White leg horns help

[tillyandbacky]

Hi I love chickens

 

[BoundlessLove]

Welcome, tillyandbacky!

 

[Sarahbalcombe]

We are in florida. We havent had much rain lately. I wasnt sure if i could dip them in a bucket of water then dry them? But they are just really dirty right now from playing outside and the yogurt they had. Im a bit nervous tonight because tonight is the first night im leaving them out. Hoping they do okay..

 

[RoosMama]

I sometimes just use a really wet rag and wipe them down. If they require more, I bathe them, they love the warm water. It takes them a moment to calm, but mine usually end up falling asleep. Then I towel dry if it's warm out, blow dry if not. Just be careful of the blow dryer temp. I use Johnsons baby shampoo when needed.

 

[BoundlessLove]

You could also use the blue Dawn-original. We use it on our animals. Some people use the dog flea&tick shampoo, but I've never used it on our chickens. It may be too strong.

 

[Sarahbalcombe]

Ill try just warm water first. Last night we left them outside for the first time. I was so worried. I kept going to check on them. They were all huddled at tge front door shaking. I picked them up one by one and placed them all in the coop in the nesting boxes. I put extra hay in and surrounded them with hay. They were still shaking so i covered them with a baby blanket and they quickly quieted and went to sleep. I was worried how they did so i went to check on them and as soon as i walk out one of the tom cats is walking up to the coop. Grr. So i shoed him off. I would of thought with there being 4 dogs here they wouldnt come in the yard. But we knew they may try and come as we just put up a 100 gallon horse trough and made it a pond and put 2 of our fish in. I have one dog who loves to be outside, but she also chases the chickens so i cant trust her to stay out all night alone with them...

 

[Sarahbalcombe]

Well #2 is infact a roo. ;( however our friend said shell take both! So both get to live and go be with a bunch of hens. And ill still get to see them. Ive grown very fond of roo #1. Hes been super sweet and cudly since day one. Out of the 6, he likes being held the most.

 

[Phins Fan]

Any tips for getting them to go in the coop at all?

I just started ours outside last friday (about 6.5/7 weeks old). When exiting the coop they were just jumping down and not using the ramp. 2 mornings of using blood worms every couple of feet and they now go in and out freely using the entire ramp. Also not sure how your brooder was set up but i think they need time to get used to walking on angled ground as well

 

[Sarahbalcombe]

They startes going in on their own, however i do have to put them in at night. We just used a rabbit cage and some hay in it with the heat lamp above. So it was pretty flat. However they seem to have no problem climbing up the ramp or flying inside the coop. We put in a bunch of large branches in and they love to climb on them right now. Its rained today and they were smart enough to stay in the coop. So im hoping theyll catch on to go in the coop at night.

 

[BoundlessLove]

We lost one of our 3 year old WL hens today. Thinking a hawk got her. Our chickens are our babies, so it's extra hard. My youngest has been crying her eyes out. We've never lost a chicken to a predator before. I know it was bound to happen letting them free range, but when it does happen - sooo sad!!