Recent content by lkgerr1

Turns out the cold bothered me more than them. They still went outside in their run every day

It is zero degrees. It will snow for another month. So NOW Gimpy (nicknamed after injury which healed) decides to go broody. She broke herself last time, so I suppose it's too much to ask she decides motherhood in the winter is overrated......

I am expecting some really cold weather - temps will be -20F/-30C. My coop is fairly well insulated and I have put down extra bedding and a fresh bale of hay in the run (which is wrapped in greenhouse plastic. Still worried about them as this is the first time it will get THAT cold.

The eggs can be used for almost anything. Because of the shell changes, not recommended for boiling but that's it.

I went out this morning and lost 2 hens to an ermine (pretty weasel but still a weasel). First predator loss. I'm heartbroken. And putting up yet more hardware cloth.

My flock was all the same age as well. We put a light on in the coop in the evenings and they used that to guide them to bed. We stopped after a few weeks but still check each evening (auto door closes) and during the heatwave had to reopen door and shoo them inside.

My first eggs were laid today. One this morning and one this afternoon while I was doing some chicken chores. I witnessed Betty White (ISA Brown) lay. She tried out 3 nest boxes and kicked bedding out of 2 of them. She was a bit anxious and vocal. She had been singing the egg song but then...

Yup. Got our first egg the next day!

One of my girls laid our first egg and it is so exciting! They pushed the fake egg out of the nesting box and laid in the box. My question is do I leave the fake eggs in the boxes, leave the real egg in a box or pull everything and see what we get. Time to get the layer feed!

I think the biggest thing is that any of the girls not interested have plenty of room to get around him. He only chases them first thing in the morning when he waits under the roost for them to start coming down. They seem annoyed more than stressed. Although nothing is as funny as my Saphire...

This is my first year with chickens. I have a flock of 10 - 3 pullet leghorns, 4 ISA Browns, 2 likely Saphire Gems, and a likely Saphire Gem cockerel. They are all about the same age at just about 16 weeks. The girls haven't started laying yet. Roo has been trying to mount the girls but they are...

Based on trying to figure out the sex of one of my other "barred rock" chicks that appears to be a mystic marrans - it would appear that the chicks mom may have been a barred rock but their dads were likely from another breed. Having looked up these breeds and seeing how beautiful they are going...

Honestly, as long as they lay eggs I'm not worried about what breed they are beyond wanting to know what type of mix I have.

I bought at TSC as chick.

I just looked up the Saphire Gem as I didn't know the breed - they will be beautiful birds when they finish growing up!