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Horrors: Somehow our chicken Samantha got her foot tangled in a string, one that possibly came from opening a bag of chicken chow. I found it tightly wound around her foot over and over, and then bound up several toes too.
Her breed, Salmon Faverolle, has numerous extra toes. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the entanglement to share; when I discovered this, I was totally focused on just getting it off of her. Here she is afterward, though, so you can see her spectacular toes!
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Her foot seems fine now. But being tied up like that must have felt quite awkward and painful when walking or trying to land on a perch. I’m sure it got so tangled in part due to her trying hard to get it off before I realized her plight. It took me multiple cuts with a sharp nail scissors all over her foot to get the string off.
And now I feel so concerned upon seeing these cute capes, sweaters, or ties that people have knitted for their chickens.
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Chickens peck everything apart. There’s this entanglement potential, plus if they eat yarn or string, it can kill them. Something so simple as a string! So please don’t leave knitted items on them for long without watching.
The Chicken Chick offers many other reasons for not putting sweaters on your hens for long.
Sweaters:
- prevent natural regulation of body temperature (“Chickens are living, breathing furnaces wrapped in down coats” with physical attributes that allow them to endure a lot more cold than we can if they get enough to eat),
- trap moisture next to a chicken’s skin (encouraging lice and mites to move in),
- rub against newly emerging, sensitive pin feathers,
- interfere with chickens maintaining good hygiene through preening and dust-baths,
- can form a tasty hen meal carrying-case for raptors,
- can entangle roosters on her back while mating,
- general accident hazard: entanglement with branches, chicken wire, etc. in yard.
She concludes with, “The average, backyard pet chicken does not need a sweater to keep warm. Take the cute photo and then pack it away, with the Halloween costume she undoubtedly also finds irritating.” (ha ha!)
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Thank you for reading my Poultry PSA, and for paying close attention so you can find unexpected hazards like random strings in your coop. May your flock thrive!
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ATTRIBUTIONS:
- First photo of hens © by Tina Fields
- Chicken neck piece image found on Pinterest, no attribution given
- Chicken sweater pic from didyouknowfacts.com
- Chicken thumbs-up emoji by Envato
Indigenize! 
Responses from sharing on Colorado Backyard Chickens:
— Anjela Arnold
Good reminder. I lost a hen to a crop infection. She had consumed a long hair, and we only figured it out ten minutes before she died.
Also, had a string hanging from a light in the coop. Came out to find a leghorn hanging by her foot, in a seemingly impossible scenario.
I now check their surroundings regularly, for strings of anything.
— Barbara Stanfill
Thanks for sharing. You don’t realize the dangers they can get into. They’re inquisitive little creatures just like kids. Also geese seem to like to chew on electrical cords.
Comments on my own FB post:
SG Ledoux – Poor Samantha! I hope her foot is ok. And that’s wise advice!
Tina Fields – SG Ledoux thank you. Yes, I’ve found no cuts from it – feeling grateful.
Erfert Fenton – Oh my! I hope Samantha suffers no ill effects from her misadventure. And good point about the knitted items — chickens do like to eat stuff.
Liza F Carter – That string from the feed bags can be lethal. Sadly, the string got caught around her leg and then trapped her as it got caught on something else. I felt horribly guilty.
Tina Fields – Liza F Carter do you mean you lost a chicken this way?
Liza F Carter – Tina Fields the exit to my chicken coop is through a window. As she was jumping out, the string got caught and she was suspended upside down. I don’t know exactly what killed her but I found her dead in that position
Tina Fields – Liza F Carter I’m so sorry. ❤
Liza F Carter – Tina Fields thanks. It was awful.
Katherine Ann – The bag strings… I think I’m so careful tidying up and I bet at least annually I have to free a foot from entanglement!
Diana Tracy – Much as I try, I’m in the same position; a hunk of bindertwine in the pen from dumping bedding in there, bag strings. bits and ties from the surplus food bank….thank heavens there’s not much meat on them feet;
Maggie Hubert – I saw a wild pigeon once as a kid with something wrapped around it’s foot like that. It had clearly been there awhile because its foot had become deformed around it. It absolutely broke my heart and I so wished I could somehow help but I was in no way equipped to safely catch a wild pigeon. It was so sad. I’m glad Samantha has you to help.
Tina Fields – So I just wrote my first blog post in forever about this, adding more info about why hens don’t need sweaters. Interesting stuff. https://indigenize.wordpress.com/…/chickens-beware-of…/
Joseph Nemeth – Tina Fields And there is a song about wondering why dogs don’t wear pants.
So this has raised a disturbing question in my mind.
When someone says, “This chicken is a bit stringy,” are they implying something about its tragic death?
Tina Fields – Joseph Nemeth that’s a banjo song waiting to be written.