Run Floor

[SilkieNation]

Our first coop was built behind our garage on concrete. I put plenty of shavings on the floor and never had a problem with bumble foot. They were in that coop over a year before we got our second coop.
We were given a 9 x 16 storage shed so we turned it into our newest coop (it has a wood floor covered in vinyl with wood shavings) and ordered more chickens. In the first coop I have a poop board with PDZ under their roost and that's all I cleaned every day. Seldom did I find poop on the wood shavings on their floor. Once their pop door opened they were outside free ranging and didn't come back inside except for hard rain and to lay eggs. Twice after very hard rain I cleaned out one corner of their coop with a shovel and added all new shavings. I also put wood pellets under the shavings in that corner and they worked great. The concrete slab in that corner was slightly lower and allowed rain to seep in if it rained really hard. The chickens never ate the pellets and they smell so good but shavings do, too.

Will your chickens free range? If not that might change what you do.

I only have four silkies now. They only free range when I am out with them - lots of hawks. And, they are in their run as long as it's not wet and cold. There's no issue with smell - I clean up the poop every day. They sleep inside this 4 foot wooden box up from the floor a bit and filled with straw that spills out for a 'ramp'. They seem to like it a lot. I take all the poop out and lay some fresh straw on top daily. I guess I need to put more shavings and straw down on the floor... Like I said I've had birds in there for nine years (silkies) and it's pretty darn clean and I never had any issues. But now I'm worried about bumble foot - never even thought of it before. More shavings though, means a lot more effort to clean them all up!

 

[SilkieNation]

So - it looks like one of my hens has a mild/modest case of bumble foot! I'm taking her to the vet on Wed. Did she scrape her foot on the concrete floor in the coop or somewhere else? No way to know of course. I have a real problem if it's the floor as I have no place else to keep my birds and it's actually a very nice space for them.

Should I disinfect the floor? Put tons of shavings in there ($ + work)? Wait to see if somebody else gets it and then take action?

 

[pfields]

My first run has a concrete floor and my chickens never got bumble foot. The coop was 4 x 16 feet. One bag of shavings for $4.99 covered it nicely.

 

[SilkieNation]

Yes, I'm wondering if this is just a coincidence. As I said earlier in this thread, I've keep my chickens in there for nine years with no problem. Mine's about 8x10, maybe a little bigger - but their kiddie pool of dirt and a few other things cover some of the floor, and I put 1/2 bag plus straw. (There's plenty of space as I only have four silkies now.) I did add some shavings. Anyway - she's off to the vet this week. I just can't deal with doing the surgery myself!

 

[pfields]

I'm not sure I could do it myself either.

 

[SilkieNation]

Well, checking feet in daylight with the strong glasses on, I find that my rooster also has an infection. His is a little worse. I am going to disinfect the coop floor. I don't know what else to do because I keep everything really clean. Maybe the vet will have some ideas. Maybe it's diet. They get quality food, but maybe I feed them too many treats, however healthy they are.

Seriously broody hen, bumble foot and my rooster is gettin' old. He's lost some weight. Oh! Right, and nobody is laying any eggs. Their poops look great, but I'm going to worm them. All very distressing. I'm so conscientious and take obsessively good care of them, but all is not well in my little chicken world. I just don't know.

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[pfields]

I'm sure it's nothing that you did. We do our best and stuff still happens.

Saturday before last my rooster spurred me on both legs and ended up in the emergency room.

I don't have any with bumble foot but I do have a few hens that have lost feathers on their backs. Some are coming back but some aren't. Have checked and checked and can't find mites or lice. I sold my black rooster and we had to kill our white rooster after he got me. Now all I have is a 22 week old orpington rooster for 47 hens so over mating should stop the feather damage.

I have a hen that's laying a soft shell egg during the night and my new RIR hens have been eating them, not good. I can't figure out which hen it is. Saw a hawk this morning and a skunk is hanging around at night. It's always something. I built new feeders to make my life easier and the rats discovered them. I also have a hen that went broody. This time I just put her in my old coop with 11 eggs. I doubt their fertile but she's happy as a lark.

My older hens aren't laying like they use too and the new RIR hens are but the eggs are tiny. My eggs are sold before they are laid so this is not good. I'm spending a fortune on feed. I'm going to start fermenting feed, they love it and it makes a bag last longer.

Let me know how everything turns out. If they only knew how much we care and worry about them!

 

[SilkieNation]

Sorry to hear about your leg and your rooster and everything else. I guess your one young roo will be keeping himself busy. I don't have rats, but I have chipmunks and they might as well be rats. They are eating ALL of the food EVERYDAY and even got into the plastic container of treats. Opened the top right up. Not sure what I'm going to do as I won't lay out poison, or even attempt to kill them any other way. Oh, and my rooster is now eating the oyster shell...that's just great. I think he can't tel the different between the grit and the shell. Maybe his eyesight is going.

I'm feeding fermented feed, in part. It's very easy to do for four chickens. Some days they love it and others they don't because they are not great eaters - probably due to the treats... I just spent a fortune on some organic feed on Amazon that looks like chunks of corn and grain, etc. Maybe they'll like that. Of course, the chipmunks will too. With four chickens, 25lbs would last a bit, but not with a million chipmunks. Did I mention that I have a chipmunk problem? Good luck with the rats and hawks and skunk.

 

[pfields]

I use to use a long piece of plastic rain gutter attached to the fence to feed my chickens and then the wild birds started flocking to our backyard so I saw on BYC the feeders with the PVC openings and I made two. They work great and then about a week later I discovered the rats also found them. So we bought caps for the openings, well that works but it means we have to put them on at night and take them off in the morning. I thought buying a pop door would solve my going outside at sunrise. I'm not a late sleeper but when it's raining outside at 6:30 am they still need to eat.
I usually clean the poop boards off around 7:30-8:00 but can't make them wait to eat. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt them but I just can't do it.

Just curious what kind of feed did you buy from Amazon? My favorite feed is H&H but it's so expensive with 48 chickens.

We have a trap for the skunk but so far it's managed to not get caught. Last night my grandson saw it right after dark behind the fence in our backyard. He had gone out to shoot some rats with rat shot and ran into Mr. Skunk who raised its tail when it saw him, at that point Ethan took off for the house, lol.

Living on the coast of Texas we also have storms to worry about and right now we're watching our first developing in the gulf. Don't know what I'll do if we get a hurricane. We can't pack up 48 chickens and flee.

Good luck with the chipmunks, I did put out rat poison and got a few but with 9 acres of clover planted behind our house for my dad's bees they had plenty of place to hide. Oh, we've only killed 5 rattlesnakes so far this year. Last year we killed 18. Where there are rats there are snakes.

 

[SilkieNation]

I can only bring myself to poison the mice that try to colonize the interior walls of my house. I'm concerned about the other wildlife that may eat it if I put it outside, otherwise, I might go for it as the chipmunks not only eat all of my birds' food, but the tunnel all over the place and have really messed up my already deteriorating and mossy patio. However, I think I'll take the chipmunks over rats and rattlesnakes!! 18 rattlesnakes, basically in your yard?? I'll take the northeast, thank you. I bet you have really big bugs too.

I hope the storm doesn't develop into anything major. I guess all you can do is batten down the hatches and hope for the best. 48 chickens is a lot in my book. maybe you can build them an underground shelter....

I bought Scratch n' Peck grower, because of my rooster. The reviews were good, but who knows, I know I don't. It looked good, like maybe something they would eat. I'm a little concerned with their light appetites - I don't give them that many treats, I think they may just be holding out for them.

Well good luck skunk and rattle snake hunting (oh the rats too). I hope your girls' feathers grow in nicely and you are able to locate the soft egg layer. I had one for years but eventually, one got stuck in her. It was pretty sad and she suffered as I tried to fix it by taking her to the vet a few time over the course of FIVE days. I'll NEVER do that again. Poor thing.

Again, good luck with that storm!