How to Tell Healthy Chickens from Sick Ones? 5 Practical Methods

How to tell healthy chickens from sick ones is very important for avoiding economic losses. Here are several identification methods:

1. Look at the feathers: healthy chickens have glossy plumage, bright red combs and wattles, and soft, smooth, evenly close-lying feathers all over the body that feel soft and smooth to the touch. Sick chickens have loose, rough, lusterless feathers with no soft feel, and their combs and wattles are dark red, pale white, or purplish black.

2. Look at the demeanor: healthy chickens are energetic, with a well-proportioned body, alert minds, loud voices, heads held high, quick movements, warm feet, and a strong appetite. Sick chickens are listless, with hoarse voices, do not eat or eat little, stand in a daze, are unwilling to walk, and some squat off to one side with the head, wings, and tail drooping and eyes closed as if in a stupor; some tuck the head under the wings, and their feet are cold or ice-cold. If they have Marek's disease, there are two symptoms, incomplete paralysis and complete paralysis: that is, one leg of the chicken stretches forward while the other stretches backward, and it cannot stand steadily, which is called incomplete paralysis. In the other, more severe case, both limbs of the chicken are completely paralyzed, called the split-leg posture.

3. Look at the body temperature: the normal body temperature of a chicken is 41-43°C. Acutely ill chickens often have a raised body temperature, rapid or slow breathing, and irregular, disordered heartbeat. If they have a respiratory disease, they sometimes open the mouth and stretch the neck, have a runny nose, cough, and make rattling sounds when breathing, and sometimes sneeze; the mouth and throat are filled with sticky matter, there is sticky exudate in the upper respiratory tract and air sacs, and the infraorbital sinus is swollen with puffy eyelids.

4. Look at the crop: a healthy chicken's crop is well-proportioned, soft in firmness, neither hard nor solid. A sick chicken's crop is filled with gas or fluid, feels like an air balloon to the touch, and when the crop and proventriculus are pressed, a bubbling sound can be heard.

5. Examine the cloaca: the feathers around the cloaca of a healthy chicken are clean, while in sick chickens, especially those with pullorum disease caused by Salmonella, the droppings are white, pale yellow, or pale green and watery, and often stick around the cloaca. If it is Newcastle disease, pinpoint hemorrhages can also be seen around the anus.