feather footed chickens are a great accession to your batch if you ’ rhenium looking for something new. You can find chickens with in full feathered legs and breeds with elephantine bell bottoms .
other than looks feather feet don ’ metric ton offer any supernumerary benefits. even though it would be actually cool if it gave the ability to walk on water like the basilisk lounge lizard .There are a few challenges unique to keeping birds with feather feet. Most are environmental and easy to solve but one is aesculapian in nature .
Fighting with Mud
The biggest publish is with mud. I free crop my birds and life in the North East we get lots of it. There are actually very few months where there isn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate at least a little mud.
Reading: Feather Footed Chickens
The problem with mud and chickens with feathers on their feet shows up in the nest corner. All those lovely feathers carry mire from the land, into the nest box and onto the eggs .
I don ’ thyroxine wash fresh eggs unless absolutely necessary, the in truth gross ones go into a carton for my cad and the remainder experience wiped off before use .
obviously, you don ’ t need feathered feet to track mud onto eggs but it ’ second decidedly a much bigger consequence with the feather-legged chickens .
Read more about What to Expect from Farm Fresh Eggs
Keeping Eggs Clean During the Mud Season
Assuming you can ’ t avoid the mud and you need to let your birds outside there are a few things you can do to keep the mess down .
Extra Bedding
Try to keep the cage floor covered in a thick level of bedclothes ; wood shavings, strew or dried leaves work well. It ’ ll help oneself get the mud off their feet as they walk in to the cage.
Longer Distance to the Nest Boxes
It besides helps if they need to take a longer walk from the door of the cage to the nest boxes, depending on the layout and size of your chicken coop that may not be potential .
The far they have to walk through the bedclothes, the more time it has to soak up some of the mud and wetness .
Keep them Inside Longer
Most chickens lay early in the day and if they lay their eggs before they get a change to get muddy your eggs will stay clean.
I have to open up my cage before I leave for sour so this doesn ’ thymine knead for me but early people have had luck with it .
Foot Feather Problems
Chickens can get ingrowing feathers anywhere, I ’ ve had a few hens get them on their backs. I think they were caused by roosters being roosters when the ladies were molting .
But by far the most cases of ingrowing feathers have been on my birds feathered feet .
In the picture above you can see the red and irritate patches on the outsides of the feet where the feathers should be .
This guy was my favorite cock, his name was Bruce. I soaked his feet in warm Epsom salt water and rubbed away the casings that grew over the feathers .
The feathers were small and curled into balls, most of them fell out when I rubbed off the covering but a few I pulled out. I was afraid they would end up bleed and cause more issues if I left them in .
Read more about Blood Feathers & What to do if they Break
He had a lot of foot problems in his old long time, I think it was gout which causes swelling in the feet. gout can be caused by besides a lot calcium and a boastfully breed cock eating layer is a good way to get excessively much calcium .
Types of Feather Footed Chickens
When it comes to feather footed chickens you have quite a few options. nowadays I ’ meter going to partake three of my favorite chicken breeds .
They ’ re all birds that I have in my stream cluster and the cover the hale size spectrum so there is something for everyone !
It ’ randomness worth noting that the majority of my random barnyard chicken photograph sport these three breeds, even though I have more than a twelve types of chickens at this point .
All three of these breeds are homebodies, they enjoy ranging but tend to stick stopping point to base ( unlike the ducks that spend more time with my neighbors than with me ) and don ’ t take off when the camera comes out .
Brahma Chickens
We ’ re going to start with my favorite chickens, many years ago I asked a bunch of my favored homestead bloggers about their darling chicken breeds, even then I had my Brahmas at number one .
Brahmas are everything I look for in a chicken ; giant, downy, calm, hardy, and friendly .
They ’ re some of the biggest chickens you ’ ll come across, adult roosters weigh in at 12 pounds and hens at 9.5 pounds. Once you add a mountain of downy feathers to that you ’ ve got quite a large dame on your hands .
Do you Need a Rooster in Your Flock? Find out
Thanks to that large size they ’ re besides useful as a kernel dame. You ’ re looking at a longer bend around time than with a cornish hybridization but you ’ ll still end up with a properly sized boo on the table .
Brahmas are known for their docile personalities, going broody and laying 150+ medium-large brown eggs each year. They have a small pea comb making them a great option for raising chickens in a cold winter climate.
tied better they have a reputation for laying the majority of their eggs in the cold winter months when everyone else is resting after the fall shed. I have a variety of egg layers but I do notice a transfer from a bunch of blue eggs to a majority of brown eggs in the winter when the Easter Eggers take a break .
One thing to keep in mind when adding giant birds to your troop is the necessitate for lower roosts. I have two sets of roosts, one is about 6.5 feet off the land and the other is the DIY fold roosts I made with my daughter .
The chickens self-segregate with the lighter-bodied birds like the EEs & my Appenzellar Spitzhauben second hanging out up top and the larger birds, Brahmas & Cochins, preferring the lower roosts .
They come in three color variations, the most common is the Light Brahma, which is what I have. It ’ sulfur hard to track down and you ’ ll pay more but you can order Buff and Dark Brahmas from on-line hatcheries .
You can besides find bantam Buff Brahmas. I ’ ve never raised them, my love for Brahmas is directly linked to their size and I try to keep my bantam numbers low or I end up with dozens of bantam eggs that no one but my 3 year old wants haha .
Out of my original cluster I had two Brahma hens make to honest-to-god historic period, one died at 9 and the other made it about to 11. The Livestock Conservancy international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine kidding when they call these birds hardy !
Cochin Chickens
The future magically downy shuttlecock on our list is the Cochin. They ’ re actually pretty similar to the Brahmas ; they besides come in both standard and bantam sizes and they ’ re in the asian class ( originated in Asia ) .
They besides lay medium-large brown eggs and can be used as a dual-purpose breed for both eggs and kernel. Cochins are known for a docile temperament and going brooding .
That big guy is “ Super Fluffy ” and he ’ s a substantial sweetheart. When we were overrun with roosters earlier this year the younger ones kept him out of the barn .
Finding Super Fluffy became a nightly ritual and he became quite fond of eating out of my hand .
They ’ ra large birds but not quite adenine cogent as the Brahmas. The roosters and hens are about a hammer easy at 11 and 8.5 pounds .
even with all that in common, it ’ mho quite comfortable to tell them apart at a glance. Brahmas have feathered feet, which gives them a bell-bottomed silhouette .
Cochins have fully feathered legs and that makes them look like a ball. A attack, fluffy chicken ball .
They come in a dizzy kind of colors, with over 15 recognized semblance patterns in both the standard and bantam sizes. right immediately I have splash Cochin hens, a splash cock and gold-laced Cochin hens that I call my halloween chickens .
Cochins have a single comb, making them less than my personal ideal for the New York winters. You don ’ thymine get the frostbite issues with smaller comb birds .
Learn more about 3 Hardy Heritage Breeds Bred for Cold Weather
Silkie Chickens
last but not least we have the Silkies, another asian class chicken, these guys are the chemise bears of the chicken earth .
They have several alone features that make them stand out against any early chicken, as a result Silkies are the easiest chicks to identify in a crowd .
Read more about Identifying Chick Breeds
They have black peel, extra toes and very easy, fur-like feathers .
The special feathers make it a piece slippery to sex Silkies, the standard clues that distinguish hens and roosters are harder to see. The best clue is the supernumerary ‘ streamers ’ coming from the head ottoman on a cock and a larger size .
They ’ re not the best layers, they are more cosmetic than practical. They fit nicely in my mix flock and they ’ rhenium bantam enough that that don ’ t a lot .
And my kids love them, they ’ re just then cute it ’ s impossible not to love them .
even though they have actual complimentary range of the place the Silkies stay closest to home, I rarely even see them in front of the house. If you can ’ thymine ( or decide not to ) free roll your birds you ’ ll want to be more careful about mixing bantam birds in with the giants .
Read more about Bantam Chickens
One big problem with Silkies is a higher chance of wry-neck. Wry Neck is a condition where the chicks turn their heads to the side, some times it ’ s so bad that the chicks begin to walk backward and can starve to death.
Silkies ( and Polish ) chicks are more susceptible due to a difference in their skull shape. The best way to prevent head injuries is to brood Silkies individually from other birds, specially larger ones .
Do you have feather footed chickens ? Don ’ t forget to PIN this to you chicken circuit board for former !
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