Mud not so glorious mud… for hens, or the garden…
Pictured above are two of our three Light Sussex hens (with Billy the cat, just about discernible in the background). I found out recently that bark chippings are not good for hens as they contain aspergillus fungal spores that can cause respiratory infections, and so the chippings have gone to the compost heap for the very last time. There’s no way of knowing if the mycoplasma the hens got this summer was in any way connected to the bark chippings; certainly it was the constant heavy rain going on for months that would ultimately have finished them, and made for perfect growing conditions for the mycoplasma to wreak havoc, if I hadn’t identified the breathing problems, and sought out the antibiotic cure, in time.
tags: bark chippings, chickens, ex-battery hens, fungal spores, gravel, hens, mycoplasma, poultry
