Omlet cube and run

[Elaine-chick]

Hi ... I've not visited the forum for some time but hope someone is able to help ???

My neighbour has treated his lawn with "weed and feed" on Sunday, but there is no fence between our gardens. So when I let my hen (Elsie) out - she visits their garden. He did tell me he was going to do this and I in my naivety thought it would be OK after 3 or 4 days, but now I'm thinking it wont be ??

Any help please ??? Thankyou

[suebee]

Hi... If you google it, there's quite a bit of advice. I think you'd be wise to keep her off it until it's grown and been mowed a few times, to allow the chemicals to 'grow' out of it, (so at least a few weeks). Can you put up some temporary netting to confine her to your garden? The weedkiller part of the equation, could be particularly harmful, and if she enjoys the odd dandelion, she'll ingest the chemical with it, as it will be a systemic weed killer, absorbed throughout the plant.

[Chicken deficient]

Ditto what has already been said - and I think I'd ring the manufacturer and find out how long they advise you to leave it, particularly if you are eating her eggs.

(I suppose it can't be lethal, or the lawn would be covered in dead sparrows?!)

 

Actually, I just looked up the website for it - my dog rolled on some grass in the vicinity of a plant that had been treated, (unbeknownst to me), with one of their other products, that apparently had no warnings on it regarding pets. My dog swelled up like a puffer fish and had an expensive emergency trip to the vets and I had a (mild but still painful for a few days) chemical burn on my face just from holding her.

[Elaine-chick]

Thanks Suebee and Chicken deficient for your replies .... (I've got a horrible picture of my garden littered with dead sparrows now ) Yeah I will check what brand it was a try and contact manufacturer. But I agree with you both and think its best to keep her off neighbours grass for at least a few weeks. I do have some netting I can put up although I'm not sure how long it will survive their golden retriever !!! Have tried it before when he was much younger but he just trod it down. Unfortunately the fence came down some years ago and due to the length of garden its been proving too costly to replace.

Anyway on a different note (in case you thought I was odd only having one hen) ............ Elsie is a lone hen but she was one of four ex bats, and one by one they have gone to chicken heaven. Elsie has always been an independent girl, once escaping one evening and reappearing the next day in front garden seeming very unperturbed !! And when Doris (the last hen to pass away) died, I was very worried how Elsie would fare on her own but knew she would not be very welcoming to any newbies. Anyway she seems much more content on her own (very strange I know for a flock creature).

[Elaine-chick]

PS Chicken deficient ... sorry to hear about your dog. I hope all is well now, and that your face is recovered

 

No wonder the bees are dying ! It's very worrying isn't it.

[Chicken deficient]

Don't get me started on pesticides - the more you research into it, the more alarming it gets, particularly when you find out that the effects of the cocktail of pesticides that people consume in the different foods they eat, have not been studied - only the effects of a single pesticide at a time. Yummy!