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One of the tricks that some people that breed for show use to get shiny feathers is to put some oil on the feed. Mineral oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, whatever. It doesn't take much to make the feathers really shiny. You don't want to overdo it but some is not bad.

I've had several hatches under a broody hen and in an incubator where the last egg hatched within 16 hours of the first one hatching. I've had hatches where the last chick hatched into the third day (over 48 hours) after the first one. You can read a lot about what "should" happen but reality...

The egg laying process is pretty complicated. A lot of things have to go right for them to lay a perfect egg. Many pullets get something wrong when they first start laying but most of them straighten things out fairly soon. Don't totally give up hope yet but I agree, don't absolutely count on...

:lau Hopefully you take that as laughing with you, not at you. I totally understand on getting confused as to exactly how long it has been for some things. The critical temperature is your lows, not daily highs. A four-week-old chick should be able to handle 60 F as long as it is out of a...

Where did you get those eggs? What rooster is the father of those chicks? What can you tell us about his color and breed background? Gold Comet is just a marketing name. Different hens and roosters can be used to make them. All the hens that can be used have the Silver gene and all the...

Since your other yolks are fine then this is an individual hen issue, not something you need to treat the whole flock for. Yolk color is diet based. Some Layer chicken feed contains dried marigold flower petals to color the yolks. Yolk color has nothing to do with nutrition of the yolk...

Hi, welcome to the forum, glad you joined, I just wish it were for another reason. When incubating the eggs the air cell should be on top if the egg is incubated on end. That way the air cell stays here it is supposed to and the chick is properly oriented. You can also incubate with the egg...

Hi. Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined! What do you consider to be a cold climate? We have some forum members in the deep south of the US that think 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) is cold for grown chickens. It is not. It can help if you put your general location in your profile like...

Your Leghorn and possibly Ameraucana may naturally be fairly "skinny". The Leghorn especially is bred to spend her energy on making eggs, not growing meat. The Orp, Wyandotte, and New Hampshire should be heavier. I'm not that familiar with Turken. I know it is June and you are in California...

I like to use poultry shears to cut through the joints and ribs around the breast. That keeps your knife sharper.

Depends on your flock and how you manage them. I almost always have juveniles in the flock so I have food and water in the coop plus two food stations and three water stations widely spread outside. If you have a small flock all the same age one food and water station is probably sufficient...

This is why it needs to go on the outside, to stop the ones trying to dig in. If it is on the inside, they dig under the fence and push up, easily being able to get in. I use about 18" and bury it about 2", under the sod. This holds it down and keeps it out of the way of lawn mowers and...

The air you breathe is contaminated. The water you drink is contaminated. As scary as that is I'm not planning to stop breathing air or drinking water. To me the key is dosage. How much does it actually take to hurt you? As long as I am below those levels I'm not that concerned about it...

Then I have no idea what he is. My guess is that at least one of his parents or grandparents was a Midnight Majestic Marans but that is a guess. He may have the genetics for a dark brown egg but that is no given.

That sounds pretty normal. Until my pullets reach laying age I have two different flocks. The young ones avoid the adults until they reach laying age, then they are accepted into the pecking order. Until then my pullets avoid the adults as they are likely to get pecked or worse if they invade...

The one in your photo is not barred. Where did you get him? Which hatchery so I can look at what they say about their chickens?

The Andalusian lays white eggs and the Marans should lay a dark brown. Most likely some shade of a brown egg but I' not sure what the dominant and recessive genes will be present. The Marans male is black barred. I think the Andalusian Blue is from the B/B/S gene so I'd expect half the...

On common reason for a production drop is the molt. With those temperature changes it sounds like you are north of the equator so it is not the seasonal molt. But there are several things that could cause a partial or full molt out of season. Are you seeing a lot of feathers flying around...

A true Ameraucana is supposed to lay a blue egg according to breed standard. Most Ameraucana sold by hatcheries are not true Ameraucana, they may lay blue, green, pink, white, or brown eggs. The blue is not something that comes later, if they lay a blue egg they start out laying a blue egg...

The tests that prove that growing chicks eating excess calcium is bad used feed that had the same calcium content as Layer. Those levels did not affect all of the chicks but it did some. More died outright and when they cut them others open to look at internal organs damage was evident in some...