Guides

• What to do if no vet near you treats chickens
  No local vet will see your chicken? Here are your options: vet school teaching hospitals, state animal health offices, diagnostic labs, poultry telehealth, and planning ahead.
• How to find a poultry vet (and what to ask on the phone)
  A practical script for finding a vet who will actually see your backyard chickens: where to look, and the questions to ask before you need them.
• Is my chicken's problem an emergency?
  Signs that a backyard chicken needs urgent help, and signs that should be reported to your state veterinarian or USDA as possible avian influenza.
• Chicken first-aid kit checklist
  A backyard poultry first-aid and emergency kit checklist based on the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food's Backyard Poultry Evacuation Kit Checklist.
• Signs of egg binding in hens
  What egg binding is, why it can be life-threatening, and why veterinary care matters, from the Merck Veterinary Manual.
• Bumblefoot basics
  What bumblefoot (pododermatitis) is, what it looks like, prevention, and treatment options, from University of Maryland Extension.
• Poultry diagnostic labs and necropsy: state-by-state list
  USDA NAHLN-approved animal disease diagnostic laboratories by state, and how backyard owners typically submit a bird for necropsy.
• Antibiotics and prescriptions for chickens: what changed
  Why you now need a veterinarian to get most antibiotics for backyard chickens: the 2017 Veterinary Feed Directive changes and FDA GFI #263 (2023), explained with FDA sources.