Recent content by akelley

I have fed ff to day old chicks before and not had any issues. But I never gave them dry, just waited for them to get hungry enough to try the ff. You may just have to stick to your guns and let them get hungry enough to investigate the ff. They won't starve themselves, I swear :)

We split the difference and put chicken wire over the whole run, then reinforced the bottom half with hardware cloth. We also have a hot wire around the coop and run. The only intruder so far was a mouse, and the chickens took care of that for me :)

I agree with them being pullets. That partridge patterning is more common in females. You'll have to wait a few more weeks to tell for sure.

I would start collecting them. A chicken won't sit on eggs all the time; only w bbc.co en her hormones tell her to (referred to as being "broody"). Maybe pitch the one you found . First since you don't know how long it was there, but the new ones you can eat! If you want to get really into it...

My guess is that she didn't prick the yolk with a fork and that is what exploded. Your eggs are fresher, so the yolks hold together better. If you compared them side by side, you would see that the store yolks are looser and not as high and firm as the fresh eggs. I always prick the yolks...

Were they in the shell or out of the shell?

For what it's worth: we don't have a pop door at all, and used pre-fab screen doors reinforced with hardware cloth for both the coop and run doors. I just prop the coop door open in the morning, and latch it closed at night. I don't have a good picture of the doors, but here's the whole setup:

Get a GOOD shock collar meant to train hunting dogs. It should have an adjustable shock, plus a vibrate feature where you have the option to vib/shock, or just vibrate. We start with ours on the lowest shock. Let the dog out and any time it goes to the fence (or displays a behavior you want to...

I always buy the large flake shavings from the feed store, and cover the shavings for the first three days, until they know where and what the food is. Unless they just seem to be eating tons of the shavings, you should be fine!

Yes. They all do it to establish the pecking order. I've got month-olds in the brooder now and it seems like my females are posturing and chest bumping more than my males. Bossy little ladies! Edited: I'm in Texas, too! Welcome to BYC, "neighbor"!

I never feed medicated chick feed. I feed my whole flock (adults and babies) fermented all-flock with oyster shell free choice. I let my chicks come in contact with dirt at two weeks and have never had a problem with coccidiosis. I do keep amprollium on hand though, and am prepared to dose...

I just made a four-hour round trip to pick up my chicks from Ideal three weeks ago. I am SO glad I did, too! The chicks I ordered (speckled sussex) were very small and frail, and I feel sure I would have lost a few in transit if they had been shipped. As it is I lost the three littlest ones, and...

I fermented starter for my last batch of chicks. I am currently fermenting all-flock for everybody, new chicks included. I have never had a problem aith pasty butt, or with any illnesses in my adult birds. I would just ferment your chick starter. It's not any more work than an overnight soak.

We have three catahoulas. DH grew up in Louisiana and always wanted one. Our original 'houla, Bourbon, was a Katrina transplant. Now that DH manages a vet clinic, he scoops up every owner surrender catahoula he comes across. Our newest, Evangeline, was surrendered to us just last weekend...

I feed my chicks fermented all-flock from day one. I've never had any problems with my chicks' health.