Chickens and horses

McNally

McNally

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I remember a thread on here asking about chickens being with horses and a reply saying they were fantastic for the muck heap- I posted asking about this but forgot to check back!
Why are chickens good to keep with horses?

We have some at work free range and they drive me nuts scattering poo in shavings beds but what are they doing? I imagine they help with parasites?

Reason for asking my o/h wants some but due to the above and me having to clean up after them i'm not so sure!
 
We have them at the yard, but if free they drive me crazy. They do indeed love the muckheap, but scrape it all down and over the yard (I like tidy muckheaps!). We have fenced a big 10' wide run along the back of the stables (L shaped) and the hens live in there - give them good shelter in winter as well. Now and again I chuck the sweepings out of the feed/hay sheds into the run for them to root about in, but I don't like them all over the place - they're safer in a well fenced area anyway...
 
We used to have quite a lot of Phickens [pheasant cross] after one lovely owner sent us two broody hens, it all got out of hand and one day they all disappeared, the Lithuanian stable girl had previously threatened to cull them with a "nice thin wire", so trainer was distraight, it turned out they had been stuffed in to a carrot net and released at the last roundabout outside Newmarket!
 
We've got very free range hens. They are a pain (but they're mums and she loves them), thankfully ive managed to educate her to shut the stable doors once the horses are out - they scrat and dig for England if allowed in there. Not good if you've still to muck out.
Ours tend to wonder on the yard, in the lane and their croft. They can also get into the paddock but don't go there often.
As for our much heap, it's in a muck trailer about 3ft6 in the air so they tend to leave it alone.
I did read a thread about bird poo in paddocks and grass sickness, not sure about whether there is a relation, but sounds quite plausible
 
The horses at our yard share their fields with about 8,000 chickens! Very little poo picking is needed. Occasionally there is a chicken fatality but not often.
 
supagran said:
The horses at our yard share their fields with about 8,000 chickens! Very little poo picking is needed. Occasionally there is a chicken fatality but not often.
Click to expand...

lol :D

kick.... wheeeeeeeeeeee..... oh, there goes another one :rolleyes:
 
That made me laugh!
Trouble is although the chickens scrap the poo around they don't eat the worm eggs, so they are like harrows. I have to belt out every morning and poo pick before the chooks get let out as they march straight up to the poo area and start spreading, makes it very hard to pick it up.

ETA and do make sure, like others say, that you keep the stable doors shut...they trash the beds and lay eggs in the corners!
 
Ours lay in the horse mangers(or clever horses) apart from spreading hay and straw no problems, but put hurdles around fodder helps
 
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