Question about maintaining my flock...

[silkypie]

I'm not sure if I posted this under the right sub heading but hopefully someone can help.

This might seem lame but is there anything you can do about the chickens nails? Today I was feeding my chickens, they are about 20 weeks or so. One roo flew onto my leg, and normally I would wear jeans to feed them b/c we have some bad mosquitos that love to attack me, but I was wearing shorts and WOW... he had some sharp nails. Another hen decided to jump on my leg too and she had even sharper nails. Is their anything i can do for this or should I just keep wearing jeans when I feed them?

thanks!!

 

[Judy]

You can trim them a little but it isn't going to help much. Push the hens away when they do this; teach them it is not allowed. As for a roo going for your leg, sounds like you are developing a mean roo, and that is a whole other story.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior

 

[silkypie]

I guess I didn't really clarify myself too well. He just likes to sit on my lap when he eats and so does the hen. I guess you could call them lazy, I let them do it when they were babies and now that they are bigger they still enjoy sitting on my lap when I feed them.

I should have said that before... thank you though!

 

[lauralou]

Yeah. Same problem here. I have a very large hen who likes to sit on my shoulder. It was cute when she was small.

The day she flew up onto my sunburned shoulder was the day I had to start retraining her. That's not allowed anymore. (OUCH!)

 

[silkypie]

on a sunburn... holy cow. I would have died. I know when I get a sunburn it always hurts.

 

[ella]

You can trim chicken nails just like you would a dog or cat. Be careful not to cut too much or they will bleed.

The good news is that as they get bigger their claws wear down and become more rounded. But it's still a good idea to wear jeans just to avoid accidents.

 

[silkypie]

Quote:
thank you so much! i really like that they jump on my leg to eat, i think it's so cute.

 

[ella]

I know what you mean. The best part of my day is going out to the chicken yard and having them all come over and sit on my lap and snuggle up to me.

 

[mulia24]

em, sorry to ask dumb question, but what's sunburn? is that mean that our skin get too hot caused by sun light? thank you.

cause i've never heard of sunburn and i never heard sun burn in my country.

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
wow.... I thought sunburn was universal! Sunburn is a very painful reaction to having been exposed to too much ultraviolet light, either through natural sunlight or artificial sources such as tanning beds. The light causes the skin to redden and burn (the first part of the tanning process), and if the exposure has been long enough, can even cause water blisters (second degree burn -- been there, done that)

. Even ONE bad (second degree) sunburn early in life can increase your chances of skin cancer by TEN TIMES. It is even possible to get sunburned on a cloudy day, or in winter by reflected light. In our society "tan" skin may be attractive and desirable, but it ages much faster (unless it's tan naturally).