Keeping Chickens When You Have Arthritis.

[nikkers390]

I feel the pain too. I do have a lawn tractor that I use a lot with a trailer I tow behind it. I have a lot of birds too. I empty the feed into buckets as the buckets are easier to handle and each coop has a 40# hanging feeder. I usually go through around 300#'s of feed every week. All of the coops have auto waterers. I did have 5 gal. waterers in all of the pens and have water and a hose at each coop. Now I squirt the sand out of the waterers and have extra bowls so I can take one off to clean it out, and put one on that I've cleaned and on and on. I even have auto waterers at the chick coop. I have no strength in my hands anymore and my knuckles are arthritic. My avatar is some of my coops. I'm maxed out. Now it's time to downsize.

Downsizing is always on my mind.
I hatch a lot of eggs every year. I wind up giving many chicks away when I get overwhelmed. I keep many i like, to see which is female and which is male. Unsurprisingl, I get more males than i could ever use.
Problem is I agonize about giving away these beautiful roosters. If I could, I would keep them all. I do not eat my birds. Eggs is the reason I keep chickens and eye candy.
Spring chicks are getting to laying age and many will have to go.

 

[microchick]

I'm 72 years young and in a wheelchair. Luckily I can walk a few steps without too much pain.
My coop and pens are about 75 yards from my hfouse.
I use a golf cart to haul food and other supplies.
The food is kept in metal trash cans on my back porch.
I use kitty litter buckets and fill as many as I need as heavy as I can carry them. I bring them to the lift in my chair and transfer the buckets to the golf cart.
My husband ran water close to the coop and I have a hose going to each of the 3 pens so I don't have to drag the hose around.
I do not my bring the cart into the pens. One, it will not fit, two, it's death on chickens.
I keep an old wheelchair in each pen so I can move the buckets to the feeders and rest when I need to. I collect the eggs and bring them to the golf cart. You would be surprised how moving things around in a wheelchair makes hard jobs easier.
It takes a while to feed and water the 2 pens of roughly 70 chickens and chicks and a pen for 6 geese.
At times I get some help but mostly, I do it myself. Hubby hates the chickens so no help there.
I try to plan my duties so I get as much done with the least amount of effort.
Frankly, I enjoy my time with the chickens. It is hard work but I will keep doing this as long as I can.
chickens rule!!!

Walking is painful for me right now. I'm hoping the medicine the doctor put me on today will make things better but I know i am in this for the long haul. I love the golf cart idea. Those little things are very popular around where we live. The people in town drive them all around without anybody bothering them. Not unusual to see three or four parked at the local grocery.

My transportation around our farm is my dirt bike or our tractor.

Such great ideas!

I would love to use the stackable totes but I'm wondering if they would stand up to a raccoon's abuse if one visited the area, which they have this year. My coop and run are hot wired with the exception of the entrance/overhang of the main coop. I could probably get away with metal cans with lids and then running a chain through the handles on the lids and securing the chain to the handles. It sure would make it easier for me, that and getting the hydrant near the coop repaired. Danged thing split a washer on us this spring. It's an old hydrant so if we can't find a rebuild kit for it it will mean replacing it.

Till then, hose. Lots and lots of garden hose!

 

[Kfults]

I am only 46 but have degenerative arthritis in my spine and hands ( elsewhere I am sure but only place xray’d) and inflammatory RA. Diagnosed this year. I had to quit working as a nurse and retire. The chickens (12) were to keep me active and give me something to do. I can’t use or lift feed or water buckets. I have a flat pan in the coup and run that I put out a scoop of feed into each am. I have multiple water bowls in the coup, run and free range fence area. I have hose to fill daily. I keep the feed inside by the back door in the large Rubbermaid totes (someone pictured). My hubby backs up our utility trailer to the coup door using his 4 wheeler and I sweep deep litter pine shavings into it ( when time to clean the 10x12 coup) he then drives it to our flower beds and dumps. Some days I can barely get out of bed due to debilitating fatigue, but I MUST tend the chicken and I do. On days I feel better I do more like work in my container veggie garden. If I am feeling real good I will pull few weeds to throw in the run.
My set up means if I am not home- a chicken sitter must come feed and water them daily. I don’t go many places anymore. Fatigue and pain are not worth it. When I do my mother n law or 12yr old twin neighbor girls feed and water them.
My primary MD said my chickens were therapeutic! I sit and watch a lot of chicken tv!
I once was a critical care emergency nurse (27 yrs)..... now I tend chickens
I thank God for hubby who has been supportive and try to view my new life as a blessing.

 

[Twoleggedmotherhen]

I've had good luck with keeping feed in big, plastic stacking bins that seal by flipping up little tabs, like this:

View attachment 1506363
I've been using them a few years now and no mice or rats have chewed through. The black tabs are easier to open or close than the typical rubber or snap top. They come in different sizes.

Have a big one like that in blue. 50 pound bag doesn't even fill mine half way. Have a clear smaller one with 25 pounds of scratch, cracked yellow & purple corn(10 pounds still in bag) along with the grits(in their bags) in it. Haven't had any rodents (including squirrels) chew on them.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We all have our personal demons no doubt but also know we can stay active with our birds we will not lay down die !

 

[Twoleggedmotherhen]

Don't have left kneecap (had to be removed in 95, 13 surgeries on that leg). 8 bad discs in back, can't do surgery on them, bones too brittle to hold the hardware. Tore a muscle and tendon in left leg when I was just painting the trim for the coop. Healed now.
Lucky for me the coop & run is only 10 foot away. So I used a new gallon plastic flower pot (drain holes covered with gorilla tape and put a rope handle on it to take feed out to the 5 chickens. Right now using the hose to fill the waterers. Winter I'll use a gallon jug to fill the heated waterer. Cleaning the coop I use a bush rake and then scoop out with a dust pan.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I use horizontal nipples in my water buckets would never god back to another way
even young birds are taught by broodies to use the nipples

 

[dotporter]

I didn't read all of the replies, so forgive me if someone already said this.

I have physical limitations. I know how it is. They say that keeping active helps, and it does. But overdoing it makes it worse.

So, I use deer feeders for feeding. Yay for auto feeding. I use auto waterers. Yay for auto everything.

So far I use the gravity feed water dishes. Soon I may switch to the ones you just hook to the water hose.

I have a red rider wagon that I LOVE. I use it to haul all of the stuff that I used to carry. Go red rider.

When I used to have more turkeys, they loved the broadcast spreader auto timed deer feeder. It has a timer and at a set time throws feed to the five corners. I bet chickens would love it.

Oh, and I keep chairs in the barn and in the garden. God help the person who moves my chairs! Ok, I'll admit it. I have a lightweight shower chair, the kind with the lift rails? Out in the barn. I like to spend time with my birds and my knees aren't the best. Sometimes I sit down and getting up isn't the easiest.

Oh and don't forget to OIL the caps to anything. A little olive oil in the cap to the auto waterer makes it easier to get the danged thing open.

 

[microchick]

Morning all!

I am really amazed at how many people are coping with chronic pain that goes along with RA and OA. I too got started with chickens in order to stay active. I'm not much of a winter person. If I didn't have to haul myself out to take care of them I'd go into hibernation like an old bear.

I also like all the suggestions about moving things closer to my coops so I'm not making trips back and forth to the house for things.

But what I've noticed is most everyone has a significant other to help them out. I've always been a very independent person so it's hard for me to do that but my husband is very willing to help me out and even help with the feeding and watering if the need arises.

@Kfults, I too am a retired nurse. When my husband told me he was ready to retire (he is an eye doc and I worked in his office with him as office nurse/manager) he asked me if I was going to retire also as I was just 60 at the time. I told him yes I was I could not physically do the clinical work anymore. My license was due for renewal later that year and when it came, I checked 'inactive' and mailed it back. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be and when people ask me if I miss it I answer with a resounding NO!

@penny1960 I wish I could get my birds to use the water nipples but they are as dumb as a bag of rocks. I tried everything to get them to use them and they just couldn't catch on. Plus we have pretty hard winters here and I'd be forever dealing with freezing. I use the heated dog watering bowls with good results.

What do you guys do on high 'pain' days to get yourselves up and moving?

Today for me is a foot pain day. I've been up for 1 and 1/2 hours and the pain just doesn't want to settle down. I'll take a couple of aspirin, which will help but don't want to take my big gun Tramadol till later in the day. I think I'm going to try the no sugar diet for inflammation which will be hard for me as I have a sweet tooth. I don't eat a lot of sugar now. Just a little Captain Crunch sprinkled over my bran flakes so they don't make me gag. Then I'm sugar free for the rest of the day.

Has anybody modified their diet to fit their condition?

 

[staceyj]

Ok, I got hooked
I personally don't have arthritis, but my wife has fibromyalgia. So I'm familiar with how things can affect everyday life.
The cart is a great addition. The larger the wheels the easier to move. Wider is better than taller. If it's home built would skis added for winter help or is the parh kept clear.
The main thing that I've seen that helps is being organized. The fewer steps in a task the easier and quicker it can be completed. Look at things and see what can be moved closer to where it's used. Placing frequently used items at waist to shoulder high so there's no bending or reaching to get them. One of the grabber tools is great for pick up of small items. View attachment 1506129Sometimes for me it's easier to write things out. I am forever creating lists. As I become more familiar I can start making the process more efficient. For example to me-
Water chickens
1 get waterer from coop
2 clean waterer
3 refill
4 replace in coop
I realized by writing it down that the hose was on the other side of the yard and I had to walk back and forth twice. My fix was get a second waterer and leave it by the hose. Now I fill the clean one on my way out and bring the older one back to clean when I'm done at the coop.
I know this sounds like it shouldn't be a big deal, but in a week I've saved about a quarter mile of walking. Sorry for being long winded. My mind wanders and the keyboard follows. Hope at least some of this helps.

I save gallon milk jugs and their lids. Tea jugs work too.

I fill them up by my hose that isn’t near my coop and load them into my wheelbarrow. Then I drop them off by the coop.
It keeps me going for a few days.