Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Kansas Prairie]

Straining the kidneys?
Point Peter at the pewter?
Shake hands with the unemployed?

???

 

[delisha]

Think its a reference to peeing..however I am not sure. The unemployed one had me thinking.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've never heard any of those. Maybe theres a message in there somewhere

 

[chicken curious]

Two OT questions:

1) how does comb color indicate health? (some of my hens fluctuate between pale and dark combs...it is a nutritional deficiency?)

2) are mice a problem in the coop/run? I found a pile of mice sleeping under the nest box when I moved it this morning. The chickens didn't know what to think as the mice scattered. Can they pose a problem for the chickens? I'm in the city so I'd rather not feed and house the rodent population, but I'm not sure I can keep them out. There is typically only a tiny bit of ff left in the gutter feeder by nightfall.

 

[Gargoyle]

Think its a reference to peeing..however I am not sure. The unemployed one had me thinking.

Ask an old man, he'll explain it for you.

2) are mice a problem in the coop/run? I found a pile of mice sleeping under the nest box when I moved it this morning. The chickens didn't know what to think as the mice scattered. Can they pose a problem for the chickens? I'm in the city so I'd rather not feed and house the rodent population, but I'm not sure I can keep them out. There is typically only a tiny bit of ff left in the gutter feeder by nightfall.

They come and steal the feed at night, and my wife is concerned that our chickens will eat the mouse poop; are they carriers of anything that could affect the chickens?

I've been putting mouse traps out at night where the chooks can't step in them. In the last three nights I've caught 4 mice and one baby mole (exact same size as a mouse).

 

[Beekissed]

Two OT questions:

1) how does comb color indicate health? (some of my hens fluctuate between pale and dark combs...it is a nutritional deficiency?)

2) are mice a problem in the coop/run? I found a pile of mice sleeping under the nest box when I moved it this morning. The chickens didn't know what to think as the mice scattered. Can they pose a problem for the chickens? I'm in the city so I'd rather not feed and house the rodent population, but I'm not sure I can keep them out. There is typically only a tiny bit of ff left in the gutter feeder by nightfall.

1. During certain times of the year(peak laying seasons) the combs of layers should be dark pink towards red and some breeds can even be a paler shade of both. If you see dry looking, pale with a yellowy tinge this can be a nutritional status/health problem indicator. It takes some years of being around chickens and even around your particular birds to read comb and wattle colors enough to know if something is off kilter with your flock.

I would go more with the overall look of the bird...is the pale comb combined with dull, poor feathering and no laying when in peak season? Is it accompanied by listless demeanor and poor appetite or thirst?

Usually just the comb color alone is no indication of the relative health of the bird unless it has no color at all~ or the bird is lying dead on the coop floor with a purple tinged comb~cardiac indication.

2. They attract snakes which then eat eggs and chicks. They can poop/urinate in your trough feeder as they scavenge for grain...not a good idea for adding nutrition to the flock diet. Rats are more of a problem than are mice but I still wouldn't want to support a large mouse population...they can store away an amazing amount of grain/dog food/cat food. One or two mice are not a big deal...but they breed like...well...like mice! If you don't have a barn cat to decimate their numbers, I'd be thinking of some bar poison.

 

[chicken curious]

1)...
I would go more with the overall look of the bird...is the pale comb combined with dull, poor feathering and no laying when in peak season? Is it accompanied by listless demeanor and poor appetite or thirst?
...

2. They attract snakes which then eat eggs and chicks. They can poop/urinate in your trough feeder as they scavenge for grain...not a good idea for adding nutrition to the flock diet. Rats are more of a problem than are mice but I still wouldn't want to support a large mouse population...they can store away an amazing amount of grain/dog food/cat food. One or two mice are not a big deal...but they breed like...well...like mice! If you don't have a barn cat to decimate their numbers, I'd be thinking of some bar poison.

Thanks, BK

1) they just started laying recently and sometimes their combs are really dark red and sometimes that same pullet will have a pale pink comb either later or earlier in the day. Otherwise they look great. I remember you mentioned combs of the Gnarly Bunch so it got me looking.

2) wouldn't bar poison be dangerous to chickens as well? what about the mice that are poisoned...what if a chicken finds it before I do and eats it? I'm am not at all versed in poisons...

 

[Beekissed]

I place bar poison in places that chickens cannot go...but the mice find it just fine. I use the bars instead of the pellets for just that reason...no carrying it off to some unknown storage place that can be found by chickens later...they actually have to nibble and ingest the poison bars on the spot and they are too heavy to carry off to another place.

Some folks place them in PVC "T"s for just this reason...so pets cannot retrieve them but the rodents have no problem accessing them. I've never had any of my animals eat an already dead mouse or rat...they avoid them like the plague. Pun intended...

 

[galanie]

The newer poisons in things like One Bite are not very toxic to dogs and cats. I can't remember the name of the poison but it is still harmful for animals to eat, it's just that the dead rat isn't very toxic to the animal that might eat it.

ETA: Active ingredient: Bromadiolone

 

[chicken curious]

thank you both!