[tam]

Hiya,

I'm hoping you can help me with a little advice to pass on to others. I run a website which advertises boarding services, including those for chickens - it's surprising how many boarders cater to them! I want to add some advice for people on what to look for in a chicken boarding service, but I know nothing about chickens - could you give me some tips?

Do chickens need vaccinations? What sort of accommodation do they need? What precautions would you expect them to take against cross infection? Is there anything you should do to prepare chickens for boarding ... that sort of thing.

Thank you!

Tam

Aunt Sally very kindly gave me permission to post this

[joyfull]

Hi and welcome.

I personally would never board my chickens anywhere because this can be stressful for them and if any of them are carriers of Mycoplasma then this could flare up (you may not know that your chick has this as they can be born with it if their parents were carriers) and it is highly contagious. However to answer your questions here is my answers:-

1) they do not need vaccinations - but if they do you should not mix vaccinated with none vaccinated (a lot of the vaccines are live vaccines and some of the vaccine could come out in their poohs (like our polio vaccine for children hence why new mums also get a dose of the vaccine - or rather they did when my boys were little many years ago).

2) For boarding I would suggest a plastic house such as the omlette eglu or cube - yes these are expensive but they are very easy to clean between boarders. They will also need at least 3 square metres of covered run space per bird if they are to be kept in rather than free range - and as they aren't your birds I would suggest they are kept in a run Make the run like a cube so that foxes can't get in and make it out of a good strong weldmesh with holes no bigger than 1cm. Use a good bedding such as arboise or hemcore and use these in the run too so that they can still scratch around on the ground. For good husbandry between borders I would have the run on concrete so it can be thoroughly scrubbed.

3 - part 1) Use a hand scrub or alcohol hand wash before and after dealing with each set of birds, also use different boot covers for each set. Good husbandry is of the utmost importance. In between boarders make sure that the house and run are thoroughly scrubbed out with Vanodine V18 or Vikron s and left to dry. Do not board two separate flocks close to each other to help prevent airborne illnesses crossing from one to another. Also if any have cockerels then they need to be out of site of each other - they can injure themselves trying to get to each other.

3 - part 2) Make sure their feed is kept dry - only use a good brand - do not give any treats (especially anything that has come out of your house as this is illegal - no matter what any owners may say their hens love). Fresh dark leafy greens from your garden or the veg man are fine so long as you do not take them into your house - the greens will help them absorb calcium. They will need a pot of mixed grit and oyster shell for their calcium and to help them digest their food. Fresh water daily.

4) Make sure they have been wormed with flubenvet within the month prior to coming to you - if people say they use Verm-x then sadly you must insist on flubenvet. Verm-x is only a preventative and will not get rid of any worms that the bird has. Get the name of their poultry vet or have a good knowledgeable poultry vet close to you.
Finally read up as much as you can - chickens whilst generally are very easy to look after when something goes wrong it is often fatal.

We are always here for help and advice if we can help 
I'm sure I have missed some things out and others will come along I'm sure and offer more help 

[helens-hens]

I did just post a reply but at about the same time as Joyful and it seems to have disappeared, so excuse me if I am repeating myself!

I mentioned that the breeder we have bought our last hens from offers a boarding service. Like Joyful, I would use boarding as a last resort because of the potential stress it causes etc but would have no doubts about using this particular breeder. We were very impressed with their set up, healthy & happy birds, obviously well looked after. Their breeding birds are kept within electric fencing but you could tell by the good state of the ground that they were obviously regularly moved. I would strongly recommend to owners that they go to a boarding premises well in advance to check it out. Not all breeders keep their birds as well as this.

As Joyful suggests they use plastic henhouses / runs (Green Frog) with birds kept in owner groups. The runs are moved regularly to fresh ground. They provide all food, grit etc and also offer a worming service whilst owners are away.

Hope this helps.

[joyfull]

my birds can fly (several of mine live outside all year including one that roosts about 15 feet up in a cherry tree) and electric fencing proves to be no problem whatsoever to keep mine in hence why I said a fully enclosed run 

[tam]

Thank you!

Most of the boarding services I've seen are using the omlet style plastic housing, so that's good.

Is there any thing you can do to help minimise stress? e.g. transport them a particular way. I imagine most people using boarding services just have a few hens and don't know anyone nearby with the knowledge/confidence to care for them. It's probably a little trickier to find than someone used to feeding a cat

[joyfull]

any change of surroundings, people etc is stressful for them.
Transportation is best in a dark box with air holes - a crisp box will carry 2 or 3 hens easily 

[Kenilworth]

HI Tam

Any chance you can post the link to your website? We're in Bedfordshire and may well need to look at boarding options later in the year....... We're looking at going to go away and our usual house sitter probably wont be able to cover us on this occasion so it would be handy to look into other options.

Cheers
Kenilworth

[helens-hens]

my birds can fly (several of mine live outside all year including one that roosts about 15 feet up in a cherry tree) and electric fencing proves to be no problem whatsoever to keep mine in hence why I said a fully enclosed run 

With this place it is only their own birds where they are kept in electric fencing - the hens that boarding have enclosed runs 

[Aunt Sally]

HI Tam

Any chance you can post the link to your website? We're in Bedfordshire and may well need to look at boarding options later in the year....... We're looking at going to go away and our usual house sitter probably wont be able to cover us on this occasion so it would be handy to look into other options.

Cheers
Kenilworth

We have given permission for Tam to do a bit of research but NOT to advertise.

I'm afraid she is not permitted to post her site link on here, although she could put it in her web site area rather than her blog site.

[Kenilworth]

Cool no worries

I didn't see the link to her blog and I have managed to find the boarding website via that.