Posts by Ohhhdear

Yes, they're getting oyster shell calcium.  I keep it in a bowl by their feed, and also mix a handful into their feed in their big hanging feeder.  I also crush up used eggshells, which they gobble.   Our coop has...

Mid morning I went to gather the eggs from my 12 hens. I lifted one hatch and oh, my!  The guilty hen quickly backed out of one nest box, wet with egg white and yolk from the tip of her beak to her ears!  One egg in the nest...

We have 3 really different dogs in our family.  Ours is a very laid-back 8 year old Rottweiler who completely ignores the chickens.  One got into her area... she looked up, then went back to sleep.  My daughter in law has...

My nephew checked on his baby chicks the other night in their pole barn before going to bed.  Somehow, the heating lamp got bumped and fell into their box, igniting the bedding, and then catching fire to the nearby bag of bedding...

I made the cookie tin water heater, and it was superb last winter!  The only time it failed was when the light bulb inside it burned out.  I "modded" it out a bit; my guys had a can of cold galvanizing spray paint...

I add backstrap molasses and ACV to their waterers.

I was watching a program about falconry the other evening, and one thing the falconer uses to calm/control a bird is a lightproof hood which ties gently around the neck.  Basically a small drawstring bag made of a dark cloth, loose...

My ISA Brown hens are heavy production birds, and I have watched them fly 6 feet to the roof of their coop.  So I clipped their wings (one side), and they still can do a standing broad jump/hop over the 4 foot fence, no...

How many eggs can you expect 18 hens to lay?  Well, it depends...... LOL!   How old are they?  What breed?  When did they last moult?  If this is their first winter, they may well keep laying straight...

I have a low wattage (but very bright) LED light strip tacked up high in the peak of my coop.  It's on a timer which turns it on about 7pm and goes off at 8:30pm, then on again about 6am until 8am.  Just enough to bump up the...