the carcasses are disposed of.