Cage-Switching

[Bramble Briar86]

YAY, ILLINOIS!!! Illinois is still the number oneteam and just won the game today! i about had a heart attack watchingit at the end, i was convinced they were gonna lose....we won!

after the Illini game, i went outside and did some cage switching, Iput the 'portable' cage on the floor(of the chicken coop room in thebarn where they live), a pan under neath, hay, water and food. Then, iput bramble in it.

Next, since we're about to get more chickens, i re-lined the coop floor with shavings.

After that, i put out a heated water dish, hay and Briar's daily food ration. And put briar on the floor.

SO! the buns will switch off and on who lives in the cage on the floor,that way, instead of being up a few feet in their cages apart from eachother, they can still crush on each other.

Today was briar's day, tomorrow will be Bramble's day. Briar was SO!happy to have so much space to play/live in, the shavings are prettydeep, he had fun kickin' up his heels and digging.....

Just thought i'd share, lol!,

Ellie

 

Bramble Hon you dont want to house rabbits and chickens in the same room . Heres WHY!!
1. Chickens are nasty creatures , they will roost on your cages and advertently poop allover the rabbits
2. Chickens tend to carry whats called hen lice and dont let any onetell you they are species spacific there not ! ( experience taught methat )
3 if rabbits injest any amount of the chicken poop it can cause gastric distress ,
Chicken poop is very acidic it can litterally take the paint off anything .

My suggestion is either house the rabbits in a seperate part ofthe barn where the chickens cant access their cages as a roosting spotor put the chickens outside where they will be able to get green feedand natural foods , chickens just love to scratch around but please foryour bunnys sake dont house them together .

 

[bunny_lover]

gypsy wrote:

Bramble Hon you dont want to house rabbits and chickens inthe same room . Heres WHY!!
1. Chickens are nasty creatures , they will roost on your cages and advertently poop allover the rabbits
2. Chickens tend to carry whats called hen lice and dont let any onetell you they are species spacific there not ! ( experience taught methat )
3 if rabbits injest any amount of the chicken poop it can cause gastric distress ,
Chicken poop is very acidic it can litterally take the paint off anything .

My suggestion is either house the rabbits in a seperate part of thebarn where the chickens cant access their cages as a roosting spot orput the chickens outside where they will be able to get green feed andnatural foods , chickens just love to scratch around but please foryour bunnys sake dont house them together .

My rabbits live in the chicken coup too. All you have to do is cover upthe hutches with a plank or plywood, or something. That way, thechickens can't poop in the cage.

 

Your choice but from experience i will never do it again and i wouldnt advise it

 

[Bramble Briar86]

Thanks, gypsy. I've been working on building alarge outdoor pen for the chickens and rabbits. We've had chickensbefore, and have a smaller outdoor pen attatched to the coop. So, inthe summer, the rabbits and chickens may/may not live outdoorsspring-fall....just depends on our budget, if we can get Briar fixed sohe and Bramble can live together and if we can build some good outdoorshleters for them.

The only thing that might be a problem is #3...would a bun honestlywant to eat chicken poop though? I'm not questioning you, justwondering if it'll be a bigger problem than i'm thinking.

Ellie

 

[lanna21974]

 

[Bramble Briar86]

Okay, i really don't have anything else i can do,there's no other place i can put them:?. So, i'm just wondering if ican treat the chickens, because i get them as chicks, could i startmonthly treatments or something when they're older or something?

Ellie

 

i wouldnt treat monthly for lice mites etc itscostly and the chemicals are harsh , what you can do and this works fora lot of BUGS ! ewwww is get the No Pest Strips you know the ones thatcome in a cardboard cylander and has a strip hanging inside ? hang themaround the eaves of your coop . not only will it keep any infestationfrom happening .
BUT!!! it will keep hornets and other bees away lessening any stings tohumans or rabbits . I also use the No Pest Strips on top of my snakecages to lessen scale mites , fleas dont much care for them either ,speakin of fleas , put a flea collar in your vacunmme cleaner bag todraw any fleas and eggs up out of carpeting.

they dont purposly eat chicken poop it isnt on the menu butsometimes it will get into dishes on hay and in the litter or it willget on their feet and in an attempt to clean it off naturally theyinjest some :: i love my chickens but they are nasty dirty creatures .Im sorry you cant do any thing much different right now but maybesometime in the future you will be able to, but for now try the aboveideas and see what happens .

POO i forgot to mention if you get lice and m ites from thechickens you will know it lol ( experience here ) you will start toitch everytime you come out of the coop at first you wont figure it outtook me a week of going out and coming in itching and many many showersto corralate the 2 instences together lol. Luckily for hen lice a hotshower will get rid of them but for other animals it is a chemicalprocess .. Mites also dont like Mint : especially peppermint andspearment:: good food for thought .

 

[Bramble Briar86]

Thanks, Gypsy, then we've never had a problembefore with lice...it's a large coop, and none of the 4 or 5 "batches"of chickens have ever had them, thankfully.

Ellie