Nurses learn the pitfalls of keeping backyard chickens
John took his audience through some of the frequently asked questions that he receives about keeping backyard hens.
"Owners expect all veterinary practices to know about chickens," said vet John Chitty introducing his presentation entitled 'Backyard poultry – a guide for nurses' on Saturday at the BVNA Congress in Telford.
He said there is an increasing number of poultry being kept in backyards, for all kinds of reasons – from pets and showing, to eating their meat or eggs. Always feed them commercially prepared complete and balanced foods and do not feed table scraps because it is illegal.
John took his audience through some of the frequently asked questions that he receives about keeping backyard hens. He pointed out the importance of avoiding competition when it comes to housing and spacing of their drinkers and feeders. "Be very careful when sourcing the birds and maintain strict biosecurity," he said. "And remember that laying behaviour in backyard hens is seasonal and drops off during the winter."
There is not much that can be done practically to stop cockerels from crowing other than shutting them away in a light-proof hut at night.
Every 4 to 5 days, each bird will have a caecal clear out' which is often misinterpreted by owners as diarrhoea. If birds die, do make sure you take the opportunity to post-mortem them because it will generate useful information to help further disease control.
If owners are eating eggs from backyard hens, then it is important that they know that from a legal point of view their pets are considered as food-producing animals. This has significant ramifications with respect to medication and withholding times and owners should keep an Animal Medicine Record Book.
Backyard poultry are included in national and local restrictions and culls related to notifiable diseases.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
