Chicken bald back

[Jules.]

I don't have a pond, but some people who have been on my hen parties do have them, & I would like Omleteers advice on how the two can get along safely, as I have no experience of this.

I know that chickens can easily drown if they were to fall into a pond, & I know of at least 1 forum member who has lost a hen in this way.

What have you done to make your pond safe for your hens?

Is it fenced off?

Do you only let them free range when you are around?

 

Thanks!

[chelsea]

I have a big pond with a bridge over it, (the hens walk over the bridge!), I only have log roll around the perimeter so they could get into it if they wanted. My girls go nowhere near the edge of the pond and they seem to know what it is. I let them free range without a problem without supervision. The pond was here before them and I've not had an incident in over 2 years of the girls being here.

 

It was kazaddress who lost a chook in a pond, I guess some hens are not so cautious, so with any advice I would suggest to prospective hen owners to proof their pond if they can.

[Daphne]

We have a wildlife pond which is surrounded by long grass for said wildlife. Hens have never shown any interest in the pond - but it is possible they can't see it! We let them freerange without supervision but I guess you do have to do the sensible thing and warn prospective owners about prospective dangers.

[Guest]

I have a pond that the chickens can't miss! But they have no problem with it, and fly over it if they want to get from A to B quickly and can't be bothered to walk around it.

[pistachio]

I have a river at the end of my garden and there's a steep slope down to it. They haven't attempted to go very near it at all. i only free range them when i can supervise but they don't seem interested anyway. I don't think a fence would make much odds unless it was so high that it defeated the object of having a pond.

[mostin]

We have three ponds in our garden, 2 steep sided and 1 wild life. The girls just seem to know to stay away from the edge, even though they usually follow me everywhere.

 

I suppose there's always a small chance one may be too nosy one day and fall in, but to me they all seem completely uninterested in them and happy enough playing in the shallow bird bath .

[blackgold]

one of our ponds is netted at the moment so all the leaves from the trees dont fall in it. I think they could be a hazard for the girls. i was going to use the omlet netting to keep them on the lawns so i can see them from the house anyway. Anything could happen in our garden if they were allowed to really free range.... Too many bushes and too big to let them out of my sight. That will have to wait until i have trained one of the dogs to hen herd so i dont loose them. Fencing is secure we bred dogs and it is puppy proof.Also adult Border Collie proof Suexxx

[Egluntyne]

I seem to remember that Kazaddress' hen drowned because the pond was such that it couldn't clamber out again.

 

If it is shallow sided, or there are means for the unlucky hen to scramble out, it might be less dangerous.

[Karen & co.]

We have a pond, with a banked side for the frogs to climb out and one of the girls ran across it once, sort of walking across the pond weeds and flapping like mad She was fine and they sometimes drink from it, but seem to know that it is something to stay away from.

 

Karen x

[Surfnirvana]

Our pond isn't huge, but it does have rather a lot of green pond plants floating on the top. One day, when I call my lovely chooks, Betty looked up and decided that rather than going round the pond like the others, she would make a very quick detour and go straight accross!!

 

She got as far as the middle and thankfully the pond plants kept her afloat!! Quickly, I managed to lean in and pulled her out by her neck before she sank any further She was rather ruffled and her lower feathers and legs covered in pond weed, but survived the ordeal and hasn't been near the pond since!

 

Since then, we still let them out to free range, but keep a good eye on the pond area. So far they haven't been near it thank goodness!!

[Vicky40]

We let our girls free range for the first time last weekend. Ruby was the only hen that took a liking to our pond straight away. She enjoyed a few drinks of water and all seemed to be going well before she got a little too close to the edge and fell straight in!

 

I'd read on this forum about a hen drowning so panic set in but before I could get to the pond Ruby had managed to jump up onto the pond plants before scrambling her way to the edge. There was lots of frantic flapping and she was clearly shocked as it was the day we got snow and the water was freezing cold! Poor girl! She didnt go near the pond for the rest of the day so seems to have learned the hard way.

 

I think its a good idea to make sure the pond edges are shallow and to have lots of pond plants around the edge so the hens can make a quick exit.

[mostin]

Oh dear, Poor Ruby .

 

I guess there's always one who has to learn the hard way . I hope she was none the worse for her wetting on such a cold day?

[Vicky40]

Thanks Mostin - I kept a close eye on her after her freezing cold dip but she seemed to recover quickly with no side affects thank goodness! She hasnt been near the pond since.

[hilda-and-evadne]

What have you done to make your pond safe for your hens?

Is it fenced off?

Do you only let them free range when you are around?

 

I have chicken wire over my garden pond (a 50-gallon cistern sunk into the ground) to catch leaves before they fall into the pond. However, one day Hilda tried to take a short cut across the pond when she thought that Evadne had found something delicious on the other side, and her weight proved a bit too much for the chicken wire: it lowered her gently but quickly into the pond, and I had to fish her out.

 

As my chooks free-range only when I can supervise them, it wasn't a disaster. But I am going to make the pond cover more robust, for when I fence off that part of the garden so that I can leave them in it safely.

[Bantambabe]

Hey, we have a pond (under the model railway line of course) and the ladies often podge around by it, but they've never got close enough for a dip. They often drink from the waterfall but otherwise are totally disinterested. As long as there's something to help them get out -eg a shallow bit I would have thought there wouldn't be a problem.

[karlotta]

A couple of my girls fell in the pond when they were drinking from it when they first started free-ranging - but there are shelves with loads of plants all the way round so they just jumped stright out.

 

I think unless it was steepsided and without plants they should be ok with ponds

[KAZAROO]

I seem to remember that Kazaddress' hen drowned because the pond was such that it couldn't clamber out again.

 

If it is shallow sided, or there are means for the unlucky hen to scramble out, it might be less dangerous.

 

Maybe you could hen proof the pond- in a hedge-hoggy proofed kind of way?

The link below is about pet pond safety

http://www.pondexpert.co.uk/PetsAndPondSafety.html

[mostin]

Thanks Mostin - I kept a close eye on her after her freezing cold dip but she seemed to recover quickly with no side affects thank goodness! She hasnt been near the pond since.

 

Glad she recovered ok, and that she has learned her lesson .