Recent content by kathytales

I get funny looks and laughter in this ranching community when I consult the vet. I sprout grain for them and they are free range on at least an acre. They have a tub in the chickenhouse for dust bathing and a weekly change of pine shred bedding. Every day they get kitchen scraps and it is...

I live in a ranching area where chickens are just stock. I get funny looks and laughter when I take one to the vet!

We have had several dogs that got along well with chickens.The secret was to make an impression early. A beagle sounds like a bad choice as they are hard to train anyway, and this one is too old. My biggest problem has been other people's dogs that race through and decimate my flock.

I have 20 hens. I sprout organic wheat for them and sell the eggs. During the winter II put a light on a timer so they had 14 hrs. They began laying so many eggs I couldn't sell all of them, so I turned off the timer. After a few weeks my demand had grown, so I turned it back on. Nothing...

Everything loves to eat chickens! I am near the wilderness and plagued with skunks, raccoons, coyotes and weasels. The worst of these are domestic dogs who kill for sport and leave injured hens behind, or weasels that only suck blood from heads and necks and leave a whole, dead chicken. Weasels...

I have two Minorcas. Recently one laid an egg like this, and then they quit laying. There is nesting behavior but no eggs!

When do the pullet eggs get bigger? I have a new flock this year. One of my sex links already has a double yolk, but even those eggs are small.

It is an infection. If the soaking doesn't help or the cysts get bigger they will lance them and give antibiotics. She is to be isolated and not supposed to jump from heights.

What is the recommendation for treating this? The vet says I need to soak her feet 2x day with Epsom salts and Betadine. ine.

I had a metal waterer over a heated dog dish, but it got too cold this winter. And then there is the pooping problem. So...I got a big heated plastic red&white job, big enough to serve my 26 chickens. And...I figured out a poopshield. What you do is, you get a large dog-neck cone from your...

Some of my chickens are getting old, so I'd probably like a couple sexlinks for their big eggs, a Brahma for huggability and some easter eggers to add variety to the colors in the carton. For beauty, a partridge or phoenix rooster, and for dependable lay-til-you-die eggers, the leghorns. For...

I guess I worded that badly. My questions is, are they growing organically empowered eggs inside while resting in the winter? I get a better price for my eggs rest of the year because they are free range and fed sprouted organic grain and organic layer, which are expensive and time-consuming.

I have been feeding only organic feeds, and sprouted grain, to get the best eggs for my customers. When the hens quit laying for the winter do I have to keep this up?

ICKKKK!!!

I try to stick with expensive organic wheat from Azure Standard, but sometimes it's scraps that won't sprout, or immature or something. Then I go to the feed store and get Payback wheat, and it always sprouts. I've tried to find a way to keep this from being a mess in the house in winter. My...