This is my first time letting a broody hatch eggs. We have her set up in her own nest, but it turns out the other girls are getting jealous. We've had two broken eggs this week. :( I am going to create an isolated area for her, just needed to wait until Saturday (tomorrow) to do it.
The...
We have used chicken wire and have had zero problems even out in the country with a known presence of raccoons and foxes around. I am of your same mindset--first sign of an issue we'll change things. Until then, don't fix what ain't broke. (PS only 2 birds we ever lost to predators were lost...
I threw a big bag of shrimp shells and whole crab body shells in the coop yesterday morning. I came back an hour later and there was VERY little evidence of the treats left. They literally devoured the entire crab shell! There's a new group of girls about to lay so I'm hoping the extra...
The big girls never flew into the fenced off area--but it was only about 2-3 foot wide so I think they could tell they'd get stuck in there. They roost on the top sometimes which meant occasionally one of the chicks got an unpleasant surprise from above. (chickens poop ALL THE TIME). In our...
We have a hen that laid early for her age by a few weeks. She laid for about a week and then we haven't seen an egg from her again since (about 2-3 weeks). (We only have two other layers currently and their eggs are easy to identify as theirs--they each have their own color/size/etc) She is...
We have the brooder in the coop (the coop is a giant walk in space with plenty of room) then when they no longer need the lamp, we put the young ones in a fenced off area in the coop until they are big enough to fly over the fencing. Then we crack the door to the fenced area open so little ones...
I second the idea of turning them into pet food--if you don't have pets that will eat the meat, maybe put it on craigslist--there's bound to be someone who can put it to use. I just hate to see their lives wasted. :(
I actually came up with a different solution all together. I found a spot out back where I WANTED the chickens to hang out and made it irresistible to them! Started putting scratch out in a wonderful place for them to do dust baths and bringing snacks and ice water to that area as well. They...
Not renting per se. My chicken coop is on someone else's property. We co-op the birds with three families. I will look into electrical poultry fencing. my main concern is that the birds have as much land as possible to roam.
We have our flock free ranging on 3 acres. We do not have a fence. So far we've only lost one bird to a predator, but would like to get a LSG. We are also hoping the LSG will herd the chickens away from the property line and away from the porch. (The property owner is threatening to throw...
We have too many roosters and they are becoming aggressive to one another. They are gorgeous and already showing off. Two of the roos have just started crowing and man are they are beautiful sight to see when they strut!! They kind of have a crow-show down--it's hilarious.
Our birds are...
Look it up in the search area. There are tons of posts about swollen feet. It's possible it's a staph infection (bumble foot), in which case there is a thread on here about cutting the infection out.
I introduced two mature chickens to a group of "teens" that had an already established pecking order. Immediately the rooster at the top of the pecking order went up to one of the hens to let her know he was in charge. He puffed up his chest and neck feathers and moved at her. In one swoop, she...