Broken Toe Nail

[TheSpiceGirls]

When I let the girls out this morning, I picked up Blondie and looked at her toe - the nail had apparently come off, or she nipped it off, and it looks like the wound has sealed itself. No bleeding, seems to be walking fine, she couldn't wait to get to the yard to start "patrolling" it. Seeing that she's able to walk and shows no discomfort, I am feeling a LOT better about it today.

I wonder if trimming the tips of the nails would prevent hanging up on something and tearing the nail. Have you noticed anything to that effect? Does it have any hindrance to her scratching in the dirt? I am always looking for good suggestions and advice, I love my two ladies - they're not just chickens, they're pets with benefits.

Also, I read we're heading into molting season, neither has done any amount of feather dropping, only a few here and there, but it's getting cold her in the Pacific Northwest and if I'm chilly, they surely would be if they get naked any time soon. Any thoughts on that? This would be their first molt as they were fall chicks and are now a year old. Thanks, Spice Girl, I feel I've acquired a friend!

Chatty Kathy

How's your hen w/ the broken nail? All a distant memory at this point I hope.

 

[ChatKath47]

Yes, she's doing great, back to her usual Blondie self - I have kept an eye on it, seems to have sealed itself off and she's walking as if nothing happened. What a relief that is!

Thanks for your input and concern - we novice small time backyard chicken farmers need all the info, help and encouragement we can get. Now my concern is for the two ladies and their molting season - haven't started yet and don't want them bare naked when they di start as it's getting colder here and don't want them to get chilled before the new fluff grows in. But that's another story/worry.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Yes, she's doing great, back to her usual Blondie self - I have kept an eye on it, seems to have sealed itself off and she's walking as if nothing happened. What a relief that is!

Thanks for your input and concern - we novice small time backyard chicken farmers need all the info, help and encouragement we can get. Now my concern is for the two ladies and their molting season - haven't started yet and don't want them bare naked when they di start as it's getting colder here and don't want them to get chilled before the new fluff grows in. But that's another story/worry.

Oh, I'm so glad she's better.

And don't worry too much about the molting. Chickens have been molting for years and years and while it looks awful, they pull through just fine. I didn't mean to scare you with my photo of Coco and her ugly molt. She just started dropping feathers two days ago. She's still covered but I'm eager to see where she is in 4-5 days and if she's mostly covered or naked.

I did time her last year and from the day she ended up naked, to being mostly covered with tiny black feathers, it was three weeks. Now it took much longer for those feathers to fully open and all. But she was at least covered and had protection in just three weeks so they figure it out.

 

[ChatKath47]

Molting will be a new experience for my ladies and for me. I know they'll be hardier than I think and will do just fine. A first for the three of us. I also need to trim the flight feathers on one wing of each as Blondie (Leghorn) discovered she can fly up to the top of the fridge out on the patio and I don't want her to discover she can clear the 4 ft. fence around the yard. Jane (Amerucana) has not, to my knowledge, tried to fly anywhere, but think I'll trim one wing anyway, just to be sure. Chicken learning is such a great pastime - love it!

 

[ChatKath47]

Your Jersey Giant is a pathetic sight in the picture! I do realize it's a natural state of things, but the poor thing looks so scruffy!

I saw in my "Chickens Magazine" where a lady made a jacket, either knit or crochet, and that's such a bad idea, they need to fluff their feathers for warmth.

I occasionally will take an egg and scramble it, I mix in about 1/4 cup of oats to give them extra protein, they gobble it right down. I read that corn shouldn't be given in the summer since it creates heat, or raises body temp, but cracked corn or scratch, I would imagine, should be good for the colder months when they need more internal heat. I also put their egg shells through the blender and crush fine and they seem to like that sprinkled in their feeder with the pellets. (I found granules tend to turn powdery and I don't like that in the feeder with no pieces to eat.) I do that for the calcium for their eggshells-to-be.

The moment I step out the back door, they come running as if to ask "Whatcha got for me??" I take cut up apples, grapes or whatever I have on hand that they can have, greens from radishes and the soft inner leaves of celery. A favorite seems to be the apples and watermelon rind - they clean it to the green skin! I have to add, I have some plants along the back fence in pots and every day or so I pick them up and the girls go crazy over the earwigs and other crawlies - I haven't had an earwig problem at all this year....yay chickens!!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Your Jersey Giant is a pathetic sight in the picture! I do realize it's a natural state of things, but the poor thing looks so scruffy!

I saw in my "Chickens Magazine" where a lady made a jacket, either knit or crochet, and that's such a bad idea, they need to fluff their feathers for warmth.

I occasionally will take an egg and scramble it, I mix in about 1/4 cup of oats to give them extra protein, they gobble it right down. I read that corn shouldn't be given in the summer since it creates heat, or raises body temp, but cracked corn or scratch, I would imagine, should be good for the colder months when they need more internal heat. I also put their egg shells through the blender and crush fine and they seem to like that sprinkled in their feeder with the pellets. (I found granules tend to turn powdery and I don't like that in the feeder with no pieces to eat.) I do that for the calcium for their eggshells-to-be.

The moment I step out the back door, they come running as if to ask "Whatcha got for me??" I take cut up apples, grapes or whatever I have on hand that they can have, greens from radishes and the soft inner leaves of celery. A favorite seems to be the apples and watermelon rind - they clean it to the green skin! I have to add, I have some plants along the back fence in pots and every day or so I pick them up and the girls go crazy over the earwigs and other crawlies - I haven't had an earwig problem at all this year....yay chickens!!

Coco is my favorite. She's wicked smart. Knows her name. LOVE LOVE LOVES banana. Here's a photo of her rolling hubby for his:

She also knows her name and will come if I call her:

At nearly 9lbs, I don't have to worry about her flying the fence. She's too big and there's too much to eat in my yard. Why on earth would you ever leave.

Can't wait to get home to see her this afternoon and make sure she's still got feathers.

 

[ChatKath47]

Coco is gorgeous!! The other chickens are pretty, and seem to want to know about the banana. The curious one of my two is Blondie, she always gets into everything we're doing. She follows my husband into the workshop and doesn't seem to understand when he puts her outside and she ducks back between his feet to get back in. Blondie gets up in my lap when I sit in a lawn chair, even took an apple out of my hand once, even decided to "taste" my iced tea one day this summer. Jane came running when I picked up Blondie to look at her foot and when I put Blondie down, Jane hunched down and I had to pet her, almost as if to say "Me Too!". I pet my chickens every day, they seem to like it

I am so amazed at the chicken bath you posted, how do you get Honey to sit still and accept being bathed? And what do you use on the chicken? I ask because Blondie is a dusty mess after her dirt baths she takes. Both shake the dust out and it reminds me of "Pig Pen" in Snoopy cartoons with the cloud of dust around him.

I call out the girls' names but they don't respond to their own names, just come running when they hear my voice or see me as they think it's treat time. I love those birds! I want to post pictures of them but admit...I don't know how!!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Coco is gorgeous!! The other chickens are pretty, and seem to want to know about the banana. The curious one of my two is Blondie, she always gets into everything we're doing. She follows my husband into the workshop and doesn't seem to understand when he puts her outside and she ducks back between his feet to get back in. Blondie gets up in my lap when I sit in a lawn chair, even took an apple out of my hand once, even decided to "taste" my iced tea one day this summer. Jane came running when I picked up Blondie to look at her foot and when I put Blondie down, Jane hunched down and I had to pet her, almost as if to say "Me Too!". I pet my chickens every day, they seem to like it

I am so amazed at the chicken bath you posted, how do you get Honey to sit still and accept being bathed? And what do you use on the chicken? I ask because Blondie is a dusty mess after her dirt baths she takes. Both shake the dust out and it reminds me of "Pig Pen" in Snoopy cartoons with the cloud of dust around him.

I call out the girls' names but they don't respond to their own names, just come running when they hear my voice or see me as they think it's treat time. I love those birds! I want to post pictures of them but admit...I don't know how!!

Yea, most of my hens don't care for the bath the first time. But after that, they seem to really enjoy it. I usually just use warm water. Unless I'm really trying to get something nasty off of them, then I use just a single drop of Dawn liquid dish soap. But I'm not trying to get them spotless. Just get the turd off of someone's back or bum, or something along those lines.

The blow dryer is usually pretty scary at first too but they grow to love it. I had a BO who would actually hold her wing up so I could blow dry under her wings.

If she's just dusty, I'd leave her be. That's how chickens get parasites off of them. They can usually shake off most of the dirt/dust. You can make them a special dust bathing area and cover it so it stays dry.

Coco, is currently molting. Poor thing looks so very sad. But at least she's not naked this year.

 

[ChatKath47]

We haven't started the molt - yet - but noticed the laying seems to have slowed a bit. Blondie was regular as clockwork at 10-10:30 a.m. but now it's whenever she gets around to it and Jane has always been two eggs every three days, usually by 2:00 in the afternoon, she's on her own schedule now. Both may go two days without an egg, but understand it slows when molting is coming up. They do lay, Blondie being the hardy Leghorn that she is, lays XL eggs, Jane, the Amerucana, lays her medium size pale green egg, and she's larger in body than Blondie.

They're great gals, meet me at the door when I go out, expecting a treat and just this last weekend I discovered they love cold, cooked, plain spaghetti noodles! I had about a handful of the plain noodles left and my d.inlaw said her chickens love plain pasta, so I treated them. She feeds her 7 chickens all of her dinner scraps, I just give them the peelings and scraps of the raw vegetables. For protein, now that molting is imminent, I scramble an egg every so often and include a handful of uncooked oats - that seems to be a favorite, too. It's getting colder here so I have started a handful of scratch at "bedtime" when we put them in the coop for the night - sort of a "bedtime snack". I understand the corn helps with body heat, haven't given it to them all summer for that reason, but now it's fair game.

I have washed Blondie's feet a couple of times - she is a real turd stomper, it seems, and dirt, seeds and yard stuff seems to stick to it. She doesn't seem to object, that way I can also keep an eye on her feet to make sure they're healthy, and by the way, the part of her toe (toenail?) that dropped off looks really good. No infection, redness or any evident problems, which is good to see. Jane's feet are just fine, I chuckle that she has a greenish cast to her feet, but then, her eggs are greenish, too, so guess that follows.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

We haven't started the molt - yet - but noticed the laying seems to have slowed a bit. Blondie was regular as clockwork at 10-10:30 a.m. but now it's whenever she gets around to it and Jane has always been two eggs every three days, usually by 2:00 in the afternoon, she's on her own schedule now. Both may go two days without an egg, but understand it slows when molting is coming up. They do lay, Blondie being the hardy Leghorn that she is, lays XL eggs, Jane, the Amerucana, lays her medium size pale green egg, and she's larger in body than Blondie.

They're great gals, meet me at the door when I go out, expecting a treat and just this last weekend I discovered they love cold, cooked, plain spaghetti noodles! I had about a handful of the plain noodles left and my d.inlaw said her chickens love plain pasta, so I treated them. She feeds her 7 chickens all of her dinner scraps, I just give them the peelings and scraps of the raw vegetables. For protein, now that molting is imminent, I scramble an egg every so often and include a handful of uncooked oats - that seems to be a favorite, too. It's getting colder here so I have started a handful of scratch at "bedtime" when we put them in the coop for the night - sort of a "bedtime snack". I understand the corn helps with body heat, haven't given it to them all summer for that reason, but now it's fair game.

I have washed Blondie's feet a couple of times - she is a real turd stomper, it seems, and dirt, seeds and yard stuff seems to stick to it. She doesn't seem to object, that way I can also keep an eye on her feet to make sure they're healthy, and by the way, the part of her toe (toenail?) that dropped off looks really good. No infection, redness or any evident problems, which is good to see. Jane's feet are just fine, I chuckle that she has a greenish cast to her feet, but then, her eggs are greenish, too, so guess that follows.

That's great that her nail is healing up. Love hearing that. And yes they do step in Boom Boom ALL the time. I just ignore it. It will make you crazy if you try and keep their feet clean.