New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[emchook]

I feel really guilty now !

Last week I noticed that once of my chickens came back into the run with really dirty feet .. I didnt think much of it and assumed that the "mud" would dry and come off on its own ..

I have been keeping an eye on her and decided today that I should really take a good look as the "balls" looked the same size as before.

 

Oh my word .. they were solid hard balls of *** hairy matted fibrous dung ***.. they would never have come off on their own .. HOW BAD DO I FEEL !!!

 

I ran some water into a garden tub and swished her feet around ... funnily enough she seemed to quite like it ..

I then got my DS [ not even 5 yet ! I am so proud of him and now have visions of him as some kind of famous vet .. There is no way I could have done it properly on my own] to hold her whilst I tugged these things off.

It took ages ..lots of swishing and soaking and gentle tugging ..

 

Truly disgusting .. but she now has beautifully clean feet and luckily seems no worse for the ordeal.

 

I am a bad chicken mummy

[Redwing]

Yes they are minging arent they? feathered legged breeds are really bad for them too

[Saronne]

Mine love having their feet washed in warm water I've started doing this during routine inspections for creepy crawlies, etc.

After I wash and dry their feet and legs I massage vaseline into them to discourage any scaly leg mites.

When put back in their run, they do a bit of a funny walk and keep staring down at their feet as if to say, 'They're so clean, I can see my reflection!'

 

Saronne x

[emchook]

LOL

I think mine just liked the fact she could bend her toes properly once again ... I wonder if they get pins and needles

[Egluntyne]

My Pekins need a weekly pedicure. That is the downside of feathery footed hens.

[The Dogmother]

I check both my pekins regularly, one of them gets them, the other doesn't.

[Olly]

Funny one of my (now departed) Gingernuts used to get them, while the other one never did. She didn't like having her feet soaked, either - and I once got a bit over-keen about removing the ball of mud and pulled her toenail off ..

 

The worst thing was when I realised one day that as she walked on the patio her feet were clattering like little hob-nailed boots! I am a very bad chicken-mummy (but they seem to survive nonetheless).

[whoopsie]

Oh dear, another thing to watch out for.......

[Carol U]

I find that when I put new Aubiose down in the run, one of mine does a lot of extra scratching and ends up with sort of fibres tangled round her feet. She looks as if she's wearing those hairy, old ladies' carpet slippers! Takes me ages to pick them all off - generally to find that she's done it again next day. I don't like to leave them in case she develops deformed feet!

[Plum]

Are you using Hemcore? I found mine got them from all the fibre in it especially when they went in with muddy feet. I did sieve it out for a while but changed bedding now.

[quickcluck]

We call them Malteser toes!!!

[Cinnamon]

Its certainly down to the Aubiose,& as far as I can tell,the only down side to using it.

I never had a probklem when the hens were on bark.

 

Mine get awful 'clodhoppers' & I regularly have to chip them off.

I too pulled a toenail off once...it was just ghastly

 

I know mine are getting bad when I can hear them tap tapping away as they go to bed at night

[emchook]

OH Is that what it is !! The fibres from the aubiose !!! THAT MAKES SENSE !!!!

[Plum]

Rats I was going to try Auboise

[emchook]

I take it the aubiose and hemcore will both produce these malteser toes then?

In which case could I use wood shavings on my WIR instead ?

[Plum]

Easibed doesn't give malteser toes but it does dry the poo. Not as well as hemcore but makes it easy to manage.

[emchook]

does hemcore give malteser toes as well ? I guess if it is made from the same stuff as aubiose it would ?

[Redwing]

Once softened by soaking I find that poking a cocktail stick in to the ball helps ease it off nicely

 

You dont learn things like that on Blue Peter

[emchook]

I need to post this back on the "things I have learned" thread..

Maybe I should start one on "Things I wish I hadnt learned "

[beulah59]

I use woodchip and have never had a problem with this ...

[emchook]

woodchip is as scarce as hens teeth around here.. or as expensive as gold dust .

 

Would wood shavings work ?

[Plum]

does hemcore give malteser toes as well ? I guess if it is made from the same stuff as aubiose it would ?

 

I stopped using hemcore because of this. It didn't used to have all the fibres and I thought I just had a couple of duff bales but I've read others posting of the same problem. I will try it again one day because it's so good and sieve the fibres out maybe.

[The Dogmother]

I use Aubiose in the run and hadn't found it to cause this problem, it seems to have more to do with the amount of time they spend scratchign around in the muddy borders.

[chick wiggle]

Once softened by soaking I find that poking a cocktail stick in to the ball helps ease it off nicely

 

You dont learn things like that on Blue Peter

 

That little nugget of information would definately warrent a gold badge

 

i use easibed and, touch wood, so far none of my girls have had 'malteser' toes including little Pickle the pekin, dont know if its down to the easibed or just good luck

[Olly]

I used aubiose, yet only one of my hens ever had 'malteser toes' (love that description!) so I wouldn't be put off using it, Plum. The benefits far outweigh this occasional problem!