Take care with leg rings
Posted: Tuesday 18 January, 2011
I leg rings my hens - I used to do individual hens, but now I do it by batch. I prefer the spiral type rings as I feel they have a bit of give in them. However, I have used the clip-in ones, although I find they don't persist as long as the spiral ones.
A few days ago, I noticed that one of the Black Rocks was lame. When I caught her (which wasn't difficult), I was appalled to see that the clip-in leg ring was cutting badly into her leg. While I held her, John snipped it off and I gave it a good douse in antibiotic spray. the following morning, she didn't come out of the henhouse and when I investigated, the wound had dried to her breast feathers as she roosted and she couldn't move. Once I'd sorted that, it was another douse with spray and into the broody coop - or Emergency Ward 10.
A couple of days of TLC and spray and she's fine. I saw her today in the "corn rush". Funny thing was, I leg ringed her (other leg, spiral ring) so I could pick her out, but it was the turquoise leg that was most noticeable.
None of the other hens with that type of ring are affected, but they will all be removed very shortly, just in case.
- Previous « Sorting out Sheepfold
- Next In season? »
