Hot Weather Care for Chickens - Part 2

Hot Weather Care for Chickens

Another great way to care for your chickens in the hot weather, is to give them access to wet earth.  Chickens need to regularly dust bath (roll around  in the earth, covering their feathers in dirt to clean their skin, feathers and remove bugs).  Preening their feathers with their beak alone does not adequately clean their bodies and if you've had little chicks out in the garden, you'll see them dust bathing as a completely natural instinct, whether they've been entirely human or hen raised - they just know they need to do it.  

In the heat with the soil baking to sometimes unbearable temperatures, the chickens are less inclined to dust bath.  They're obviously very uncomfortable - panting, dehydrating and steaming under a thick coat of gorgeous feathers.  For the last couple of years I've helped alleviate this by combining their love of dust bathing with their need to keep cool.

The sand here is not clay based, it's coarse and fine and when it's wet, it does not become like paint (as can be the case with some clay based soils) but lovely and cool and easy for the hens to incorporate into their dust bathing routine.  So every day when the weather is hot (35C/ 95F +), I will empty out their water bottles into a designated, cleaned patch of sand (droppings removed, no hen wants to roll around in chicken poo) and later in the day, the hens will scratch, sit and roll in the wet sand.  Then I can also then give them fresh and clean water for the day ahead every morning, so I know they've got plenty for the day ahead.  

I know that people obtain coarse sand for their chickens if they do not naturally have it in the area they live in.  This is a great thing to do is possible.  Otherwise I strongly encourage creating wet areas in your chicken pen on a regular basis during the Summer months.  
Here are my girls from the previous Summer.  

Holly, singing the praises of the muddy earth. 

 

Hot Weather Care for Chickens - Part 1

Hot Weather Care for your Chickens

There are some quite simple things that can be done to protect and care for chickens during hot weather.  By hot weather I mean around 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) or above during the day.  Chickens cope well with temperatures in the late 20's (late 70's to low 80's in Fahrenheit) but when temperatures start to creep into the 30's, that's when troubles can begin.  Especially when night time temperatures are also very warm on top of those in the day time.  It gives the chickens no reprieve and starts to wear them down. 

 

Water Supply

 

Supply & Location

Have at least 2 containers of water located in different parts of the pen, so that at least one water source is in the shade throughout the day.  I have one container on the west boundary and one up against the laying coop on the south boundary.  This means that the hens have at least one source of cool water available to them at all times.  Keeping the water against the fence or against the walls of the coop, also helps prevent the hens knocking it over.  

Jewel & Farrah (left to right)

Avoid Knock-Overs

Use sturdy, heavy water containers that the hens can not easily knock over.  Half a clean brick in a clean, large, plastic container is a great, cheap option.   

A Plentiful Supply

Fill the containers up nice and high - the pen should have several litres or at least half a gallon of water available at minimum.  

Easily Accessible

The hens should be able to easily access the water - if the water container is very tall, shorter hens may not be able to reach it.  Some water containers provide such a small area of accessible water that the chickens have to try much, much harder to get a decent drink then they should have to.  The hen should be able to plunge her beak deeply into the water to easily get large mouthfuls as they need them.

Alice

Ice Blocks

Fill clean, small, ex drink bottles 3/4 full of water, put the lid tightly on and freeze them.  You can then put the frozen bottles into the water container to keep the water supply extra cold for a few extra hours.  The small soft drink and water bottles that everyone seems to throw away after one use are ideal.  Plus you can throw them out into recycling if they begin to get a little tired looking and easily get a new replacement bottle with almost no effort.  

Keep it Clean

Keep your containers and any objects you use to keep the containers in place eg. bricks etc, clean and free from slimy build up.  Water born bacteria can and will eventually make your chickens sick if left unattended.  
You can clean out containers by blasting them with the garden hose on high pressure, scrubbing them with a scrubbing brush or  old toothbrush for fine detailing or rubbing them all over with clean, coarse, wet sand - and giving them a good rinse with clean water afterwards. A bottle brush like the kind used for babies bottles are a good option for glass or expensive water bottles.  I'd recommend using the large size soft drink bottles which can be recycled and easily replaced once they become a bit green inside.  

See also my review on the best water container for chickens
 

Farrah

Treating Stick Fast Fleas in Chickens

How to treat stick fast fleas in chickens

There is a community farm in the inner city and their chickens were covered in stick fast fleas.  I was pretty upset to see their faces dotted in black spots, fleas crowded into the groove immediately above their eyes.  I've been bitten by the odd stick fast flea when treating infested chickens in the past.  It hurts when they bite but unlike the chickens, I can pick them off straight away and kill them with a hard pinch of my fingers.  Chickens don't get away that easily.

Two hens treated for fleas.  You can see the row of fleas above the eye of the top hen. 

I offered to come over and treat the chickens at the farm and my offer was fortunately accepted.  I've been to visit the chickens today and noted that I could not see a single flea on any of them.  

I treated the hens and the roosters with a commonly used dog & cat flea treatment.  2 to 3 drops onto the skin on the back of the birds neck.  I got some photos of the hens on the day I treated them.  I also fell in love with one of the hens and I am very keen to take her home with me.  Stick fast fleas are an abomination.  They need to be treated promptly and regularly (every 2 - 4 months depending on their return frequency).  I treated about 25 chickens for a cost of just under $1 per bird.  

Again the hens with a dark circle over the top of their eyes - this is actually a line of fleas. 

This is my new obsess-hen.  She is gorgeous.  I'd love to take her home for a new life. 

Ernest Goh - Chicken Beauty Pageants

I am really heart warmed to see the photographic work of Ernest Goh.  He has done a photographic study of chickens to showcase their beauty, the depths of their character and their specialness as a wonderful animal, that many people take for granted. 

Here is a short video of the photographic project he conducted: Ernest Goh - Chicken Beauty Pageants

Rosie - one of our would be pageant superstars. 

Best Water Container for Chickens - Flowmatic Feeder-Drinker

Best Water Container for Chickens - Flowmatic Feeder-Drinker

I am a HUGE fan of the Flowmatic Feeder-Drinker (pictured below) as our preferred water container for the chickens.  The last few I have bought have been from ebay for $6.00 each (postage additional).  They come in a variety of colours and I have bought new ones as we now use them for the dogs outside water containers and after 6 - 8 years the Flowmatic bowls can get a bit tired looking. 

The reason I prefer them is that they are just the base, the vessel that holds the actual water is a plastic soft drink bottle - 1.25 litre size, 2 litre size (depends on how many hens you have), they all seem to fit.  I have noticed that Coke have changed their bottles to a flimsy plastic with a tiny neck so I tend to use anything but their bottles now.  When the soft drink bottle gets a bit old and dirty, I can opt to throw it out (if I choose not to clean it) and replace it with a brand new one - the old one getting recycled as part of our council's bin collection scheme.  The label of the Flowmatic says that a glass, flagon bottle will also fit but I've never had one to try it out. 

The other benefit is that I can keep the lid of the soft drink bottle and in the Summer time I fill up the bottle half way with water, put the lid on to avoid spills, freeze it overnight, the next day I remove the cap, top the bottle up with fresh tap water and insert it into the Flowmatic - thereby giving the girls really cold water for hours at a time. 

I have also found mini plastic drink bottles which I fill completely with water, freeze and then put in the base (bowl) of the Flowmatic to keep the water chilled.  This is a good system if I haven't already organised the main, large soft drink bottle into the freezer the night before - it's also a better option this way if you have a small freezer space. 

I clean the Flowmatic bowl with the garden hose on a high and strong spray setting, with the bowl on the ground so I don't get a bath at the same time - it removes the majority of any built up slimy substances within a few seconds.  An old toothbrush, brushed around the area where the bottle spout is inserted, finishes the job really nicely - no soap, just water and the brush.  It only takes a few minutes to bring it up to near new again.  I find I can spray it with the hose every 1 - 2 weeks (usually when I replace or refill the soft drink bottle) and get the brush onto it every 1 to 2 months. A clean handful of wet, grainy sand, rubbed all over the Flowmatic also does a great job at cleaning off the grime - well rinsed off afterwards of course. 

In the Summer we keep 2 to 3 Flowmatics in the pen in different locations, so that at all times the hens have access to at least one source of water that is out of the direct sun light and therefore not boiling hot once the ice has melted. 

I'm not saying other drinkers are poor but this is the best one I have found so far - cheap, easy to keep clean, large bowl for easy access for the hen (they don't bend their neck awkwardly to the side when taking a drink), stable (we keep ours on flat ground against the fence line and we have never had one tip over) and they last for years and years. 

Flowmatic Feeder-Drinker - available on ebay and many other sites. 

Elderly Hens - letting go

 Elderly Hen - saying goodbye

Our beautiful brown red Pekin hen Selene has not recovered from her winter moult this spring. Usually her comb shrinks and loses its red, waxy sheen and she drops weight and energy from around May – September.  Just when we begin to worry about her, suddenly a spark ignites into a massive production of weight gain and good health.  Her comb doubles in size, it reddens and glows shiny and new and her dominating behaviours triple as she brings the flocks into line for the laying season.  However this year there was no new life, there was only the beginning of some seriously concerning signs of ill health.  From early October we noticed that Selene seemed to be unsteady on her feet.  She needed to be lifted out of the sleeping hutch or else she would be the last to leave and would struggle painfully down the ramp to the ground.  I initially removed the roosts from the sleeping hutch as I found that making her way over these was the biggest problem in getting up and out in the morning.  However when I found her unable to step down less than 2 inches off a slightly puffy pillow, I knew she was in real trouble.  She also had begun to need regular cleaning (washing in the laundry trough) of her rear as her droppings were accumulating there within two days.  She could not preen herself or scratch her face as she was so unsteady on her feet.  The Vet found no sign of cancer in her belly and so we started by treating her sore legs with anti-inflammatories.  By the end of that weekend I knew that she was making no improvement and considering she had not been sick even one day in the seven years we had her, I knew the signs that our girl was finally succumbing to her long life.  So we arranged an afternoon appointment for her. 

She was so good, so trusting and gentle as the Vet slipped a gas mask over her little face and we held her close whilst she succumbed to the anaesthetic.  It was a quiet and graceful end to our beautiful lady.  The other girls cooed over her little body at home and she took her place next to Rosie, our recently departed Wyandotte under the rose bush in our back garden. 

This leaves us with three hens.  Alice our wheaten Pekin, Farrah the black Silkie and Jewel our oversized, black Pekin bantam.  I was always worried that Jewel would go totally feral if Selene passed away and she was left in charge.  The truth is with such a small flock in such a large pen, that competition is virtually nil, so Jewel has in fact not bothered to exert herself over either of her hen sisters.  So we’ve smoothly moved to a three hen flock without a hitch.  The only problem being that we hate to see so few girls in our garden, especially as we can not restock the flock under the current cloud of the ILT virus.  It’s been a heck of a year with so much loss and so much sickness.  We thank our lucky stars for the ladies we have left but I worry every day as to who will be next and  what we will do when we have only one girl left with no one to give her the company that hens absolutely must have to ensure their happiness.  

Selene - October 2013.  Seven wonderful years as our top girl.

ILT in Chickens - Bye Bye Birdie

ILT in Chickens - Farewell Rosa

So since returning from holidays in mid September I have noticed that Rosa has been suffering from a sore throat more than usual - courtesy of the ILT virus.  Initially I took Rosie to the Vet who once again removed a large plaque (tissue growth, common in the mouth of chickens with ILT) from the entrance to her wind pipe.  However this time the growth had advanced like a long, flat worm type shape down her windpipe and was around 6 /7cm (2 - 3 inches) in length.  Previously when the plaque was growing it would bother her and she would cough in a loud, squeaking fashion.  I would then take her to the Vet who would remove it with some mini, round ended type tongs.  Rosie would then advance in leaps and bounds.  It would then be another 2 - 4 months until she needed the procedure redone.  It's been nearly 6 months since she I have heard her coughing and I really thought this indicated she was plaque free.  I was shocked to find that she was harbouring such a large plaque and showing no signs of it bothering her.  It was really odd as she had started to lay again for the start of Spring and this usually indicates excellent health.  However as soon as the large plaque was removed, she immediately stopped laying altogether. 

Since the removal of this large plaque about 3 weeks ago, Rosa has never recovered.  Her throat has been inflamed and painful.  I took her back to the Vet (over and over again) and to start with we could see a little of the plaque remaining in place but she would have had to be sedated to have it removed and the actual problem was the large amount of swelling in her throat in general.  So she went on mild anti inflammatories to start with, no effect.  The Vet then injected her with Cortisone which produced a fantastic effect within hours.  She was eating like a little piggy and so happy.  

Rosie - waiting for the Vet - Saturday 12 October 2013

Soft, Nutritious Food for Hens with Sore Throats

I have to add here that I discovered a fantastic food for hens with sore throats.  I was boiling and mashing eggs for her and noted that she was enjoying and easily able to swallow the soft, mouse like texture of the egg white and avoided the harder, heavier textured yolks.  So I went to the supermarket and bought a milk type carton of pure egg whites.  I cooked a few teaspoons of the whites in the microwave, then cooled and mashed them for Rosa.  She absolutely loved this and ate huge quantities of them. 

Unfortunately 10 days after the first Cortisone injection, I needed to take her back to the Vet as she pretty much back where she started.  So we gave her a second Cortisone injection and started her on very strong antibiotics.  That was 6 days ago.  By day three the antibiotics were playing havoc with the healthy bacteria in her gut, she was obviously feeling ill in her stomach (not eating, hunched over, sore to pick up) and her droppings were all wrong.  So the Vet advised me to end the antibiotics and that in 24 hours she should feel much better.  Although there was definite improvement in her droppings, she was not able to eat her food but clearly desperate to do so.  Her throat was obviously really sore and the Cortisone had, had only a minor effect.  It was so dreadful to see her trying to eat and only getting there 20% of the time.  

Yesterday she stood so still, gulping every now and again and unable to fill her crop with food.  She was crouched under a chair in the pen with her eyes closed.  At this stage it had been nearly four weeks since her first Vet visit for the plaque removal.  She was doing nothing but getting worse and needing more and more medication.  It was clear that Rosie's sore throat was now a chronic, seemingly permanent and worsening condition.  This was exactly what had happened with her sister Amelia, who had a more advanced form of the ILT virus from the day I brought them both home.  I had crop fed Amelia with a tube and syringe to keep her alive and I realised that for her own welfare and happiness, I should have put her to sleep well before I accepted the situation as impassable.  I was really clear that in the event that Rosie's ILT damaged throat became chronic, I would not crop feed her to keep her alive.  So yesterday I kept to my word and had Rosie, my beautiful, sweet, nervous, gorgeous girl, put to sleep.  She fought her way through two large doses of anaesthetic (enough to down a 25 kilo dog the Vet informed us) and finally succumbed to sleep after a 45 minute wait on my lap.  She was such a fighter, she held on and fought so hard to stay awake. 

My baby girl is now resting peacefully and without pain under the white roses in the rear garden.  She was with our family for a little under 2 years and my greatest hope for her is that we gave her the very best life possible, albeit much shorter than she deserved (and possibly with much more cuddling than she may have wanted).  

Rosa - Beautiful to the very end.