Chickens are filthy animals...

[86121]

...At least that's the age old myth right?
Every old time farmer who I have met has always said the same things:
"Chickens are meant to be filthy"
"There butts are supposed to look like that"
and
"There's supposed to be maggots, how else does the poop leave?"

Now obviously not everyone thinks like this, and the ones I am talking about were VERY old time.
But, I happily was able to prove that wrong today.
I have two sick pullets in quarantine right now due to a horrible case of Cocci...
So, they get there cage dirty very quickly. Today I cleaned there little cage and put some fresh sawdust in it.
Well, what was the first thing they did?

They kicked it everywhere, fluffed themselves in it, and then made themselves a little nest.
There currently sleeping and enjoying the nice clean feeling

See, they don't enjoy being dirty! They like to be clean.
*Like I have to tell all of you Lol*
I just thought that the little picture was to cute not to share, that's OMG and a girl with no name *Any suggestions? She is a Buff/EE cross*
OMG is in the front, and my other little one is in the back

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens do not enjoy filth. They revel in fresh, clean water and good feed and they like clean bedding. They spend much time grooming themselves.

They can only care for themselves as much as the humans who are keeping them care for them as well. If their environment is not managed properly, they must live in filth, but they are not filthy animals.

A friend of mine was horrified way back when I said I was getting chickens. Now, she has completely changed her mind after seeing how clean and wonderful they can be.

 

[jak2002003]

My bantam chickens all roosts in several large dog cages / crates at night instead of a coop. They keep really clean as the floor of the crate has narrow bars on it, so all the poop falls through. Most of my show birds are white and I found this way keeps them the cleanest.

Also I don't have to waste money buying bedding. The poop falls onto the dry sand/earth ground under the cage. Once a week I rake all the dry poop up and put it into my compost heap.

Can you get a cage, or change yours to have a wire grill in the bottom? If you make sure the spaces between the bars are quite narrow, the birds will be very comfortable.

I always have a thick natural branch roost in each crate too, although your sick birds might be too ill to fly up to one.

Hope those cute little hens get better soon!

 

[86121]

Chickens do not enjoy filth. They revel in fresh, clean water and good feed and they like clean bedding. They spend much time grooming themselves.

They can only care for themselves as much as the humans who are keeping them care for them as well. If their environment is not managed properly, they must live in filth, but they are not filthy animals.

A friend of mine was horrified way back when I said I was getting chickens. Now, she has completely changed her mind after seeing how clean and wonderful they can be.

Exactly!

Same here, my friends are amazed at how friendly my birds are and how they DONT smell XD

 

[86121]

My bantam chickens all roosts in several large dog cages / crates at night instead of a coop. They keep really clean as the floor of the crate has narrow bars on it, so all the poop falls through. Most of my show birds are white and I found this way keeps them the cleanest.

Also I don't have to waste money buying bedding. The poop falls onto the dry sand/earth ground under the cage. Once a week I rake all the dry poop up and put it into my compost heap.

Can you get a cage, or change yours to have a wire grill in the bottom? If you make sure the spaces between the bars are quite narrow, the birds will be very comfortable.

I always have a thick natural branch roost in each crate too, although your sick birds might be too ill to fly up to one.

Hope those cute little hens get better soon!

I have a rabbit hutch that's currently empty? I can try that for next time, but for the moment I like to keep an eye on the consistency of there poop...ugh I need a life T_T anyway! That is a very good idea Thank you for mentioning it!
And sadly yes, there to ill to roost at the moment. There slowly getting better, but very very slowly