Beware: Hazards That Await Your Chickens 2

I imagine that many of you are familiar with “What To Expect When You’re Expecting“, a book recommended to pregnant women about various scenarios that a woman could encounter regarding the health of her baby. I’m sure the author’s intention wasn’t to scare the sh*t out of expectant parents, but some folks might have reacted that way.

It seems like advice to new chicken ‘parents’ is quite the opposite: birds are simple, low maintenance pets that once you’ve secured a decent shelter all you have to provide is food and water. From years of chicken keeping, and far too many hours spent in online poultry groups, I can attest to the fact that chickens are vulnerable to pathogens and predators and plain old ignorance from their well meaning keepers. And the difference between human parents and chicken keepers is we may not have access to reliable professional help.

New parents are coached on kid-proofing their home, car and environment to protect their little charges from innumerable potential dangers lurking around every corner. I wish that chicken keepers were as vigilant and aware of everyday risks that could affect their flock: attacks by dogs, being run over by cars, injured by unsecured coop doors or ramps, stepped on by other livestock, to name just a few.

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I’ve put together a handy checklist for fellow poultry keepers to keep you on your toes and looking out for potential dangers so you can avert them.

Coop Fires

“As winter and cold weather are approaching, I’d like to warn everyone about the use of heat lamps in coops. We had been using regular heat lamps in our three coops for months without incident. A friend told us they were a fire hazard but we didn’t take her too seriously, or at least we didn’t until our coop caught on fire. It was 12:30am and I just happened to be up and in the living room when I saw something bright through the window. Once I realized it was a fire I rushed to wake up my boyfriend and we hurried to get the fire put out. We’re incredibly lucky that we caught it when we did, and that all seven of the chickens who lived in that coop abandoned the roost to hide in a nesting box down below. My boyfriend managed to break one of the walls to the box so that I could climb in and grab all of the birds while he worked at getting the fire put out. 

All seven of them are alive and well, and there are no signs of respiratory issues. We managed to get the fire out before it could spread to the other coops or our garage. We’re incredibly lucky that in this situation all we lost was a bit of lumber. We all tend to think that nothing bad will happen to us until it does. Keep yourselves and your chickies safe, and don’t make the same mistake we did. – Skyler Nicole

Safer alternatives include heat plates

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Dehydration

Dehydration may be the result not only of insufficient water intake, but can also be exacerbated by both hot or cold temperatures. I live in a temperate rainforest where our climate is usually moderate, so dehydration isn’t a critical issue for my flock. For lots of folks though, dehydration in their chickens is a problem, either due to excessive heat or freezing temperatures, often combined with a lack of water. Chickens are comprised of 70% water and the loss of just 10% can lead to death.

Chickens are able to maintain their normal body temperature of 40-42C/105-107F by regulating their heat production and heat loss. If the ambient temperature is between 20-24C/68-74F they are able to control their heat loss so that body temperature is held constant and feed intake is maximized. But if the surrounding temperature exceeds 35C/95F they are at risk of becoming dehydrated. Humid conditions pose an even higher risk to chickens because it’s more difficult for them to use evaporative cooling by transferring water when there is more moisture in the air.

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Entrapment

One time I was filling the food container and didn’t notice that my hen jumped in the container. I dumped the 40 kgs of feed and closed the lid. When the food got low I saw something black at the bottom, a feather.  I looked closely and that was my dead hen.” – Louise Fava

Photo credit: Robbie Rosati and Matt Griffin

“My rooster died in a freaking paint can. He stuck his head in and the handle fell over his butt and he got stuck. I looked for him for 24 hours before I found him in the back of the barn under a table. It totally broke my heart and at the same time I was like, “Are you kidding me? Literally everything in the world wants to eat you but you die in a paint can.” – Brayden Miller Godwin

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Freak Accident

Here are two cases of cars causing damage (the first was a drunk driver).

Photo credit: Heather Crites and Andrew Raeman

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Heat Lamps 

I know folks swear by them, but they can be a risk for fires. If you do use one, ensure that a chain and not the clamp secure it as well as having a wire cage that prevents direct contact with the bulb. Safer alternatives include heat plates.

“I’m taking this as a learning experience. We’re currently starting over and building a large coop.I grabbed this piece of wood thinking it would be perfect for the babies to perch on. It’s been in the brooder for over two weeks. When I got home yesterday one of my chicks was laying lifeless underneath it. She had gotten her head stuck under one of the branches and it was propped right underneath the heat lamp. She was unable to free herself and was going through heat stroke/exhaustion. I don’t know for sure how many hours she was trapped there like that. We quickly tried to put cool water on her and get her to drink. She was still breathing and she would take a few sips here and there but she had zero function of the rest of her body. She was limp and completely exhausted. At 5am this morning I heard the loudest peeps coming from the brooder. It’s safe to say that I will never put anything like that back in there. They now have an actual perch going across and it’s safe.”- Melissa Noel

“I’m a born and raised farm girl and been doing this my entire life! This was in my brooder, not in my coop. I noticed the heat lamp was off and this is what I discovered. This has never happened to me. My bulbs just usually burn out. There’s no way the chicks did that. It has a guard so the birds can’t get to it and it just popped on its own!  It was still plugged in! Thankfully I was home. I’m now the owner of a brooder plate.” – Jessica Granger

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Hypothermia

“My hen got into the shallow trough used for a dust bath that had 1.5” of water in it from the rain and couldn’t get out. She must have died of hypothermia overnight. I checked on the birds three times before bed and she never made a sound so I never looked in the trough.” – Jade Powell

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Smoke Inhalation

“I’ve lost three chickens in two days, which seems a bit unusual. We live less than 1 km away from an inland port.  Their cottonseed have spontaneously combusted and been on fire (smouldering) for three weeks now.  The smell is putrid. Every morning our house just stinks like burning hair/plastic.” – Tyla Hasthorpe

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Weather

We have no control over Mother Nature, but you can try to situate your coop and run away from large trees and build with sturdy materials. That said, I don’t live in hurricane or tornado country.

“I just personally wanted to give a PSA to all the chicken owners out there that if a big storm is forecast for midday make sure you’re home to get the less than intelligent straggler chickens inside the coop! This is the hail we had in my town today. I was at work and thought my chickens were intelligent enough to go inside their coop during a hail storm. I learned that, yes, the majority of them are, but I have Silkies which although cute, are not known for their intelligence. I had a young white Silkie roo that apparently decided he wanted to watch the hail come down from the sky today. Golf ball sized hail+ small chicken head; I’m sure you can do the math. That is the ONLY explanation I have for his death when I found him this afternoon when I got home. He has healthy this morning and his head is a bit flatter now.” – Kaylee Johnston

Photo credits: Kaylee Johnston and Perry Locklear

“Today was a bad day I hope I will never see this again. I lost some of my free range chicks. All my animals caught were affected, especially my cows and horse. This was the worst hail storm I have ever seen. – Perry Locklear

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I hate to break it to you, but the list of hazards is so long and I had so much material I’ve made a third post. Stay tuned for those exciting stories and one more thing to keep you on your toes, coming soon.

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories and photos.