As with any pet there will come a time when your get a sick chicken. I have spoken to too many potential owners who have done a pile of research into 
all the chicken ailments known before they take that final step to becoming a chicken owner. A lot stay potential owners on the basis of this research. Our approach to this was to not worry about it until it happened and we have never needed to go to a book to look up anything our chickens have come down with.
We have found that the majority of our chicken health issues have centred on the occasional cold, the occasional bad feather day and pest control. If you manage the pests as part of your daily, weekly or monthly routine you give your chickens the best chance to resist all the other ailments and viruses they might get and therefore they should live a long and happy life. This approach has served us well so far.
No matter how well you keep your chickens there will also come a time when their lives come to an end. Death is part of the cycle of life and is unavoidable, unless you give your chickens away before that time comes. The one thing we struggled to find information about has been dealing with the death of a chicken, especially if you need to help her on her way. Watching your chickens die a slow distressing death is not nice for you and cruel to your chicken.
In this section we will look at;