Recent content by raylor

Jen, I just saw your post on CL. Wish I had seen it sooner. Caesar's Creek Flesa Mkt is in my neighborhood so I would have been there. I'm a newbie looking for equipment, so hope you do another swap meet there soon. Thanks

Sorry to me a dunce but what do "crumbles" look like? Why does the probiotic need to go on their food instead of the water? Thank you so much.

/me Thanks fore the reply threehorses. My chick starter looks similar to rabbit pellets. A few posts said the chicks assimilate it much better if it is ground up. I will get some probiotics from Tractor Supply. Do you know at what age I should provide grit?

It was mentioned a few times that the pasty butt will get better as time goes by. Does that mean it will just go away and they will be fine with no action taken, or just that it will stop happening as they get older? If they do better with ground up feed, why doesn't it come that way? I assumed...

Oh my, I don't want hybrid birds, if they are anything like hybrid seeds. I obviously have a lot to learn. Thanks for the link, I will check it out. My roo is orange red and black, very handsome. Well the next question would be, is there some way to know which hens are laying which eggs? These...

I have one Wyandotte roo and just ordered 25 mixed brown egg layers. Eventually hope some hens will brood their own eggs. What type of chicks would I get? I don't have a clue how. Would they all be half Wyandotte and half their own breed?

I need to build a brooder but nearly every design I see is for when the chicks are small. Do you know how big it should be to house 26 chicks the last few weeks when they are good size? How much space per bird is adequete? Also, is it ok to use 1/2" hardware cloth for the bottom, can they walk...

Oh sorry, I didn't answer your questions. There are no broken feathers, just a bare patch 1-2" square. I'm assuming it was not like that however long ago she was moved to her own cage cause the owner was surprised to see it and these are honest people. Thanks for your help.

Oh, her plucking them out of lonliless is a possibility I hadn't thought of. Thanks, that could be it. As far as I know, she has always been alone because she is a bantam I assume and a runt at that so she is tiny. Even though my other hens are all gentle, when I moved them here and loosed them...

I was given a cochin frizzle from a flock with a clean health history. When they took her out of the cage to give to me, they saw the bald spot on her lower back for the first time. She lives in a tractor by herself because she is a runt who wouldn't make it with the big girls. It appears...

We have a 2 acre meadow that backs up to a undeveloped 100 acre Girl Scout Camp woods, with a creek at the bottom of the hill. So I'm assuming they will have pretty varied forage available. Lots of bugs, which I assume could replace the protein they would have gotten from the mash? Is it safe to...

If I free range, do I really need laying mash? Was wondering if I could just use cracked corn like they did in the old days. Thank you.

Oh Yeah, forgot to mention that. These are completely inside the coup. The bottom half of the coup is concrete block, so they will have a back wall to protect them from that cold wall and make up in stability for the lack of a solid floor. Just wondered why no one seems to use wire for the...

Can I use hardware cloth for the floor of my nesting boxes? Thought it would make it a little lighter for me to hang and easier to keep clean. Someone recommended putting a piece of disposable cardboard in to hold shavings. Replies would be greatly appreciated as I need to get them made...

Do you have time to answer a few questions? How often do you have to clean the pooh out? I like your wooden trough idea, would it be ook to just set it on the dirt floor? Do you know how high roosts can be? The top of my nest boxes are about 5' so I wanted to put them higher than that? Did you...