chickens - need help already

[red]

Rosie - if the one with the closed eye is sort of crusty - you can bathe it carefully to remove the irritating bits.. and stop her scratching at it .

[Rosendula]

Rosie - if the one with the closed eye is sort of crusty - you can bathe it carefully to remove the irritating bits.. and stop her scratching at it .

Thanks Red. We had wondered about that. It didn't go crusty, and by this evening it was almost back to normal, so I'm breathing a sigh of relief. But it's good to know for future reference. If I needed to bathe it, would I just use plain water?

I'm now worrying about all this rain we've had. As I mentioned, we moved the coop up onto the patio for a while, and a good job we did too. The end of the garden where they had been is now under water! The garden is on two levels and the bottom half sometimes gets mushy in winter, but it's never been that bad, except the summer when we had the floods. We had thought that if the lower end gets mushy we could bring them up onto the higher ground. Unfortunately, we never thought about the run-off from the patio (which we put in about 6 months ago) and it's causing a puddle on the top bit too. So as soon as the weather permits, we're going to embark on a drainage project.

But for now, as I say they're on the patio. They're still on the wood shavings but despite the run having a roof, the shavings have become damp. Yet the chickens didn't want to spend the day in their nice dry house. I'm guessing this could cause problems and I'm wondering how to tackle it. Any suggestions please, anyone?

[Millymollymandy]

Everybody's chickens are out on damp ground through winter and mine love being out in the rain and getting all bedraggled and the few occasions that it rains so much they get puddles in the run they just play in it! I wouldn't worry about damp wood shavings as it's no different from damp ground. If it's possible to put a perch in the run they might use that to get off the damp bedding but as long as they have a dry house and perch for night time and that they are only on damp not sopping wet stuff I can't see it being a problem.

[red]

Rosie - if the one with the closed eye is sort of crusty - you can bathe it carefully to remove the irritating bits.. and stop her scratching at it .

Thanks Red. We had wondered about that. It didn't go crusty, and by this evening it was almost back to normal, so I'm breathing a sigh of relief. But it's good to know for future reference. If I needed to bathe it, would I just use plain water?

yes - a bit of loo paper and plain water. and be sure to throw stuff away - not leave it about for the other chickens!

I'm now worrying about all this rain we've had. As I mentioned, we moved the coop up onto the patio for a while, and a good job we did too. The end of the garden where they had been is now under water! The garden is on two levels and the bottom half sometimes gets mushy in winter, but it's never been that bad, except the summer when we had the floods. We had thought that if the lower end gets mushy we could bring them up onto the higher ground. Unfortunately, we never thought about the run-off from the patio (which we put in about 6 months ago) and it's causing a puddle on the top bit too. So as soon as the weather permits, we're going to embark on a drainage project.

But for now, as I say they're on the patio. They're still on the wood shavings but despite the run having a roof, the shavings have become damp. Yet the chickens didn't want to spend the day in their nice dry house. I'm guessing this could cause problems and I'm wondering how to tackle it. Any suggestions please, anyone?

it is a worry as wet chickens drinking puddles etc are more likely to get myco than dry summer chickens - but everyones are outside.. paddling in the mud in the case of my chickens.. they survive it. I have an outdoor shelter for them.. as they dont like staying in the house, i have a bit of old pig ark, and they all huddle under that when it rained.. and grump about it all.

[Rosendula]

It's all OK. They're happy!
This morning when I opened the hatch they came straight out - no hanging around and they didn't mope around in their sheltered corner at all, not even once. They ate loads, drank loads, Milly had a huge dustbath with Molly and Aunt Maud helping her by picking bits off her back as she threw them on. They've scratched and dug and flapped and clucked all day. LO and I went insect hunting and discovered the chickens favourite is woodlice which means they are now my best friends because I can't stand woodlice . They've eaten loads of weed seedlings for me which I dropped into their run, and this evening, just before their bedtime, I let them out of their run to have a wander around the paths and they loved it. I've had them a whole week now, and today was the first day I felt they acted like real chickens, and I acted like a real chicken owner - standing watching them for hours on end. It was fantastic.

Thanks for keeping me calm, and for the good advice everyone. You've been great (as always)

[red]

chickens are great aren't they

you wait until you get your first eggs!!

and the joy of collecting eggs never goes away...

[Milims]

Aww phew! I have been reading this thread but haven't wanted to say anything as the symptoms sounded rather too much like the snotty nose thing that meant one of ours had to go the long road. I'm so pleased that things are looking up for your gals! I hope that they bring you as much joy and as many eggs as our have brough to us!

[Millymollymandy]

Great news, hope you have hours of mindless fun with them!

[Gert]

Hi Rosey, I'm really pleased for you, getting your hens. There are a couple of things you can do to help general health issues.

You can stick a bit of crushed up garlic in some seperate drinking water for them and maybe buy some poultry spice, it will only cost you around £4 and is always handy to help them through the winter. The garlic is a good one for getting rid of the coughs and sneezes, and the spice is just a bit of a pick me up which will help them during a moult and in the winter.

Hope you are having fun with them.

Gert

[Rosendula]

Thanks Gert. I'm just about to take LO to ballet which happens to be just across the road from the pet shop, so I'll see if they have any.