Recent content by hamnermitch

Be Patient!!! My Australorps are 20 weeks old and I just started getting eggs from just one of them. Sometimes she lays one every day and sometimes she skips a day. It seems like the wait for that first egg takes forever. My chicks were very skittish but are mellowing out as they get older...

Where do you live in relationship to Ideal Hatcheries? I personally wouldn't order any chicks from any hatchery that was more than one day freight from me. The stress of shipping is a VERY serious issue. It's just my own rule of thumb.

Thanks, I had someone tell me just yesterday to save all of my egg shells and feed them back to the chickens.. Great advice!

Thanks, I thought about the second egg but never thought about the other chickens eating it. That's probably what happened. I haven't gotten any more eggs since then. I hope they all kick in soon!

I have nine Australorps that just turned twenty weeks old. I found our first egg this weekend. It was a beautifully shaped egg, a little on the small side, but still nice size. The weird thing was that the egg was not in a nest box. It was on the floor of the coop and it was covered in yolk...

I have 9 extremely gorgeous Australorps that are now 20 weeks old. They have filled out very nicely, have very bright red combs and wattles, and are just the most docile birds I've ever seen. I love to just sit and watch them. They like to carry on conversations with me. They meet me at the...

Oh yes, we will definitely be kind to them and treat them well. I just probably wouldn't ever buy any ducks again.

I have two ducklings that I just bought about three weeks ago. I'm not sure if they're male or female. We saw them at TSC and the kids wanted them and I couldn't say no! These two ducks are the messiest creatures I've ever seen. They made such a huge mess in the brooder that I finally gave...

Mine are about thirteen weeks old and have done the same since I moved them into the coop. The sleep outside at night sometimes huddled in a pile by the fence or sometimes under the coop. They have finally started to venture up the ramp and into the coop some during the day but never at night...

Thanks for the advice. Checked her very thoroughly and saw no signs of mites or lice. She seems very healthy. I'm beginning to think it may be just a personally trait. She doesn't seem to have anything going on.

I have nine black Australorp hens that are now about thirteen weeks old. They all seem pretty happy and healthy but one of the hens likes to sit all the time. She will walk around with the others a bit and then just lay down. She doesn't seem to be in pain or have any physical problems. She...

I have the same problem with my hens. I have nine black australorps that are about three months old. They absolutely will not go into the coop at all. I think my ramp up may be too steep so I plan to change that soon. I have put them up at night and they just come right back out. They all...

I'm interested in knowing what I can feed my layers besides commercial food. Scraps? What kind? What not to feed?

Great article! Thanks. Happy to report that this morning 8 of 9 had come out of coop on their own and the ninth was contemplating it. In response to the post above saying at five weeks they should still be in the brooder... I have researched that exhaustively and found all kinds of different...

Thanks for the great advice. I've been leaving the light on for heat, mostly at my wife's request! She worries they,all get cold. Personally I think they'll be OK. It only gets about 20 right now and that's nor really the norm. Its usually above freezing this time of year.