This is a mixed feeling post for me. on the one hand, I want to share our near fatal (chicken wise, not human) experience with the group, but that means I have to admit I did something stupid in the first place.
Well, here goes: We have a young rooster that was scalped by the hens and older pullets in the coop on the one day I allowed them to mingle. while cleaning the cage he was in. They looked to be getting along so I left him out for another 4 hours. Still ok at noon check, so I went into the house . At the evening feeding, I found him hunkered in the corner as far away as he could get, scalped and bleeding. (Posted in another forum)
>First mistake- letting him out with the big chickens alone to soon.
So we put him the quarantine pen, first aid, started 'the get better soon' routine, and because there seemed to be a bit of shock involved we reinstated the brooder light to aid in the cooler nights with a bald head and neck. We placed the quarantine cage in the coop so he wouldn't "feel" lonely or be too far away from the others.
>Second mistake- leaving him in the cage with the brooder light on, in the coop with the others.
Since chickens are chickens and they all wanted to see what was in the quarantine cage(QC), they climb on the top and their weight presses down the wire lowering the ceiling. We add support 1x2's vertically in the corners and a plywood top to to the QC, but that means the brooder light needs to be placed differently. We propped in place against the side of the QC, aiming it into a single corner so he could still walk away from the heat if he needed to cool off a bit.
>Third and almost fatal Mistake- overlooking (disregarding) brooder light safety in favor of letting the little Rooster stay with his"buddies" during his convalescent period.
All went well for a few days which only reinforced our mistakes. So this is almost real time reporting in that when we went out to do the morning feeding and first aid for Lightning yesterday(10/21), we found that the lamp had been dislodged and lamp side down on the linoleum. We unplugged it and picked it up and saw that there was a neatly singed hole right through the 1/2 " plywood to the ground below! Yup, edges fully charred and linoleum a dark mess.
Lesson for us? Even a 100 watt bulb(our red lamp size) given enough time can burn through plywood and if we hadn't caught it, maybe the coop and the chickens and who knows what else could have been lost if this had caught fire instead of just smoldering in place. Our next heat lamp installation will be fixed permanently so even the biggest inquisitive chicken can't knock it loose. That was too close a call for me.
The hole burned through as found
Cleared so we could see it better
Cut out for repair
Screwed in place
New linoleum installed and caulking curing
It was a frightful experience for JoAnn and I, and a worse hit to the ego having to admit making such a huge noob mistake. But better to admit the problem if it can keep one person from doing the same thing.
Well, here goes: We have a young rooster that was scalped by the hens and older pullets in the coop on the one day I allowed them to mingle. while cleaning the cage he was in. They looked to be getting along so I left him out for another 4 hours. Still ok at noon check, so I went into the house . At the evening feeding, I found him hunkered in the corner as far away as he could get, scalped and bleeding. (Posted in another forum)
>First mistake- letting him out with the big chickens alone to soon.
So we put him the quarantine pen, first aid, started 'the get better soon' routine, and because there seemed to be a bit of shock involved we reinstated the brooder light to aid in the cooler nights with a bald head and neck. We placed the quarantine cage in the coop so he wouldn't "feel" lonely or be too far away from the others.
>Second mistake- leaving him in the cage with the brooder light on, in the coop with the others.
Since chickens are chickens and they all wanted to see what was in the quarantine cage(QC), they climb on the top and their weight presses down the wire lowering the ceiling. We add support 1x2's vertically in the corners and a plywood top to to the QC, but that means the brooder light needs to be placed differently. We propped in place against the side of the QC, aiming it into a single corner so he could still walk away from the heat if he needed to cool off a bit.
>Third and almost fatal Mistake- overlooking (disregarding) brooder light safety in favor of letting the little Rooster stay with his"buddies" during his convalescent period.
All went well for a few days which only reinforced our mistakes. So this is almost real time reporting in that when we went out to do the morning feeding and first aid for Lightning yesterday(10/21), we found that the lamp had been dislodged and lamp side down on the linoleum. We unplugged it and picked it up and saw that there was a neatly singed hole right through the 1/2 " plywood to the ground below! Yup, edges fully charred and linoleum a dark mess.
Lesson for us? Even a 100 watt bulb(our red lamp size) given enough time can burn through plywood and if we hadn't caught it, maybe the coop and the chickens and who knows what else could have been lost if this had caught fire instead of just smoldering in place. Our next heat lamp installation will be fixed permanently so even the biggest inquisitive chicken can't knock it loose. That was too close a call for me.
The hole burned through as found
Cleared so we could see it better
Cut out for repair
Screwed in place
New linoleum installed and caulking curing
It was a frightful experience for JoAnn and I, and a worse hit to the ego having to admit making such a huge noob mistake. But better to admit the problem if it can keep one person from doing the same thing.