Period chickens and frostbite

[Penners]

the Gypsy Daydream hen house by Flyte So Fancy.

Oh, dear God.... :roll:

 

[vicky whitworth]

I'm sorry but I've got to ask. Don't your chickens poop as frequently as mine? Mine stroll through the cat flap into the kitchen and, poop. I wouldn't let them any where near soft furnishings. Do you insert bungs?

 

[tobydog]

Ours are mobile fertiliser plants that seem to poop more than they eat but then they don't come inside. From a smell standpoint they are not an issue except for those special poops that happen every few days to clear something out. They are positively evil. Trying to herd them back to the run one day I was presented with one of these which I took as the equivalent of two fingers!! They definitely had the last word.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sadly they don't make good house pets for the above reasons. I follow mine round with antibacterial wipes if they come inside.

 

[Penners]

Ours are mobile fertiliser plants that seem to poop more than they eat but then they don't come inside. From a smell standpoint they are not an issue except for those special poops that happen every few days to clear something out. They are positively evil. Trying to herd them back to the run one day I was presented with one of these which I took as the equivalent of two fingers!! They definitely had the last word.

The above falls very squarely into the category of Too Much Information.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

You should see the amount of mess my free-range turkeys produce. About half their own body weight a night under the trees where they roost I reckon... :shock:

 

[fluffytail10]

I believe there are chicken nappies available to combat indoor mess. I haven't tried them myself.... and no I haven't put them on the chickens either :|

 

[tobydog]

Penners is going to love this :roll:

http://www.dobbies.co.uk/blog/chicken-nappies

 

[JoceAndChris]

I have to say I sort of agree with the angry woman who was going to report the nappies to the RSPCA. In my observation chickens aren't happy indoors, as adults, never mind wearing a nappy. It's fine to bring them in if it's -14 or they're dying or sickly, but if they're in a running about mood, what they want to do is scratch and peck, and they just can't indoors. They'll walk about the house looking for interesting surfaces to peck at, and will stuff themselves with bits of carpet, fluff, plastic, or doormat. I've even caught them tucking into paint. They seem to digest all this stuff but it can't be good for them, or your interiors. Yes, they'll come inside out of curiosity,for shelter, to peck at cat or dog food, but to keep them inside for any length of time is pretty cruel in my opinion. And to have their bottoms pressed against their droppings has got to be a terrible idea.

Giving them a warm shower, on the other hand, with soap, is something they seem to like. Along with swings, newspapers, human food, and music.

 

[Flyfisher]

I can imagine they'd enjoy a warm shower, though I've never tried it with our hens, but is soap a good idea? Something to do with washing out the natural waterproofing oils of their feathers . . . or is that just ducks and the like?

 

[JoceAndChris]

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to use masses of soap on a daily basis but I've used a little soap on a lame chicken caked in poo with great success. I brought her into the kitchen, cleaned her up, wormed her, treated the poor feet that were causing the problem (scaly leg mite), sprayed on a bit of Frontline and fed her a high protein convalescent's diet for a couple of days. She recovered well, and has ever after thought that inside the house must be the place to be!

 

[philpjuk100]

Blanche came in after a really cold night,she just wandered in through the open back door,ate the cats food and sat in front of the kitchen log burner,she only pooped on the tiles which was an easy clean up,later in the evening she moved into the living room,watched a little telly,did a little computing and talked to us!.We put a box with some straw in it in the boot room and she spent the night there where she left us an egg and the following morning wandered out of the open door to become a chicken again! phil.

 

[Flyfisher]

Have any hen-keepers here noticed their girls laying fewer eggs during the recent cold weather?

Ours don't seemed to have been affected at all, despite having to rough it without any heating, and we're over-stocked with eggs at the moment because the half-term holidays means some of our regular customers are away.

Oh well, scrambled eggs on toast for supper again - and for the rest of the week probably!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Yum yum, but have you considered diversifying into bacon and egg sandwiches, or throwing egg, rosemary, cream and mushrooms on pasta? Or even a nice sausage frittata, which could be finished off the next day for breakfast?

I think it's a bit colder on this hilltop that your sheltered demesne FF, there's no doubt that at least one of my Light Sussex has stopped laying due to the frostbite taking half her comb. My pure breeds haven't really thought about coming into lay yet, they only really have a 6 month season.

Phil - that's so sweet and caring, and what a clever girl! People say they're stupid, and yes, their wits can be a bit scattered, but they're much more capable of strategic, cunning, nest-feathering manipulation of the situation than people might imagine.

 

[tobydog]

We have a light sussex, a leghorn and a rhode island. I'm beginning to forget what eggs look like!! To be fair it has been dark and cold but I've told them they're taking liberties and I want to see some action. Obviously they totally ignored me and got back to ripping up the garden :roll:

 

[Penners]

I'm beginning to forget what eggs look like

I hope this aide memoire is of some help, tobydog:

 

[tobydog]

Well that explains everything. I even forgot eggs were square. No wonder they're not coming out :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

That looks like a chocolate egg.

I think it's a bit colder on this hilltop that your sheltered demesne FF, there's no doubt that at least one of my Light Sussex has stopped laying due to the frostbite taking half her comb. My pure breeds haven't really thought about coming into lay yet, they only really have a 6 month season.

You may well be right about location, Joce, although the car thermometer registered -10.5C in the cold snap- the lowest I've ever seen. Interestingly, the unheated part of the house only registered -2.3 on the max/min thermometer, so even a poorly insulated timber frame seems to have significant thermal lag. The downside to such lag is that it was far colder indoors than out yesterday, when the temperature here was a positively balmy +9.5C.

Spring is on its way.

 

[Penners]

even a poorly insulated timber frame seems to have significant thermal lag.

I wonder how much of the effect is truly thermal lag, and how much of it is down to the fact that any kind of building offers shelter from wind-chill.

Or are they two sides of the same coin?

 

[Flyfisher]

As far as I'm aware, windchill only affects warm objects. If something is already at ambient temperature then the speed of the wind can't make it any colder.