Recent content by Muddy

I trust my dog with my chickens. One I trust 100%, the other, more like 80% because while she does chase on occasion, and I worry she could hurt them if she got too excited, as she's still pretty young. However, I don't ever leave them alone with chicks, because they are just too small...

We lost over a dozen chickens in a short period of time about a year or two ago. When we finally caught an animal, it was a raccoon. Did away with it, and the losses stopped immediately. It's hard to believe a little raccoon could do so much damage.

We got chickens well after my dogs were grown (around 9-10 years old) and they never chased my chickens. I was probably lucky, but when I was having predator trouble (turned out to be a raccoon) I put my dogs in the pen with them for a week while we worked out how to secure the area better...

I worry that it is too late. I didn't realize how bad her leg was (my husband tends to the chicks mostly) until recently, and it wasn't until yesterday that I started reading up on it and seeing thing could be done. I wish I had been more proactive. Kicking myself now. Could I still try, or...

Here are a couple of pics. The camera scared her and the flash really freaked her out (I say her, but I actually don't know the sex, I just default to female with my chicks for some reason). So the pics aren't great. In the first you can see her on her on her good leg. In the second you can...

I don't wear black because I always end up with white critter hair or some mishap and it is very pronounced on black. I'd buy any of the other colors though! Blue is my favorite.

I think I will keep her. She get's around okay. Not fabulously, but she stays upright and gets to her food with no problem. We have older chickens, so I'm nervous about integrating her with the rest, but we've got a little while before that time comes. Feels sort of silly just raising a...

We hatched some chicks a week or two ago and one of them was born with only one leg working. I figured at first it was just taking more time to adjust than the rest. Then we discussed culling it. I didn't look at it closely, myself, which I regret now. I decided we'd just leave it be as long...

That's terrific! Glad they all sound so healthy. :)

I ordered from them once. Only one was DOA, but others dropped off fast. I was frantic trying to keep them alive. It was awful. I was having nightmares about dead and dying chicks. The ones that made it did well though, and the ones that weren't meat chickens are healthy and good layers...

I have been planning to give them more perches. I hadn't considered that as an issue though. Thank you for the suggestions. I will try all of them. :

I'm not exactly new, because I posted in this thread ages ago, when we first moved to Northern Alabama and hadn't even started raising chickens yet. Then so much went on that I didn't end up posting much here. But I should have, because we have been through so much trial and error! Now that...

OMG Ducklings are insanely adorable!!! Telling myself "No! You don't need ducks right now!" Loving all the chick pictures. I love baby chicks.