What should be in your first aid kit?

Provided by New Zealand Lifestyle Block, incorporating Growing Today, magazine February 2011.

What you need to make a basic first aid kit for your poultry

People often ask what they should have on hand, just in case they need to treat a bird themselves. Some ailments and emergencies can easily be treated at home, while others will require veterinary attention and a prescription, or in extreme cases a bird will need to be euthanised.

The actual remedy list is reasonably short as anything requiring antibiotics will need a vet prescription. Time, warmth and isolation with nutritious food and electrolytes and/or vitamins in the water may be enough to help many sick birds through an illness or accident.

Remedies

  1. The one treatment I would always have on hand, especially if you have lots of chicks, is medication to treat coccidiosis. Even if you feed medicated chick food (Chick Starter) for 'cocci', given the right conditions it can multiply far beyond the capabilities of the levels of medication added to feed. It is always a good insurance to have a treatment on hand to administer as soon as you are suspicious of cocci. Coxiprol, Totro and Baycox are all recognised effective products.
  2. An avian vitamin mix such as Ornithon or Polyaid (available from vets or pet stores) usually sold for pigeons and cage birds would be a useful addition, to aid sick birds during recovery.
  3. Packs of electrolytes (for pigs or humans), available from your vet or chemist.
  4. Glucose powder for adding to water for helping weak chicks or sick adults that are not inclined to eat.
  5. Stockholm tar for dabbing on wounds to discourage pecking (available from equestrian supply stores).
  6. Vaseline for smothering scaly leg mite.
  7. Mild disinfectant such as Savlon, or iodine spray, ieVetadine, for wounds.
  8. Vicks Vapour Rub dabbed on the top of the beak helps congestion, but can also be dabbed on pecked wounds/tails to deter further pecking.
  9. Insecticide treatments such as Pestene, Ripcord (available from vets, rural supply stores), and neem oil (garden centres, Trade Me).
  10. A worming product such as Aviverm (make sure it's the one for large birds), a small quantity of cattle pour-on like Cydectin or an ivermectin product like Eprinex for both internal and external parasites (note: use of cattle pour-on is an off-label use of these products, 0.1ml or one drop per kilogram of bird).
  11. Apple cider vinegar or white vinegar can be useful to acidify the crop in the case of sour crop, or as a treatment for enteritis (5mls to 5 litres of water).

Equipment

  1. A stout box of suitable size for your remedies, perhaps a fishing tackle box.
  2. An inventory taped to the lid, plus vet's phone number and care instructions for any patients, in case you are called away.
  3. Scissors for trimming feathers.
  4. Toenail clippers (dog) for trimming long nails or spurs.
  5. Small containers (old film containers are ideal) for faecal samples to take to the vet for testing (or your vet will have sample containers).
  6. An old toothbrush for rubbing Vaseline treatment into scaly legs.
  7. Rubber gloves for messy jobs (as above!).
  8. Tape, plasters, sticks suitable for small splints.
  9. A small syringe (0.1ml increments) for use with worm treatments.
  10. A second small syringe to administer fluids direct to a bird's mouth. A crop tube could be added to this syringe to get fluid or sloppy food direct into the crop.

Hospital housing

  1. An isolation hutch to keep a bird isolated: it should be free of drafts, a design that can be easily cleaned out, with non-spill water and food containers.
  2. A carry cage to transport a sick bird if needed.
  3. A sanitizer or disinfectant such as Virkon S (available from your vet or rural supply stores) that is suitable for using on a clean surface for routine disinfection of incubators, brooding areas and hen houses.
  4. An insecticide like Ripcord, Cyslin or Malathion to use on equipment and housing to get rid of mites and other insects.

This article was provided by NZ Lifestyle Block, incorporating Growing Today magazine.
To subscribe, phone 0800 113 488 or go to www.mags4gifts.co.nz/lifestyleblock

 

 


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