Every Bit Counts - Small flock chook health workshops

December 2019

Dr Lou Baskind, District Vet and Andrew Britton, Small landholder engagement officer

Do you love your backyard chickens?

The Small Farms Network recently coordinated backyard poultry health workshops on the south coast and southern highlands featuring Dr Lou Baskind, District Vet from Braidwood. Over 52 landholders attended the events which focussed on practical ways to keep small flocks healthy. An area of focus was reducing the risk of disease and parasites by managing manure and providing good nutrition.

Landholders appreciated learning simple and effective management strategies from Lou, a qualified vet with a special interest in poultry, with many participants implementing changes straight away at home.

“Thank you very much for arranging the workshop, to Lou for such an informative session and to Bec for hosting. I found the workshop very useful and have started to put a number of things I learnt into effect and will be in action again tomorrow.” Jill (participant)

Key take home messages included:

• A fresh supply of clean water is vital for poultry health. Cleaning the water and food bowls regularly will help reduce their exposure to pathogens. Hefty disinfectants are not necessary. Instead you can usually rely on natural factors like physical scrubbing and sunlight, or a splash of vinegar.
• Certain additives can help to make the environment unfavourable to pathogens and parasites. Hydrated lime for example can be used in the yard and housing. Dust baths can help to significantly reduce external parasites such as lice and mites. Adding some sulphur or diatomaceous earth powder to poultry dust baths can further reduce their exposure to external parasites.
• Nutrition is the key to good health and the production of plentiful eggs with strong shells. In warmer weather, chickens will eat a smaller portion so key nutrients (i.e. protein and calcium) must be in higher percentages in the diet. This can mean that in some cases standard diets don’t provide sufficient nutrition. For laying chickens, a well-balanced diet with 16% protein and 4.25% calcium is recommended.
• Calcium is essential for strong egg shells and strong bones. Good quality egg shells keep pathogens out of the egg and improve our food safety. Calcium should be fed in different forms, both as a powder (often included in pellet diets) and as a large particle additive (shell grit). Chickens that have not started laying yet are filling their bones with stores of calcium. For these pre-lay chickens a well-balanced diet with 14% protein and 2.4% calcium is recommended.
• Greens/kitchen scraps (fresh, not mouldy) should not be your poultry’s main source of feed. Scraps should be fed after the main diet to promote natural foraging behaviour and provide small amounts of micronutrients.
• Reduce stress on your chooks by providing plenty of room for housing, feeding and water; by ensuring good ventilation in the coop; and by offering ample shade and cool water in hot weather. Stress is the most important cause of opportunistic pathogens causing disease.

For further information, landholders can download fact sheets on backyard poultry management from the NSW DPI website or contact your nearest Local Land Services District Vet.

Every Bit CountsThe `Every Bit Counts' project recognises that small farms play an important role in managing our natural resource and agricultural environments. This project will work with regional Farmers Networks and Local Land Services staff to coordinate workshops, local resources and build a connected community to help all small landholders manage their land better across the south east region.

The Small Farms Network is a free support service for people who live on or manage rural and peri-urban land across the south east region. The Network is free to join and currently has over 1,078 members from across the Eurobodalla, South Coast and Southern Highlands region. Contact Andrew Britton (Small Landholder Engagement Officer), at andrew.britton@lls.nsw.gov.au or on 0408 050 748 to join and connect with other like-minded landholders.

A regular e-newsletter will keep you up to date with the latest workshops, environmental funding, field days and events across the region. For the latest south coast newsletter click here