Cockerel has mucas help!

[BigBlueHen53]

Each coop is about 3.94f x 4f. I

Thank you. In general, each chicken should have about 4 sq. ft. of space in the coop to prevent behavior problems. A 16-sq foot coop is about right for 4 chickens. You have two coops this size, which means you have adequate space for about 8 chickens. They are a bit crowded. You did not post pics of your coops, but ideally there should be one sq ft of ventilation for each bird in the coop to prevent buildup of toxic ammonia inside the coop and condensation.

frequently fly over to our neighbours sheep field and hay field.

This makes me wonder if they may not be finding enough nutrition on your pasture. Saving money on feed should not be your primary consideration, but rather providing adequate nutrition to keep them healthy. You might try keeping the feeders full all day and see if this keeps them home. Of course if the neighbors have yummy grains next door, it won't help keep them home, lol!

Sorry I got a little off-topic here. None of this directly addresses your rooster's mucus but it does go to maintaining your flock's health. If your rooster has plenty to eat I don't think he will nibble at foreign material like silicone. (Although it's common knowledge that chickens love styrofoam like children love ice ice cream! )

 

[Pebbles25]

Thank you. In general, each chicken should have about 4 sq. ft. of space in the coop to prevent behavior problems. A 16-sq foot coop is about right for 4 chickens. You have two coops this size, which means you have adequate space for about 8 chickens. They are a bit crowded. You did not post pics of your coops, but ideally there should be one sq ft of ventilation for each bird in the coop to prevent buildup of toxic ammonia inside the coop and condensation.


This makes me wonder if they may not be finding enough nutrition on your pasture. Saving money on feed should not be your primary consideration, but rather providing adequate nutrition to keep them healthy. You might try keeping the feeders full all day and see if this keeps them home. Of course if the neighbors have yummy grains next door, it won't help keep them home, lol!

Sorry I got a little off-topic here. None of this directly addresses your rooster's mucus but it does go to maintaining your flock's health. If your rooster has plenty to eat I don't think he will nibble at foreign material like silicone. (Although it's common knowledge that chickens love styrofoam like children love ice ice cream! )

I should also clarify that we have no predator problems so our chickens are left with their little door open 24/7! We do have walls that a few hens chose to sleep on outside when we had rats. So everything is free choice. I read that for chickens it said minimum of 1 sq ft per bird and as our chickens free range from the moment the suns up till the sun goes down I figured I could squish them in. I have never had a problem with feather pecking except when I had a rescue that had lice but she recovered in a few days. I’m actually the person that gets pecked and screamed at by two ladies with a lot of attitude. I did watch the cockerel today he seems to be himself again and he’s pushing in to get food with the others which is something I haven’t seen. I’ve shut him in with a couple buddies tonight so I can check his crop I could feel pellets in there which was improvement. I check everyone’s crop at night, I have found when they have free access the food goes down quickly, when I measure their intake I find they fill their crops with no egg production increasing. I should also clarify when I measure it out I make sure they leave a tiny bit to show they are full. I’ve also noticed they become excellent foragers. In the spring I wasn’t very well so i was feeding them late. I would find their crops full and they weren’t rushing in hunger frantics. I think François is better hopefully the mucas was something to do with the silicone. I keep meaning to look up how much chickens eat and double check my rough measurements. I give them 2 scoops growers pellets and 1 scoop layers mash in what I think is a 1 litre scoop. Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Pebbles25]

I will check the ventilation tomorrow morning. I’m afraid I live in a windy area so they local coop builder has only knew style of coop and our older one is terrible with water leaks. I hate the design, I’m hoping to save up to buy a plastic coop they are just so expensive.

 

[Pebbles25]

Also you don’t happen to know what is wrong with my sadly lone baby chick? Here’s the forum…https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-and-making-funny-head-movement-help.1676221/

 

[Pebbles25]

I also found out the silicone that got pulled out was about 2 feet roughly!

 

[BDutch]

The silicone was from our builders so like a window seal type thing.

Maybe this was a poisonous substance for your cockerel? Foaming/mucas is a reaction of certain types of poisons for humans as well.

P S silicone contains chemicals.
It’s not harmless to eat the silicone. Not sure if this is the main reason for the mucas / not feeling well.

 

[kattabelly]

They won't need nearly as much coop space as is often quoted on here if they're free ranging and only go in there to lay and roost. Do they also go in during bad weather or do they have other spots to shelter in?

(I'm in Orkney so similar to you - not many predators to worry about but lots of wind!)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The wind should not be a problem if your ventilation openings are above the chickens' heads when they roost and not disrupting their feathers.

 

[kattabelly]

The wind should not be a problem if your ventilation openings are above the chickens' heads when they roost and not disrupting their feathers.

I'm not sure where in Scotland OP is but here the wind could rip the roof right off a coop that would be fine in a lot of places, and it does things like making it rain uphill. It definitely limits how you can build things.