Chicken pedicures

So, it is that time again. Despite my best efforts, my three little sabelpoots have got mud and poop all stuck around their little feet and their foot feathers. I decided to make a video of how I sort this out. In fine weather, it is actually quite nice. I'm sure it helps the chickens bond with me, the more handling the better. Enjoy the video

Chicken Foot Bathing

Dustbathing chickens

Just trialling putting my little videos on YouTube and linking them from here. Not sure whether it is best to do that or embed them within the blogger post.

[NOT] Bumblefoot

After Maud died in spring 2018, I amalgamated my two little flocks of bantams into the bit walk in run. There are Lulu and Velvet the white and black bantam silkies, and Mapp and Lucia the lemon sabelpoots and Porsche the porcelaine sabelpoot. They soon settled in together, with Lulu and Velvet the most dominant and little porsche the bottom of the pecking order.

The weather has got colder, and a couple of weeks ago I noticed that Porsche was looking pale and not herself. Feeling her, she seemed thinner than the other sabelpoots so I gave her three days of chicken nutri-drops. That made an amazing difference. Her comb went a good shade of red, her eyes were bright and she seemed right as rain.

During 2018 I've felt really on top of keeping the chickens healthy. Now that they are all in the WIR it is much easier to keep their bedding clean. Every morning I go in and poop-pick and also use a trowel to fluff up their aubiose bedding. When it rains, water does get in despite the rain coverings, and the bedding can get damp, but if I fluff it up it dries really quickly. I can then easily sweep it up every few months, when it starts to look a little used and the chips are beginning to break down into dust, and put down fresh. I do this particularly with a view to stopping the chickens from getting muddy feed. The feathered footed sabelpoots in particular are very susceptible to collecting mud and poop on their feet and feathers. When the weather is fine, I let them out into an enclosed run with a little green eglu so that they can dustbathe and scratch around which they really enjoy. Now it is winter, I top up a seed tray so they can dustbathe in that and they seem to like it.

The WIR is quite fun for them. There is a nice perch, two blocks of wood for perching, a chicken swing that I have seen the sabelpoots using as well as the regular hentastic treats I put out for them.

As I've been spending lots of time daily with the hens, they have become more and more tame, so it has been really easy to pick them up and feel their condition. Imagine my horror today when I decided to give their feet a really good check (I'm always woried about scaly leg with the feathered legged breeds) and I saw that one of the lemon sabelpoots had what looks very much like bumble foot. The other has got round clods of mud on her toe nails! I feel like I have been so neglectful. How could this have happened. They must wait until I've gone, then quickly poop and then stand in it!

I've phoned Scotts in Bedford and made an appointment with the exotic vet for Monday at 10:45. I hope they can treat it. The Sabelpoots are all a bit shirty with me today as I've been poking and prodding them alot to check what is wrong, also it is bitterly cold, so I'm going to leave it until tomorrow then wash and blow-dry their feet. Then they will have Sunday to recover before I take one of them to the vets by car. Hopefully she won't get too stressed.

I guess this sort of thing happens to the best of us. It just goes to show the importance of checking ALL aspects of your chickens on a regular basis.

UPDATE
The vet pointed out the little red scab which was probably the point of entry for bacteria that had caused an infection. Chicken pus is thick and doesn't respond well to antibiotics, so best thing was to give her a general anaesthetic so the vet could open it up and clean it out. £200 later I have a chicken with no lump on her foot, a few teeny stiches, and my wallet is much lighter. All good :)

Booted Sabelpoots

It was my birthday on Wednesday, and my daughter came round last night for a girlie barbecue and then today we went to The Barns near Moggerhanger to buy some new hens. Last year I lost Nutmeg, Agatha and Amber, then with Buffy dying this year I was down to 5 hens.

We spent a lovely time wandering around the breeding pens looking at all the chickens. Then we walked around the sale pens shortlisting our favourites. It was hard. Eventually I settled apron the bantam sablepoots. There was a big cage of new arrivals aged 12 weeks near the front. But which ones. We had seen a breeding trio of lemon sablepoots which were gorgeous, but the variety in the mixed cage was very tempting. There were a couple of cages of 6 week old bantam lemon sablepoot chicks which we really fell for. In the end I chose two lemon and one bantam porcelain sablepoot. Porsche is the porcelains and Mapp and Lucia are the baby lemon sablepoots.

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It will be interesting to see how they cope with their ever growing feet feathers.

Three booted sabelpoots

So, my birthday treat to me. Three lovely new Sabelpoots. Mapp and Lucia, the lemon sabelpoots, and Porsche a lovely porcelain sabelpoot. So young! The two lemons are only just out of the barn, at about 6 weeks. Porsche is 8 weeks.