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

[casportpony]

Our chickens loved to roam in the garden once we were done harvesting so we made sure to not use chemicals when we gardened.

Also, recently there was a distraught post from someone about their chicken getting into rat poison that had been set out. So important to keep poisons out of any place a chicken might find it. Those little dickens can get into everything!

Good points about chemicals and poisons! Mechanical traps are also something to use very carefully.

-Kathy

 

[JanetMarie]

If you have chickens that like to follow you into the garage, do a thorough walk through to make sure no one gets locked in. Check in deep barrels used for trash also. Some like to jump and fly onto high places, then get trapped when jumping back down.

 

[lazy gardener]

Any thing leaning that they can knock down on top of themselves.

Double layers of fencing: placing a smaller mesh over a larger mesh to keep chicks on one side or an other of a fence. I have deer netting over cattle panel around my garden. It works great for keeping birds out. But on the occasion when a bird will sneak in through the gate, panic ensues when they try to escape through the CP, and get snagged up in the deer netting.

When I have chicks, I switch all waterers over to moat style waterers. After the chicks are 10 weeks or so old, I can go back to basins or shallow buckets. Always check bail positions, or remove them altogether. When feeding FF to a flock with young birds, I simply put the feed onto the ground or a piece of cardboard/plywood until the chicks are old enough that feed in a basin will not be a danger.

MHP brooding: Extra caution required to be sure chicks can't get tangled in the method you use to fabricate the MHP cave. I make a pillow case to enclose both the HP and wire frame, sealing it completely on the bottom, and taping it with electrical tape to ensure that the chicks don't get caught in a "fold". Even so, once I had a chick get caught in the tape. All ended well.

Any kind of heat lamp brooding, or use of a heat lamp in the coop. Brooding chicks in a Rubbermaid tote with a heat lamp is a recipe for disaster. So very easy for those totes to turn into an Easy-Bake. Almost lost my first batch of chicks. Temp fine for several days, followed by an unexplained heat spike.

Birds accidentally getting shut on the wrong side of a door. Aside from possibility of predator loss, birds can easily die if separated from water source, or shut into a "too hot" space in the summer.

Year round, I'm always picking up little tid bits from the ground and tucking them into my pocket. I bring compost/mulch home from a composting site at my town transfer station, so there might be little bits of this or that that get missed when I distribute it. The dog adds to the pocket bounty by her constant search and destroy missions. If it's plastic, and she can get it, she will shred it.

 

[sumi]

lazy gardener, you brought up some good points. I want to add to the gates, watch out for chickens trying to sneak through or under the gates, or doors, when you close them. A few years ago we accidentally crushed a chick's leg under a gate when she made a run for it as we closed it. More recently my son accidentally closed the door on young chicken's leg, fracturing it in 2 or 3 places. Both made a full recovery, thankfully. When the chickens try to follow me into the house now, I almost close the door, very slowly, then pull it open a fraction, before closing it, to warn them and give them time to get out of harm's way.

 

[Folly's place]

I've had birds trapped behind things, in the coop and in the barn, sometimes with a sad ending. Every night when we lock up the coop, we do a bird count, followed by S&R by flashlight if needed. Mary

 

[chick-habit]

Don't leave containers of water deep enough for chickens of any age to drown in, or be unable to get out of. I had a few week old chick drown in a bucket of water we left under a hosepipe leak and didn't empty. I still feel bad about that.

Don't leave "tunnels" or holes for especially chicks to crawl into and get stuck in. And along with that, check for predator dug tunnels, holes, gaps along the perimeter of the coop and run. 

This hurts my heart. You poor thing.

 

[jodyman]

Hi, I had a tarp on top of our chicken run for the summer for shade. When fall came a the tarp started to degrade and fall apart so I removed it. There were some small string like pieces that I thought I picked them all up. Well one evening I went to check on the girls and one of them was running around with this tarp string hanging out off her mouth. I had to catch her and pull it out ( no easy feat for me, LOL). It was about 3 feet long and was glad I caught her before she swallowed the whole thing.

Just got to keep an eye out for crazy thing to happen, Jody

 

[casportpony]

Hay bales... Speaking from experience, remember to stack your hay bales nice and tight.

Poorly stacked with lots of spaces for fowl to get stuck in.


Properly stacked:


-Kathy

 

[sunflour]

lazy gardener, you brought up some good points. I want to add to the gates, watch out for chickens trying to sneak through or under the gates, or doors, when you close them. A few years ago we accidentally crushed a chick's leg under a gate when she made a run for it as we closed it. More recently my son accidentally closed the door on young chicken's leg, fracturing it in 2 or 3 places. Both made a full recovery, thankfully. When the chickens try to follow me into the house now, I almost close the door, very slowly, then pull it open a fraction, before closing it, to warn them and give them time to get out of harm's way.

And if weeds greens grow outside the run door - watch for those sticking their heads/necks out to grab a mouthful.

 

[sunflour]

Don't think treated wood causes bumblefoot.......staph bacteria in a cut will tho.

Which brings to mind another safety issue...any rough wood should be filed and/or sanded down.
Tho I noticed when I put down new shavings this fall, there were some rather large and sharp pieces in it.

Maybe, but the only 2 who had bumblefoot in my small flock roosted on the roost that wore down

.



And never, never place feed or treats on a paper plate

. They will shred it and eat the plate.