JP, still a brat? That just doesn't seem to go away with you, smiling, one day, your comeupence will come, smiling. I wondered what those huge trails of blood were in the chickenyard, I was a little worried actually, because all the birds are accounted for. Now JP, my advice to you, dear friend, stay out of my chickenyard. I have "things" in there that protect the critters, you may have not noticed them, as you were trying to get a duck, they lurk beneath the barns, between the walls, and just like that duck that I could through through cyberspace to you, onto your dinner plate, they have capacities that you would never believe. I am shocked they didn't see ya, AND GETCHA!! Watch out, something like boogeymen, smiling..... so much fun to tease, now ain't it, hee, hee.
No scaley leg mites, I know what they are, had them before, got rid of the chickens that had them, due to old age, and they are not present in the houses now.
Fighting. Nope. He is the low man on the totem pole and all he does is run. Never seen any fighting physically between them.
Now the roosts. Hmmmm...possibilities here. They roost about 4 feet in the air. They fly down to the floor. The floor is cement. I have shavings on the floor, but the shavings get blown around when the birds fly up and down. I used to keep straw and shavings on the floor. I think I will return to that. I see in that house that there is a center part that the shavings are not covering, it is bare cement. I may think, upon thinking about it, that perhaps he has flown down onto the cement and may have cracked off his toenails. Today, I will put a thick layer of straw down again, thicker in that area where they land on the ground. I don't think that 4 feet is too tall of a place to get down from, but maybe. What is a typical "safe" height for a chicken to fly up to?
The roosts, they are 2X4, and yes, their toes may curl because the boards are sitting the narrow side up. I will put another 2X4 alongside to make them all 4x4. That is good to know, because I did not know that Natalie.
I don't think that there is anything else out there that they could get caught on, I don't think. I think it may be the roost thing. I will examine Ivan further today.
Someone said maybe someone is biting off his toenails, nope, don't think so.
We are moving the eggs in the incubator to the hatching tray. My Husband built me a grand double tray, of which I will post a picture another time. Beautiful days in these lives we live, share and love, health. Cindi