IF you already own chickens you will remember the thrilling trepidation that came just before you finally decided to go ahead and buy your first birds. Will I be able to fox-proof the henhouse? Am I confident there will always be someone to put them in at night? What about illnesses and infections?

You may have read up on keeping fowl and learnt for the first time about those threats and dangers for which we must be constantly vigilant such as red mites, Marek's disease and coccidiosis.

That last malady is an odd one. You don't want it around because it can very easily kill young chicks, but at the same time it is pretty much everywhere chickens are, in the soil, and you need it so that your birds can build up immunity.

What is Coccidiosis?

Coccidiosis lies in the ground where it is picked up by a chicken pecking about for seeds, grass, insects and the like. It can remain there for months. Once ingested it attacks the gut wall, causing a deterioration in the intestine's ability to take up nutrients which leads to a loss of condition and body weight for the bird, and reducing the quality and quantity of eggs.

The parasite also goes through a transformation; after about five days it passes out of the bird in the form of spores which further infect the area, spreading the infection. There are several strains of coccidiosis (of which seven can be fatal to chickens) and it can affect gamebirds, wildfowl, pigs, deer - in fact almost anything that eats off the ground.

How do I deal with Coccidiosis?

With poultry there are generally two ways of tackling the problem, other than the obvious and necessary precaution of ensuring that the litter is changed frequently: vaccination and medication. Both these must be prescribed by a vet.

With vaccination a tiny amount of the oocysts (the infectious eggs) is introduced into the bird's system so that resistance can be built up. It is quite a new science, in part because of the number of different strains of the Eimeria parasite which cause the disease: vaccination against one will not provide protection against another.

Medication can be supplied already mixed into the birds' feed. The trouble with eradicating all the parasites from a chicken's gut is that (if it is able to roam around and is in contact with soil) it risks being re-infected without the protection of any resistance it may have acquired.

There are two further side effects with medication and those are first of all that the parasite can build up a resistance to the anti-coccidials and secondly that there is a risk of residues of the drugs being left in the chicken's meat (and eggs.) Consequently chicken farmers are advised to change medication periodically and a withdrawal period prior to slaughter or point of lay must be adhered to.

Many smallholders and chicken fanciers are discovering an alternative method of staying on top of the disease and this is provided by a natural feed supplement called Life-Guard Tonic. It is manufactured by south Wales firm Natural Animal Feeds and independent tests have shown no significant difference between its effectiveness and that of a licensed medication designed to prevent coccidiosis.

Life-Guard works by using ingredients (all 100 per cent natural, claim the makers) such as vitamins, oregano, antioxidants and prebiotics, which encourage the beneficial bacteria in the bird's gut. These make the bird better able to fight infection and help it to maintain condition: not only of skin and feathers but also the number and quality of its eggs.

The tests, conducted at Sparsholt College, showed that mortality was reduced by two-thirds in chicks aged between four and twelve weeks and that all the treated birds were less susceptible to coccidiosis. It is available without prescription and because all its constituent ingredients are natural there are no residues in either eggs or meat.

The Tonic is added to the birds' drinking water, which makes it easy to administer and means that monitoring the uptake is simple. The cost is about a penny per bird There are further beneficial effects which are of especial significance at the moment: the formula helps to reduce stress in birds, particularly the stress caused by a change of environment. Your free range hens might not appreciate being cooped up for long periods but with the threat of bird flu you may have no choice but to confine them. A tonic such as Life-Guard should ensure they cope well, maintain their body weight and keep on laying as if there had been no change at all.

In these days when we are being urged to go green, eat organic and think about what we put into our bodies it is good to know that, with natural tonics that are as effective as man-made pharmaceuticals, we can do the same for our birds as we strive to do for ourselves.

Websites: Life-Guard Tonic: www.life-guard.co.uk