DROWNING - Are adult silkie pullets at risk?

[O.C.Chick]

Hello.

I have a koi pond, and I'm wondering if there is any risk for silkies drowning while free-ranging during the day. I have a large 30' x 5' run that they can happily live in full-time, but I was hoping to put them on slug-duty around the pond in spring, if it doesn't pose any danger to an adult chicken. The pond is long and narrow, with sloping side-shelves so that a chicken could (seemingly) climb out easily. To see a picture, go to www.florafauna.info

Hope this is not a REALLY stupid question. If so, please forgive me...I'm new!

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!! THIS WEBSITE HAS TAUGHT ME SO MUCH!

Alys

 

[Chirpy]

Well, someone with real life experience needs to answer you but from what I've heard and read it's very possible that your chickens can fall in and drown. I don't know how well they swim, meaning, could they get to the side and climb out? Some people have said their chickens fell into a bucket/pool and drowned and others have said they found theirs still alive 'swimming' in their pool.

So, I wasn't much help was I? Sorry.. If it were me, I'd error on the side of caution.

 

[andehens]

Well you sure have a beutiful back yard!
I have a river at the back of my property and a seasonal creek in the front and have not had a problem with chickens falling in, like wise with my friends who have ponds, the chickens do seem to stay out of the water.

That said, I thought your question was intriging, like can they float?

I googled just to see if chickens could swim and of all things found this:

6 Egyptians Die Trying to Save Drowning Chicken
Cairo
Six people drowned yesterday while trying to rescue a chicken that had fallen into a well in southern Egypt.
An 18-year-old farmer was the first to descend into the 60-foot well. He drowned, apparently after an undercurrent in the water pulled him down, police said.
His sister and two brothers, none of whom could swim well, went in one by one to help him, but also drowned. Two elderly farmers then came to help, but they were pulled down by the same undercurrent.
The bodies of the six were later pulled out of the well in the village of Nazlat Imara, 240 miles south of Cairo.
The chicken was also pulled out. It survived.
http://employees.cfmc.com/adamb/humor/drwnchik.htm

 

[Imp]

O.C.Chick :

Hello.

I have a koi pond, and I'm wondering if there is any risk for silkies drowning while free-ranging during the day. I have a large 30' x 5' run that they can happily live in full-time, but I was hoping to put them on slug-duty around the pond in spring, if it doesn't pose any danger to an adult chicken. The pond is long and narrow, with sloping side-shelves so that a chicken could (seemingly) climb out easily. To see a picture, go to www.florafauna.info

Hope this is not a REALLY stupid question. If so, please forgive me...I'm new!

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!! THIS WEBSITE HAS TAUGHT ME SO MUCH!

Alys

Absolutely beautifull yard!

I have a much smaller pond in my yard. Never had the chickens show any interest in it (Now the Herons and Cats are another story) But I supposed if they fell in, they would need a way out. The chickens will walk the edge of the pond, and have flown over it, but never got in it or tried to drink from it. I have to keep it covered now, with netting, all the time.​

 

[O.C.Chick]

It doesn't have s steep side like a pool does...One side of the pond has a 1' shallow shelf lined with rocks and pebbles the entire length of the pond...It is shallow enough for finches and other very small birds to wade in and take a bath. The problem would be if they fell off of the shallow shelf into the deep area and couldn't figure out how to climb out. This has never happened with the other local birds.

 

[O.C.Chick]

Thanks for the compliment, Imp!

F.Y.I., I keep the Herons, egrets, cats, racoons, skunks, etc. away at night with a motion detector sprinkler device called a Scarecrow. It runs on a 9 vold battery and attaches to your hose. I have two of them and no longer have a problem with creatures. To keep the large birds out during the day, I have fishing wire strung across the pond area every 4 feet (suspended from my roof to the tree-line.) It won't hurt the herons, but it makes it difficult for them to navigate and land in the narrow space due to their large wingspan. The just sit on my roof staring longingly at my fish!

 

[O.C.Chick]

Andehens...

I'm not sure why, but I didn't see your post before. Thanks! That story was pretty funny (assuming it wasn't true, of course!)

 

[Imp]

O.C.Chick :

Thanks for the compliment, Imp!

F.Y.I., I keep the Herons, egrets, cats, racoons, skunks, etc. away at night with a motion detector sprinkler device called a Scarecrow. It runs on a 9 vold battery and attaches to your hose. I have two of them and no longer have a problem with creatures. To keep the large birds out during the day, I have fishing wire strung across the pond area every 4 feet (suspended from my roof to the tree-line.) It won't hurt the herons, but it makes it difficult for them to navigate and land in the narrow space due to their large wingspan. The just sit on my roof staring longingly at my fish!

The Herons pretty much wiped me out my 3rd year with the pond. (they came one day I was at work and ate about 40 fish) They would even push barricades aside to get to the pond. So I looked at options and saw the Scarecrow, looked good except that I have a yard full of stray, outside & neighbor's cats. They aren't a problem (the pond is steep and deep) But I did just find orange fins and scales in my garden shed a couple days ago.

I like the cats more than the fish, and they keep rodents away. Nobody told me that catfish grew from 1 inch to 2 feet long or more so I was kinda glad when the racoons swam to the bottom of the pond and liberated the catfish. I'll have to call them back when the baby catfish get bigger.

I'm lucky that I don't have to buy new fish-get lots of babies every year.​

 

[O.C.Chick]

The rats are bigger than the cats around here, and I'm barely exaggerating! We have been over-run with the lovely Norweigan roof rat in this neighborhood, and they get upwards of 3 lbs! That's why I've enclosed my entire chicken run with hardware cloth and not just chicken wire! Those little beasts can wreak havoc!

 

[Imp]

O.C.Chick :

The rats are bigger than the cats around here, and I'm barely exaggerating! We have been over-run with the lovely Norweigan roof rat in this neighborhood, and they get upwards of 3 lbs! That's why I've enclosed my entire chicken run with hardware cloth and not just chicken wire! Those little beasts can wreak havoc!

Ya I remember those XL Norway rats when I lived in Seattle proper. Here in the suburbs they're a little smaller. I inherited a couple of great mousers from some neighbors. They bring me rats, moles, apparently fish, and once a squirrel. Never realised that squirrels screamed like an eagle when they're in the jaws of a cat. (Here I was looking up when I should've been under the deck. lol. He got a lecture about killing squirrels, and never brought me another.​