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

[sumi]

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

You're welcome

And thank you and everyone for making them successful!

If there are any topics you think we should discuss, feel free to PM me suggestions. This week's topic was actually a suggestion I got from Kathy. We made up a list based on frequently asked questions from the forum, but I'm sure there are loads of things we missed and didn't think of yet.

 

[aart]

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

Ditto Dat^^^!!!

 

[aart]

Oh yeah....close/lock the pop door and latch the run gate every night.
I forgot both last night, but all is well.
My setup is pretty secure and I don't have many pred probs<knockwood>,
but it always (not that often) makes my heart bump hard when I realize I forgot.

 

[Schrebergaertner]

Be careful that your girls' "landing area" is clear of dangerous objects. If you don't have ladders (or if they don't use them) for your hens to get up and down to/from their roosts, jumping down in the morning is far from an accurate enterprise. One morning we found a dead girl who had shown no symptoms. We have a vet friend who did a necropsy and the cause of death was blunt trauma that had ruptured her liver. We wracked our brains and finally realized we had moved a feeder, on top of cinder block, to the middle of the coop, directly below the rafters where many of them roost. We're pretty sure she landed on it coming down (an 8 foot drop or so), and that caused the injury. We now make sure the floor is clear.

 

[Ross Family]

Yea, weasels, stoats, and ferrets remind us of Ricci Tiki Tavi, until you see the senseless killing they do. We don't have foxes, but a fox will grab a chicken and run. A visit from a stoat is catastrophic! A tight chicken house and traps (we make the long wooden box with a small hole in chicken wire at each end. Kill trap in the middle baited with an egg) will save you the heartbreak of the bloodbath--I lost half my flock when I frst began. They didn't take the chickens for food, just killed them. I keep 2 kill traps plus one live trap running--love my birds. Plus it is a civic service. In NZ we have endangered flightless birds. The varmints are a danger to them, as well. As a peace loving hippy, I have no qualms killing these varmints, after seeing what they do to my chooks. Even in an area unused to varmints, they mature in the fll, looking for territory. Hope all your birds are safe, healthy and happy

 

[sunflour]

If you use Carabiners to secure the doors/egg boxes - pay attention to make sure they are still functional and replace them if they are not working correctly.

 

[Flock Master64]

Hey top ala week

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Oh yeah....close/lock the pop door and latch the run gate every night.
I forgot both last night, but all is well.
My setup is pretty secure and I don't have many pred probs<knockwood>,
but it always (not that often) makes my heart bump hard when I realize I forgot.

So true.

I too have few ground predators....I thought.

We'd had a very late return on an out of town trip that was supposed to have got us back before dark. It was like 1am, and I went straight to bed instead of checking on my girls and locking up...afterall, they were always fine, right?

Of course in the morning I found a horror story. All my birds were crammed into the smaller coop on the left while the larger main coop (at the end of the screened run) was empty.

Inside the main coop the carnage was apparent. My best, yes best, Black Copper Marans (the one I actually wanted to breed forward) was dead in her nest (she was brooding)...naked, plucked, but not eaten.

I always, always, always lock up now....rattle those doors, check those locks.

LofMc

 

[heatherlaw]

I just remembered another one and this one is for anyone here with long hair. Watch out for loose hairs when you have chicks around. Over the years I've had chickens I always kept my hair long and the chicks love crawling into it, when I allow them to. Hairs can get tangled up around little chick toes like you won't believe! Even a loose hair they pick up on the ground. I've had to carefully free little toes on a few occasions from hairs they got their toes tangled up in. The reason I put this on the list here is because I found on some of those occasions that they managed to get the hair(s) wrapped around their toes so tight that it was affecting their blood circulation. If you see a chick walking funny, or limping, pick them up and have a look.

Really good point and im gkad you mentioned it! I have had to do this many times. I dont let them crawl through my hair and generaly secure it while I am out with the flock but I've still found hairs wraped around their toes. My hair is really long and somehow manages to escape anything. Freeing tiny toes is nerve-wracking, especialy with silkies and thier extra toes that are close together.

 

[AmberSchmieg83]

Quite right! I've seen a couple that had human hair wrapped pretty tight around their toes or legs. It's also possible for them to get such things wrapped around their tongues.

-Kathy

This is something I never would have thought of before. I have long hair, and we have 2 horses. Our chickens spend a lot of out in the pasture with our horses too. I'm glad to be made aware of this, thank you for sharing the info!!