Writing article! Need your help/knowledge/experience

[Silkie Princess]

Hi! So I'm writing an article about "disasters" in chicken keeping. Such as: a chicken drowning, flying away, predator attacks etc. The article will be about what could happen and how to make sure/try avoiding these situations. For example: drowning, how to avoid this possible situation? (I'm not really asking about this situation as I've been there). And then maybe possible predators, how they hunt, and tips and tricks on predator proofing. I won't copy the excact thing that you posted but I WILL mention you. Thanks in advance! I'd love to learn more on the topic as I've only experienced some of these situations

 

[Silkie Princess]

@PippinTheChicken @JustBabyMargo @EmmaRainboe @TheOddOneOut

 

[sixlittlechickens]

That's a really great idea, and I look forward to reading your article.

Here's one:

I didn't realize that my chickens' nails had grown really long, and one chicken got its toe stuck in the hardware cloth on the coop. Needless to say, the chicken lost the toe, but luckily kept the foot. I have started adding rocks/bricks to the run for the chickens to grind their nails on, and also clip nails as needed.

Additionally, I had a chicken almost pecked to death by its flockmates - if chickens see blood, they will go after it. Make sure the chickens are not bored (hang veggies in the run, feed scraps, scratch grains, etc.) and also add "obstacles" so that a chicken that is being picked on can "run and hide." Blu-Kote works great for covering up scratches so the other chickens don't go after it.

I hope this is useful!

 

[My Bagurks]

I started my Run with bird netting for the roof. I witnessed this defense working against hawks. I watched a hawk dive at the chickens and bounce off of the bird netting. The hawk wasn’t injured and it was quite comical. The chickens also got a good scare. But I also had a family of raccoons discover that I had chickens. I saw them at night crawling all over the coop trying to find a way in. They eventually learned that they can rip the bird netting. I had to redo the 20x30 ceiling with chicken wire. So far, nothing has gotten through. But transitioning to light flexible bird netting to chicken wire was terrible. I didn’t set up many roof trusses or anything to support the extra weight. I had to reverse engineer a lot. Over engineering first would have been worth a lot of time and money replacing later.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Good idea for an article! I'll think of some later for you.

 

[Mrs. K]

Overcrowding leads to very ugly behavior due to a lack of space. But often times people ignore the vertical space, and their runs tend to be two dimensional, set up so that all of the birds can see all of the birds 100% of the time flat on the ground.

Adding roosts, and platforms in the run, actually doubles that space if it is set up so that birds can get under it or over it. Adding mini walls, multiple wind shelters, just a box or a tote on its side, and increase the time birds spend out of a too small coup and out in the fresh air.

Instead of fancy feeders, bowls set up behind hide outs through out the run. Pieces of cardboard, or small pieces of plywood or pallets, can let a bird step behind and be out of sight and out of mind. Set up the feeders so that a bird eating at one, cannot be seen by a bird eating at another. I set up a bowl for every 2-3 chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Silkie Princess]

Thank you guys!

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Never lost a chicken. So I don’t know much.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Drafts in the coop can kill. My biggest mistake is not patching up a split in the coop wood and I lost my Basil

 

[Silkie Princess]

Never lost a chicken. So I don’t know much.

Oh you are so lucky! Though I tagged you because of the pasty butt chicks