Birds

[WildWolf]

Because of the chicken's noise and the fact that they would destroy the plants (garden and yard, as we feed the bunnies naturally) I think I'd rather have ducks. I've never had duck meat though...

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Your in the city and some cities do not allow roosters, or the rooster's crowing, that starts about 3am till daylight.
I grabed a panel dog kennel 10ftx10ft by 6ft off of cl. Gave them some water, feed and roosts - then found out why they call it
'hen pecked'!

I have some roosters here that crow all day long. Silly things!!

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Here is mine little ones. They are just mixed banties.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

What an adorable brood of chicks, Mary Ann!

 

[3mina]

they tend to try and get our youngest (2 1/2 yrs) son from time to time. .

My earliest memory isa set of rooster spurs coming at my face. I was 18 months old and lucky my mom was right there with a broom.

 

[Piper]

I have three bantam roosters, right now. If my roosters are required to watch out for the hens, not jump but dance courtship for the hens, be compliant when I pick them up and put them on their backs and put up with baby chicks -- or else they go to freezer camp!

 

[WildWolf]

I wonder if birds could be kept with bunnies?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I wonder if birds could be kept with bunnies?

The general rule is to keep the rabbits above the birds and cover the cages so the birds can't poop in them. This stems from the belief that the protozoa "coccidia" can be passed from chickens to rabbits. However, according to the Merck Veterinary Manual, poultry coccidia is host specific and is not transmissible to other livestock.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... 200800.htm

Still, chicken or duck feces can't be a healthy feature in your rabbit's cages, so I would keep them covered!

The dust created by chickens scratching the dirt and the powder from their feathers can cause respiratory issues in your rabbits, which is another reason to keep the cages elevated. I believe you are leaning toward ducks, so that may not be as much of an issue. :?

I have a quarantine cage in the chicken coop.



One other caution- one of our members lost part or all of a litter of kits when they left the nest and the chickens attacked them through the floor wire. I don't know if ducks would be capable of that, but factor in the possibility and block access from below with another layer of wire several inches below the cage if you plan on raising litters there.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

mammasheepdog is right. If you are going to do that. you can put a chicken wire above the cages to stop the chickens to roost on. I dont house my chickens with the rabbits.
Here is one of my coops.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Nice coop, Mary Ann. You have a handy husband!

 

[Piper]

I house my rabbit in the chicken coop. The first day the chickens would use the cages to roost and poop on the rabbits, so I turned the cage pans upside down on top of the cages. I have extra hay (about a flake) on top of each cage, held down by the cage pan, too. My normally docile, sociable chickens are insect and blood thirsty, if I had a doe giving birth, the does cage would be protected on all sides and the bottom from my flock, at the smell of blood they would all come running. Day to day the chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs get along great. The rabbits stay calm because they know that the chickens will call out the alarm and fight it, if anything is wrong.
-- Footnote: do not let the rabbits lose without picking up any eggs. They do learn how to break the eggs. I have let my rabbits lose, in the coop, once the chickens go to roost.<br /><br />__________ Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:29 pm __________<br /><br />

Clipping the spurs is a great idea!

Some people seem to recommend clipping, some removing the outer covering.
There is a page about clipping the spurs - they are different than clipping a dogs claws, it also has info on removing the spurs outer layer.
-- there is a good YouTube video on how to take off a roosters spurs.
The outer covering just slides off with a pair of pliers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqF-dHyxQkc

 

[WildWolf]

I never would have thought that chickens would be aggressive towards does... That's good to know.