Topic of the Week - Keeping the flock safe from mishaps, injuries, etc.

[aart]

a friend of mine is a teacher who took home the chicks hatched at school in the classroom over the weekend... and one of them somehow picked up a hair and it was WRAPPED AROUND HIS TONGUE. It was starting to cut off circulation when she figured out & got it to the emergency vet to have them help because she & her husband couldn't hold the chick still and figure how to unwrap the hair. so, pretty scary and they ended up with a $50 vet visit bill for a $2 chicken. and i don't think that one is on most peoples' lists of dangers!

Believe it or not that one was on the first page of this thread...see below.

Quote:

 

[AmieD]

I'm sure every experienced chicken keeper knows this, but... If you use bands on your chicks, check them. I bought an older chick from a backyard breeder and he forgot to check for the bands. It had grown into her leg. My husband and I tried several tools and finally got it off with fingernail clippers. I soaked her wound in epsom salts and water and she healed.

I did not secure my garden properly and my chickens went under the fence. I had some bird netting over my strawberry plants and one got stuck under the bird netting. She is a Crested Cream Legbar and had a beautiful crest. Her flock mates got to her and scalped her - no more crest and no skin. I thought she was dead for sure, but I treated her and she fine now and has even regrown her crest.

 

[Ross Family]

Funny-- I had my bantam raise duck eggs. They were terrific. I had a small kid's wading pool set up because the eels in the stream-pond have killed my baby ducks. The first time the ducks jumped into the water, the bantam had a tizzy! I came running--poor mum was beside herself.

I run traps to kill stats, weasels, and ferrets. They are tunnel traps (very successful) and I wait to set them daily when everyone is bedded down. They are a problem here, with lots of flightless birds in New Zealand. The tunnel traps are pretty safe, with small opening too high for baby chicks. I once had a rescue hen stick it's head in 5 minutes free--the result was a quick end. So, I now set traps at bedtime, set them off before letting everyone out for breakie.

 

[aart]

I'm sure every experienced chicken keeper knows this, but... If you use bands on your chicks, check them. I bought an older chick from a backyard breeder and he forgot to check for the bands. It had grown into her leg. My husband and I tried several tools and finally got it off with fingernail clippers. I soaked her wound in epsom salts and water and she healed.

Yep, that would work....basically they are end cutters that can cut thru the lock instead of having to get between the band and the leg.
I use them all the time, even when they are not too tight, just easier.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/leg-banding-with-zipties

 

[casportpony]

I'm sure every experienced chicken keeper knows this, but... If you use bands on your chicks, check them. I bought an older chick from a backyard breeder and he forgot to check for the bands. It had grown into her leg. My husband and I tried several tools and finally got it off with fingernail clippers. I soaked her wound in epsom salts and water and she healed.

I did not secure my garden properly and my chickens went under the fence. I had some bird netting over my strawberry plants and one got stuck under the bird netting. She is a Crested Cream Legbar and had a beautiful crest. Her flock mates got to her and scalped her - no more crest and no skin. I thought she was dead for sure, but I treated her and she fine now and has even regrown her crest.

Quote: I hang my head in shame... just today I realized that the zip tie on one of my peachicks was too tight and was causing her to limp.

-Kathy

 

[Folly's place]

I use leg bands and sometimes zip ties, and they sure do need watching! Mary

 

[karenerwin]

I know of a couple of people that have had chickens knock the top off of bird baths, they fly up to get a drink & land just right and the top topples off. At least 1 of them reported a chicken getting crushed by the heavy top.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I would add a couple of things...yes, learned the hard way over the years.

If you use snap traps for rodents, always, always, always put them in something like an overturned milk crate so the rodents can get to the traps but the birds cannot...even if the trap is on the other side of the yard, by the wood pile, far away from the chicken's fenced run. Yup...my prettiest little game bantam flew over the divider fence, found the trap, and I found her quite dead. Sniff.

Which leads to wing clipping. Stay up on clipping those wings of your flyers...it saves a lot of head ache.

And finally, with every new hatch, do the fence crawl in the grow out run to check for new holes that rodents may have created by digging under or in between.

I had a fretful afternoon one day when a chick had found a rodent hole in the wood slats/bottom footer of our back to back chain link with our neighbor's property. She managed to get stuck BETWEEN the two fences. It was several hours of coaxing and hunting with momma broody frantically calling. We finally found the little dear (who would go silent whenever we got close) and managed to flush her out to where we could catch her. Fortunately it was warm weather so the worse she had was some stress. In cold weather, she would have not survived.

So I do the fence crawl in my broody run every hatch now. Never assume a tight fence is still tight.

Good thread and good suggestions.

LofMc

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you Sumi for a very helpful topic. I enjoy these threads. Keep them coming. Good reminders for us all.

 

[casportpony]

I use leg bands and sometimes zip ties, and they sure do need watching!  Mary

Today I will check the rest of them.

-Kathy