Ice melter

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2dancingrats said:
Thank you. My husband went into freak-out mode at the idea of using ashes. I still like it though.
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The ashes really make a difference in traction. A very thin coating on walking pathways is all that is needed. Rain or a hose will wash them away come spring, unlike sand, if that matters to you.

We have a "mud/coat room" before entering the house proper where we always remove shoes (even in summer) before entering the house. Makes a HUGE difference keeping the carpet and floors clean! Especially with chicken poo on the soles of our shoes. But even regular everyday dirt, even on shoes that don't look "dirty", will track in a lot of dirt into the house.
 
I have same problem. My coop has to face North. I have an ice sheet ready for skaters and I do not get around well in the dark. (Old eye injury bad depth perception)
I wish I had thought of sand. Sometimes I read things on here that make total logical sense and I am all
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should have thought of that myself.

Thank you for the sand suggestion.
 
We found our hens sitting quietly in their coop looking weak and inactive so we moved them inside to the basement. Two of our three started drooling heavily and had trouble breathing. I tried to hold their head up and to the side so mucus or drool would drop out to the side. An hour later Cotton , our leghorn hen, flopped her head back on her back so I held her in my arm in towel then she made a low clucking sound, closed her eyes, spaismed a few time and she passed. Then an hour later Brownie, our red hen got worse and passed away in the same manner. Hotwing, the third, and a leghorn, made it through the night but still does not look not herself. She drank a lot of water and eat little of her pellets. It seems like we've passed the danger point with her and she will recover but we are still keeping a close eye on her.
 
alaskan husky said:
We found our hens sitting quietly in their coop looking weak and inactive so we moved them inside to the basement. Two of our three started drooling heavily and had trouble breathing. I tried to hold their head up and to the side so mucus or drool would drop out to the side. An hour later Cotton , our leghorn hen, flopped her head back on her back so I held her in my arm in towel then she made a low clucking sound, closed her eyes, spaismed a few time and she passed. Then an hour later Brownie, our red hen got worse and passed away in the same manner. Hotwing, the third, and a leghorn, made it through the night but still does not look not herself. She drank a lot of water and eat little of her pellets. It seems like we've passed the danger point with her and she will recover but we are still keeping a close eye on her.
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oh bummer.....and you're sure it's from them eating ice melt?
 
alaskan husky said:
We found our hens sitting quietly in their coop looking weak and inactive so we moved them inside to the basement. Two of our three started drooling heavily and had trouble breathing. I tried to hold their head up and to the side so mucus or drool would drop out to the side. An hour later Cotton , our leghorn hen, flopped her head back on her back so I held her in my arm in towel then she made a low clucking sound, closed her eyes, spaismed a few time and she passed. Then an hour later Brownie, our red hen got worse and passed away in the same manner. Hotwing, the third, and a leghorn, made it through the night but still does not look not herself. She drank a lot of water and eat little of her pellets. It seems like we've passed the danger point with her and she will recover but we are still keeping a close eye on her.
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Wow, yeah, so sorry to hear this. Best wishes for your surviving hen. Thanks for posting this so others can learn.

I just looked up the safety of calcium carbonate ice melters...this link is as it relates to dogs, but I would imagine it would be very similar to birds. The only symptom they list is "severe gastrointestinal signs", but do say of all the ice melter ingredients, the calcium salts are the most dangerous:

http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/2013/11/really-safe-ice-melt/

Also, I'm not a chemist, but I wonder if there is a difference between calcium carbonate supplements (for egg shell strength, ie, oyster shells) and the ice-melter calcium carbonate. It could be confusing to a chicken owner, thinking the calcium in the ice melter could be a good thing for them?
 
I am not a 100% sure but it happen 2 hours after they came out of the coop in the afternoon. My husband and I agree that the way it happened and the short length of time it happened in makes chemical poisoning the Mose probable cause. Within 4 hours, two healthy chickens, that we collected eggs from that morning passed away. If it is human I would pump the stomach to get chemical out then go to vet but we called vet and nothing they can do for chicken which is sad and feels unfair because they are our pet too. Vet said if it happens to dog or cat then IV will be given to flush chemical out of system.
 

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