Subscriber Letters

Lisa : A while back, someone mentioned having a few chicks with curled toes. We had this problem with one of our chicks a few years ago, and I took her in to the vet (I know, don't even say it!). He taped each of her toes to a piece of x-ray film (probably because it was lightweight, but somewhat firm). He said to leave it on for a week and sure enough, when we removed it, she was walking fine. It might be worth a try at home. Lisa Adair, Ojai CA

Kathleen : Dear Gina and Readers! I really love this newsletter - Thank you Gina and all the contributors! We are new to chicken husbandry. Our six girls are about 5 months old, not yet laying, but seem healthy and happy. We are interested in using their manure as compost or dispose of it in the most earth friendly way. We use pine and or cedar shavings as bedding. I would appreciate hearing about how other suburban chicken families handle their chicken droppings. Thank you very much for your awesome newsletter, Kathleen

Cindy : We have electricity in our coop but it seems like the hens prefer the water from the plastic waterer VS the metal one with the heater. We keep the plastic waterers up just above the highest roosts in our coop on little shelves (about 2 feet from the ceiling). This morning it was 6 degrees F. and the only waterer with ice was the one near the front door-just a bit of water starting to crystallize. I added warm water to that one. We also have a heat light on near the back of the coop when it gets that cold-and is supposed to stay this way for the better part of the next week or so. Between the body heat and the heat light the water in the back only freezes when it gets down below zero for days at a time. The hens have never knocked anything down yet either. Cindy-Northern Wisconsin

Dan : I have been reading the latest from Missouri and Georgia and am surprised it gets cold enough for the water to freeze there. Here we are cold for 6 months and need insulated chicken houses with enough chickens to keep them from freezing. They also need to stay inside at all times for that 6 months. Dan from Alberta, Canada.

Ann : Hi Gina, thank you for January news letter, I would just like to share a useful tip. Just before the autumn 0f 2011 I put my 7 girls into a new shed for a permanent home as they had been in a couple of small houses and thought they could be updated into a new residence. Thinking about cleaning a bigger area every week I was in my local Aldi and notice large plastic snow shovels and thought they would make a fantastic cleaning shovel so purchased one, well its the best £8.99 I have spent for cleaning purposes. It makes cleaning the floor of the chicken shed so much easier and quicker and not so much bending. Hope you can share this tip with others. Thanks again Regards Ann (Worcestershire)