We live in a pretty remote area.
Its quicker to list the things we DO have, that’s how remote…. a bank, a grocery store, two gas stations, one of which is the only local restaurant, a non emergency health clinic and a post office. None of which help when you have an injured animal.
When chicken emergencies happen, we don’t have a local place to go to for help. We weren’t even thru our first year raising chickens when we realized we NEEDED a first aid kit for them.
So, MrGillis found a great deal on a tool box and we ordered it to fill with all our chicken go tos..
- Scalpel with extra blades – for emergency surgery.
- tweezers – also for surgery
- sharp scissors – can be for surgery or for cutting vet wrap in strips to better accommodate bandaged area.
- Rubber Gloves – I’m going to be real honest here. I never use gloves when dealing with chicken injuries, but they ARE there and I SHOULD use them.
- Non Pain Relief Neosporin / A&D Ointment – This is for treating infected areas that will be bandaged, like bumblefoot infections. DO NOT USE PAIN RELIEF OINTMENTS! The active ingredient will give your chicken a heart attack!
- Alcohol- For sanitizing surgical instruments.
- Witch hazel – for swelling of any kind- I’ve never had to use it on our girls, but I keep it around for ourselves and we use it on anything from sunburn to stings.
- Electrolyte Powder – for mixing into drinking water on hot days or for sick birds
- Vetericyn Spray – to help heal wounds – this stuff is AMAZING and we love it.
- Different size gauze bandages, 2″ to 4″ – for bandaging wounds.
- Vet Wrap – also for bandaging wounds. We usually buy the clearance colors and get it for cheap. That’s how our chickens ended up with camo feet 2 summers ago.
- large towel – For wrapping scared/uncooperative birds for things like bumblefoot surgery.
- 2 small totes (we use the ones that are supposed to be for shoe storage) – for foot soaks.
- Tricide Neo – the super soak for bumblefoot infections. Seriously expensive and usually for Kio fish, this stuff literally saved our one of our chickens from a serious infection that no amount of surgery and epsom salt baths could fix.
- Epsom Salt – for warm water soaks to treat minor infections.
- Distilled water – for use with the Tricide Neo
- Saline Solution – for cleaning face wounds gently and thoroughly- this was amazing stuff for when Lucy was attacked by a raccoon.
- Syringe and Dropper – we got ours from a baby kit – these are for helping very sick chickens drink and eat.
- Toothbrush – for scrubbing dirty chicken feet to check for infections.
- Chicken Hospital(s)- we have a large metal dog crate my parents handed down to us, an even larger wood and fence crate MrGillis built that we use as a chick area as well and now a mini coop as well, because sometimes life sucks and you have more then one sick hen. Or an injury and a broody. Or any number of reasons to have to quarantine multiple chickens in separate areas.
- fresh water and clean food for the chicken hospital – if you have a sickie, it’s important they have constant access to food and water.
- no pick lotion- we’ve only had to have this for one chicken. Our poor Elvira, a polish, get picked on when its rainy and her feathers are droopy for some reason.
Now, I’ll admit, this is a pretty well stocked kit. We keep a lot of this stuff on hand for our own first aid kit as well so it’s not just sitting around. And other people would have other things listed as their “must haves”.
In fact, if you have something that you consider a first aid kit must have, please comment below! I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time, have a wicked good day.
Gillis Gardens, LLC 