My Hens have solid mud-balls weighing them down...HELP!

[zafeerabufarm]

Hi,

In last months mad rain period in London, UK, my chicken run got very, very muddy. The ground was really saturated....it was thick and deep....when the chickens would walk into the run their feet would sink in....i have fixed the problem by adding gravel and compost to soak it up and make the ground solid again...BUT...theres a big problem!

Take the concept of a snowball....u keep rolling it in the snow and it gets bigger and bigger....thats what has happened with the hens....when they would walk through the run, they would gather a layer of mud above their feet, and then walk inside, where it would dry above their feet. then when they went outside again they would gather another layer of that gloopy mud and it would just add to the already dried layer.....now, after all that dip and dry, they have these massive mud-balls above their feet, weighing them down so they can hardly walk properly.

Ive tried putting them in a bucket of warm water for like 10 minutes....it took some of the mud off but didnt fully work...

Is there anything i can do to free my hens from these muddy shackles???? Is it a bad idea to get a small hand spade and slowly chip at it until it falls off???

PLZ HELP MY CHOOKS!!!!

 

[TOP KNOT]

keep soaking and peeling it away with your fingers. may take some time

 

[realsis]

I would try giving a bath it may take more time but you should be able to work the mud balls free. If not you might need to carefully cut the balls out of the feathers. I have silkies and their feathers are like long fur and a few times I've had to on cut the feathers to remove the debris. You also might want to help dry up their run with some sand or shavings or something to try to protect them from getting so on badly soiled if at all possible. Muddy and stagnated water in the run can lead to Other negative effects so if possible try to dry out the area if you can. Maybe en cover a area so they can be dry and mud db free. I hope this helps and wish you the best.