Recent content by Obiwan Henobi

I've never given meds to a chicken before. Does calcium citrate come in pills or powder form? How do I administer--dissolved in water? I am certainly willing to treat her with anything that might help, I've just never done it before. She does have consistent access to crushed oyster shell...

Thanks for the reply! I think the issue is resolved--see my response to Orelsi.

After I got home from work I checked on her and she still had some of the membrane protruding from her vent. I was able to gently pull and I'm pretty sure the rest of the membrane came out. It certainly looks like it was a rubber egg that had collapsed inside. I've seen rubber eggs/no shell eggs...

last night I discovered that our black Australorp (about two years old) had what appeared to be the remains of a egg shell membrane protruding from her vent. She was already roosting with her sisters so I removed her from the coop and have her isolated. About an hour earlier, I had observed her...

LOL...That sounds like our girls! We have 5 hens and 3 next boxes. All of them use the same box. One time I found both of our Rhode Island Reds using the same box at the same time. Funny creatures...

Yeah, ours seem to stretch it out throughout the day too.

Interesting! That sounds like our Mable, but she's never laid twice in the day.

I wonder why some turn their nose (beaks?) up to the pellets. I've seen several posts saying that their hens prefer pellets vs. crumbles (or vice versa) but I've feed both forms to our girls and I've not noticed any real preference.

What's the latest time of the day your hens lay eggs? We have 5 laying hens. One of our Easter eggers is usually the first, usually before 9:00 am. But our black Australorp is usually the last, sometimes not until after 3:00 or 4:00 pm. It doesn't really matter to me, but I had read someplace...

Thanks! That's good to know. I do supplement crushed oyster shell. I just started using Purina All Flock 20% but the Kalmbach is a bit cheaper so I may switch to that when the Purina feed runs out.

I almost picked up a bag of this, but read the feeding instructions on the bag that said it was for "... pullets up to laying age...". I took this to imply that it isn't intended for adult hens. Am I wrong? Is it okay for laying hens?

We have been feeding our hens Kalmbalch All Natural feed (17% protein). Is this a good feed? I am just curious what others are feeding their birds. Ours seem to be doing well on the Kalmbalch, although I suspect they are feather picking which some have suggested may be the result of a protein...

I couldn't find this in stores so I ordered on-line through Tractor Supply. We administered the first application today. I'm also going to supplement their feed with dread mealworms every other day. Keeping fingers crossed that the girls will start getting some of their fluff back soon!

My wife is a Barry Manilow fan. We (she) named ours the Coop-a-Cabana. ;)