Recent content by Chicknlady

lol, I happened to be in the right place at the right time.... just a few minutes ago, I was in the coop filling the feeders. There was a hen making odd chattering noises in a box, but they make all sorts of noises. I just figured I was interrupting her solitude. Suddenly I heard a "plop"...

I have 20 birds, a mix of ages, from 1 to 9. I have five older hens who are pets, and have names and everything, and live off the chicken "social security" program.... I sell the eggs, which pays for the feed for ALL the chickens, laying or not. I'm not too attached to a group of red "mix"...

Thanks for the replies! All I can think is maybe the genetics is messed up, and these birds were bred to lay, lay, lay, and molting is not so automatic. They were your basic "red pullet" from TSC, so who knows how good the strains there are. I'll cull out the birds that aren't molting...

I have had chickens for ten years now, and have had quite a mix of breeds and ages since then. I have 20 right now. Two seasons ago (March 2012) I got 12 "red pullets" from Tractor Supply. They are awesome layers. But last fall, they were not molting like they should have... they were almost...

A few days ago I noticed my Rhode Island Red acting lethargic, was the same yesterday, and today was really bad, hardly even standing, eyes mostly shut. I checked her, and her bottom was all swelled out, and I looked here and thought maybe she had an egg stuck. So I brought her inside, cleaned...