Recent content by purplepoen

On really cold nights sometimes I'll put Bag Balm on my roosters' comes and wattles, it really makes a difference.

I've tried countless times to hatch chicks in an incubator and it has never worked That's why I'm letting her do it herself. I'll try and be there when the little guys hatch to protect them. Thats really sad what happend to your chicks, thanks for the info.

congratulations!

I started some eggs on 8/31. I have an australorp sitting on 5 barred rock eggs. It's her first time going broody, I hope she is a good mama. I've never had a chicken hatch her own before. I hear that you can sometimes see little veins as early as day 3 when candeling. That means I might be able...

Great info, thanks

I finally have my first broody hen! I'd noticed she'd been staying in her box for the last few days and not letting the other girls in to lay. She wasn't even perching at night. After realizing she was broody I put fertilized eggs under her this morning and she has stayed with them all day...

I usually just use plain water and no soap on my chickens and they clean up nicely, you might want to try that before you use soap too. WisconsinGardenChick- the benefit from a dust bath is having dust in their feathers to make it a less desireable place for mites and such. So by bathing them...

Barred Rocks are great, out of all the breeds I have I would get more BR's before anything else. They are very friendly and curious, however when they are upset they do make quite a racket, but I would say it's equivalent to when my dog starts barking in the yard, so it shouldn't be a problem...

What you can do to help the chicken-I had the same thing happen to one of my girls when I was trying to add her to a different flock. I rinsed off the wound and put her in a seperate box so her flockmates didn't notice it and peck at her more. I kept the bedding clean and put asprin in her...

I ripped shell of a duckling once, it killed it. Just wait it out, it will come of in time.

check your phone book, you'll very likely be able to find a local butcher.

Is that a pea comb?

It's full on winter so they mostly stay in their coop which is in a barn and raised off the floor. Their food is hung and they get dumor chicken feed, oyster shell and the latest left overs. No pin feathers, that was my first thing to check. On less frigid days they are let out to roam in the...

My 3 Barred Rocks crow mostly in the morning and during daylight hours. But they get into I-can-crow-louder-than-you contests that have been know to extend well passed 3:00 AM. Luckily we have very tolerant neighbors!

I hope this is in the right place. Within the last week, in our coop the RIR's of 5 Black Austrolorps 4 RIRs and an EE have lost tons of feathers. There are bare patches on their heads and hips. There is a rooster BR in with them but he is one legged and I've NEVER seen him try anything with...