Canadians check in here....

[Bawc]

Welcome Mississauga

Just down the road from you in Flamborough. What have you got for birdies?

Hi Younger, at present I have no chickens here in the city due to the bylaw however friends do have a few hybrid layers for a start plus I am setting up a few coups just outside the city in backyard chicken friendly territory for some of my friends and organic garden customers.

Looking to get Orpingtons,Rocks & Wyandottes as favorites and perhaps others.

 

[Mountain Wampus]

Checking in from St Jerome`!

I bought a banty hen w 3 chicks @ the Lachute livestock auction last week. Sweet bird w nice feathers, no issues except when I get her out of the crate at home I notice she's missing more than half her toes! the tip to half the toe is missing off many of her toes, they are healed and show no real scaring or anything and it doesn't bother her at all. She runs and scratches normally.

Question: How does / can this happen to a chicken? In this case a banty hen. In 40yrs of off n on poultry keeping none of our family birds have ended up that way so I'm curious what circumstances may have caused missing ends of toes.. Frost bite perhaps?

 

[Quailsong]

Checking in from St Jerome`!

I bought a banty hen w 3 chicks @ the Lachute livestock auction last week. Sweet bird w nice feathers, no issues except when I get her out of the crate at home I notice she's missing more than half her toes! the tip to half the toe is missing off many of her toes, they are healed and show no real scaring or anything and it doesn't bother her at all. She runs and scratches normally.

Question: How does / can this happen to a chicken? In this case a banty hen. In 40yrs of off n on poultry keeping none of our family birds have ended up that way so I'm curious what circumstances may have caused missing ends of toes.. Frost bite perhaps?

My guesses:

Could be frost bite, could also be dirt clumps adhering to the toes & causing infection so they fall off or are clipped. I've heard of some folks accidentally clipping tips of toes due to a struggling critter & lack of proper holding technique; but that many & that far in, I dunno.

If it were all of them, uniformly clipped, I'd say someone was keeping the chickens too close together & they were fighting. But then the beak would likely be clipped as well.

Either way, I'm glad she's in a better home now.

 

[bribre]

That's from frostbite.

 

[trippy]

id say frostbite... hello everyone, im in nova scotia, by truro just got two adult turkeys today.. a nice mated pair to add to my 16 chickens, 5 guinea keets and 2 ducklings(started with 6 but coons somehow got into their pen unless it was a neighbours cat or? love it at backyard chickens weeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Quailsong]

id say frostbite... hello everyone, im in nova scotia, by truro just got two adult turkeys today.. a nice mated pair to add to my 16 chickens, 5 guinea keets and 2 ducklings(started with 6 but coons somehow got into their pen unless it was a neighbours cat or? love it at backyard chickens weeeeeeeeeeeee

Welcome!

Raccoons in my area are notorious for being able to chew through garbage can lids or open latches. A soft plastic bin lasts one night, a stronger one w/ latches & thicker plastic will last a week. Metal lasts a long time but unless you bungee cord it (which can be chewed) they'll just knock it over & roll it till it opens. With chickens, I assume they'd be even more persistent as the fresh food is right there.

Were the bodies left behind? Heads eaten off or only blood drained at the neck? Knowing that would give you a better idea of what pest you might be dealing with.

 

[trippy]

hey, thanks for the welcome.. im assuming it was raccoons ..there were 2 missing and 2 left with broken legs who died shortly after on the same day.. whatever it was it had actually opened the pen latch somehow so i dont thin kit was a cat and am leaning towards coon.. I went out and redid the duck coop and put wire down low into the ground all around it and also changed the latch so that it can only be undone by me with pliers reaching inside the coop through a very small hole.. my son cried his eyes out at the 4 dead ducklings so im guarding the last 2 with my life. i put them back in the pond today but i watch them and im about to go out and bring them back inside for the night because i am still paranoid as ever that the last 2 will die and i will have to watch my son be so upset again.. maybe they will be house ducks ive had my share of diapered chickens in the house so nice to meet all the fellow northerners

 

[tdayman]

Parry Sound, Ontario

 

[Quailsong]

hey, thanks for the welcome.. im assuming it was raccoons ..there were 2 missing and 2 left with broken legs who died shortly after on the same day.. whatever it was it had actually opened the pen latch somehow so i dont thin kit was a cat and am leaning towards coon.. I went out and redid the duck coop and put wire down low into the ground all around it and also changed the latch so that it can only be undone by me with pliers reaching inside the coop through a very small hole.. my son cried his eyes out at the 4 dead ducklings so im guarding the last 2 with my life. i put them back in the pond today but i watch them and im about to go out and bring them back inside for the night because i am still paranoid as ever that the last 2 will die and i will have to watch my son be so upset again.. maybe they will be house ducks ive had my share of diapered chickens in the house so nice to meet all the fellow northerners

Awe, sad to hear. Make sure your run's hardware cloth/wire is no bigger than 1/2" as raccoons can stuff their hands in & pull off heads. Weasels can sneak right through 1" wire without effort. Best of luck!

 

[Toast n Jelly]

<<Parry Sound, Ontario>>


Hi and