Maine

[lazy gardener]

Any readers use a manure fork in your coops to help keep things tidy under the roost? I'm looking at a number of options, but hesitate to purchase, as most are designed for horse stalls. I'm not sure if they'd work for the smaller bombs produced by the chickens.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I exclusively use "dropping boards" but they're tables that I hang food and place the waterer/heated base and a flock block under (when they require a block). I scrape them once daily (less in the winter when they're too cold to get off) with a metal thing that I found in the masonry department at Home Depot and it keeps the coop pretty clean.

 

[diana507]

I have a poop board under my roosts with PDZ on it. I scoop it with a kitty litter scoop every morning. Takes like 5 minutes. And it smells really good.

 

[mlowen]

I have deep litter (oak and maple leaves) over hardware cloth covered dirt. I just throw scratch under the roost and the hens keep it turned and breaking down into rich soil. It smells like "earth" according to my friend. Every now and then, I rake it a little. And I water it each dry weekend because it's completely roofed. I "harvest" the compost/soil for my garden spring and fall.

 

[SmellyCat]

Thank you for the reassuring words @ the dangers of slug-eating. As I said, we're new to chicken raising and I'm a little overwhelmed with all the things that could go wrong but not knowing the symptoms of nor solutions to everything yet. (Will I ever??) I am extremely sad to report a hen died in my arms last night and we think she was eggbound. Thought she'd hurt her foot somehow and she only stopped eating and demonstrating dropped tail and other signs shortly before she died when I was carefully and calmly resting her in warm water w/epsom salts. Sooooo much to learn and feeling so guilty. Can't stop crying but I know I'm now more knowledgeable and experienced than I was yesterday morning and must move on. :-(

 

[lazy gardener]

Sorry for your loss. Were you able to palpate an egg in her vent? Sometimes chickens just die, and we may never know why.

 

[SmellyCat]

I was very gently massaging her abdomen and think I could feel an egg but not certain. My man had read to never go into their vents w/ anything to avoid causing infection but I had read that in this scenario, as long as you're clean, wear latex gloves, and use KY, it's actually advised to do so to ascertain that the hen is eggbound. Alas, he was convinced we shouldn't so we didn't. All I know now that we could have done differently is notice the signs earlier and in worse case scenario, if the egg won't budge, it needs to be manually removed. The thing I learned to look for from suspected hens is whether or not they do proper poops. I can't overemphasize how happy I am today seeing all the other hens pooping today! Thank you very much for the kind words lazygardener. It was hard last night seeing the chickens on the roost pole; they actually left the gap for her, where she'd sleep each night.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've never done an internal on a chicken, but with the precautions you lay out, I'd certainly try it if I thought that was the problem. With chickens, occasional losses are certain.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss, SmellyCat. I'm 2 years in to chicken-keeping and I still cry every time (hysterically when it's a favorite hen). :-( The first year I had a 50% (4 of 8) loss rate, but thankfully this year that went down to 20% (2 of 10). You learn with every loss of things to improve on and signs to recognize. No matter how much you read, there is nothing like hands-on learning... personally, I found it to be a steep learning curve. Poops, the color of the combs and wattles (should be red, not pale), and perky vs droopy tails are the indicators I always keep an eye on. Sounds like you are a very caring and conscientious flock mama!

 

[lazy gardener]

Finally... Got the deer fencing up around the garden. The littles can still squirt through the electric fence, but they are finally excluded from the garden. I have a bit more tweaking to do before I can turn on the electronet. But, have been sick for almost 2 weeks now, finally on an antibiotic for ? pneumonia. So, energy is at a premium.