Signs your hen is unwell: a health monitoring checklist for backyard keepers

7 min read · Roost & Record Co.

Chickens are masters at hiding illness. In the wild, a sick or weak bird attracts predators, so evolution has made them very good at looking normal until they really can't any more. By the time a hen is visibly and obviously unwell, she's often been struggling for days or longer.

The good news is that if you know what to look for — and you're observant enough to notice small changes — you can catch most problems early. This checklist covers the key things to check during your daily visits.

Daily visual checklist

The early warning you often miss: egg production dip

A hen that's going off colour will often reduce or stop laying before any other sign appears. If one of your girls has stopped producing and it's not a moult, not winter, and she's not broody — that's worth investigating.

This is one of the most practical reasons to track individual hen production. When you know Pearl normally lays 5 eggs a week and she's only managed 2 this week, you know to give her a closer look.

Keeping records speeds up treatment

When you do need to call a vet, having records of when symptoms started, what you've tried, and how long it's been going on makes a real difference. Vets can make a much better assessment with a history.

The Health Records module in Roost & Record Co. lets you log symptoms, treatments, and follow-up dates for each hen individually, with space for photos and vet notes. It takes two minutes to fill in and can be genuinely useful when it matters most.