Poop stuck on feet

[N. Virginia]

I add my 2 cents to foot washing rather than cutting things off. Nice warm water and a wash cloth or sponge should do the trick.

Right now I have a big stall and a big yard so my chickens' feet aren't too dirty - have shavings in the stall and grass in the yard. But I'll be moving them to their own run with small ckicken house and a smaller run, that is somewhat sloped. We have a lot of old hay...would that work? I could just keep putting it down, like deep bedding, in the yard and just pile more on top as they get it dirty. I know they will dig holes for dust baths, but that will be fine.

Cheers,
N. VA

 

[azygous]

I have a feather-footed fleet. I need to watch the build-up on their feet because it can lead to foot rot.

I picked up some of that children's bubble bath liquid and it makes an excellent soak for feathered feet and requires no rinsing like other soap preparations do.

The best way, I've found, to bathe a chicken's feet, is to back them up to the wash basin of warm suds, and dip one foot at a time, let soak for a minute, then gently work the softened crud loose with your fingers. Again, no need to rinse, just towel dry or, if it's a really cold day, blow dry the feet. Most chickens adore being blow-dried, and the noise usually doesn't frighten them.

By the way, this also works wonders on crusty butts! I simply back the butt up to the tub, splash warm sudsy water onto the area needing a "tune-up" until the crust softens, then gently pull it off with your fingers. Towel or blow-dry. My roosters make contented cooing noises when I blow-dry their butts.

I almost forgot - I have sand in the run and wood shavings inside the coops. This helps a lot to keep their feet clean. Also, the run is covered with those corrugated fiberglass panels, mostly to keep them safe from predators, but it keeps things dry so there's never any mud and also dry chicken poop doesn't smell nearly as evil as wet. (And I don't have to shovel snow out of the pen in winter) I can't think of any run that couldn't be adapted to accept these light-weight panels. You might give that some consideration.

 

[kasey08]

Wouldn't the sand get wet and muddy also? Would you just rotate from bottom?

 

[azygous]

No, sand drains. It doesn't get "muddy", as long as there's no dirt mixed in with it, and there's no standing water.

I live on the side of a mountain and the soil, that's not rocky, is clay. When wet, it's like the strongest adhesive, sticking to everything coming in contact with it. So I took great pains to dig trenches around the pen to channel run-off away from it. If I hadn't covered the pen, the sand would get wet, but any water would drain away from the pen, so there wouldn't be any standing water to create mud.

To keep the sand clean, I use a cat box scooper to scoop and strain the poop out of the sand. Eventually, I need to bring in more sand to replace what gets scooped away when cleaning, but the expense isn't all that much.

Some people go to a lot of trouble of putting in sod so their chickens won't have muddy feet, but the chickens will scratch up all the grass roots in no time at all, and you'll be right back to mud. Sand is also fun for the chickens to dig in, scratch in and dirt-bathe in. It's really the best run ground-cover that you'll find, that won't stick to chicken feet, wet or dry.

 

[kasey08]

That sounds like a great idea. Do you buy it in bags?

 

[azygous]

You can buy it in bags, but I would think it would be pretty expensive that way.

Call your local sand and gravel yard and ask about getting a few yards delivered. If you have a pick-up truck, you can go to the sand and gravel place and get a half a yard to a yard of sand, depending on the size of the truck, loaded into the bed and bring it home and save the delivery charge.

I have a light pick-up and I get a half a yard at a time for around $14 ($28 a yard) and haul it myself. Two yards will usually cover the average chicken run. I try to keep a pile on hand near the pen to replenish what disappears when I scoop poop. It ends up on my compost pile, and sand is a very welcome addition to keep the garden soil light. Nothing is wasted.

I think I neglected to mention the chickens adore "dirt-bathing" in sand. The whole run is a dirt bath without the "dirt" part.

 

[kasey08]

Thanks that sounds great. I'll look in to it

 

[cheri222]

I need to do this but have been putting it off. Just bathed 2 silkies this week. I just noticed the cochin's need a butt bath too. I don't remember bathing and poo picking being in the chicken instruction book. Someone really needs to revise it!

 

[kasey08]

Agreed

 

[stephmarie020]

Try sand in the run.


My regular non-feather-footed chickens get what I call, "toe-balls" in the spring when the ground is thawing and mucky.  They are just lumps of mud that have dried into rock-like clumps on the chicken's toes.  Makes walking hard, and breaks eggs.  Never fails, every spring, I'm out there with a pliers, gently crushing those clods off the toes.  I tried soap and water, but the clods are too hard.   I have accidently pulled off toenails a time or two...they heal without a problem, just watch to make sure any bleeding stops before someone decides it looks tasty.