why not throw down some sand, its fine if they eat that.

If your goal is to get rid of the ice Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) will do the job safely. Can be eaten without harming your birds. Put it on at night so it has all night to work or else the girls will eat it before it works. It is one of the best for the environment. Small amounts will melt a lot of ice.

There is a liquid form I use in a garden sprayer. A light coating will melt 2" of ice fast. It is more expensive and hard to find. If you use the liquid form be sure to empty the sprayer out and rinse it well so the metal parts won't corrode.

seramas, where can I buy Calcium Chloride? Would Lowes or Walmart have it?

Go to your local hardware store and look at the various products, most stores will carry a rock salt and a calcium Chloride and many will also Carry a less expensive Magnesium chloride (which does not work as quickly as CaCl2 but is less expensive and you can use it in higher concentrations before you do damage to plants apparently) Typically they will be labeled as calcium chloride.

You can get it at True Value hardware, Lowes, Menard, Wal-Mart and most lumbar yards. Be sure it is Calcium Chloride (CaC12) and not Magnesium Chloride. You birds can become sick if they eat too much Magnesium Chloride that is why I included the CaC12. Read the content list making sure you are buying CaC12. Magnesium Chloride won't kill them but will cause damage to their liver and kidneys when too much is consumed at one time thus shorting their lives.

What do you mean, 'what do you do'? Get a video camera and film the girls going Chicken Ice Skating, of course! :) And then post it here!

Serious answer: the sand seems like a great, inexpensive idea.

Velvet ~:>

I think that clearly Velvet Sparrow has the best idea.

I tried to find the LD50 for birds, but was unable too, in rodents the LD50 for CaCl2 is about a quarter of that of MgCl2 anhydrous but as you said MgCl2 attacks the kidneys while CaCl2 attacks the heart, I would suspect through electrolyte imbalance since Ca++ is a more active electrolyte, and if that is the case its less likely to leave permanent damage. I think the key with any kind of salt is to use it only after the chickens have gone to roost, and to be sure that they do not have any salt sitting on a rail to attract their attention. five or six grams of CaCl2 and 20-25 grams of MgCl2 is probably enough to kill the vast majority of chickens.

oh geez....Ann-ee-who...

with the temps going down in the 20's in the day by friday I guess i need to be prepared for the ice scenario too.

As it is I have to come home everyday on my lunch break to give my chickensand goats fresh water and it is frozen everyday.

You don;t want to add a chemical ice melter to their water. I think that most people do not have to deal with ice, even in the cold, it al depends on your specific setup.

My birds don't care much for the snow but they get antsy in their coop and will head out into it if I pack it down for them. If it's icy in there or I just get to feeling sorry for them, I'll throw down a couple of inches of wood shavings and they are in heaven, scratching down to the bare ice.

Go figure.

Wayne