Recent content by tymimo

For the last three days I've found the remains of an egg in the nesting box. One thought is that I have an egg eater but there are several other factors. 1. Over the last couple of months I have found the occasional egg with a soft shell, maybe once every other week. Up until this week, the egg...

Found this the other morning on the poop board. All of my chickens seem to be in good health although only two (of four) hens are currently laying (one is molting). Has anyone seen this before or have any idea what it might be? I thought it might possibly be a misshapen egg with a soft shell but...

A friend of mine wrote an article in Saveur magazine about buttered eggs: http://www.saveur.com/article/travels/irish-buttered-eggs?src=SOC&dom=fb I guess the idea is to use softened butter to seal the pours of the egg to help maintain freshness. I asked my friend if the bloom was washed off...

Nice design, very similar to the one I built. The dimension aren't included so it's hard to tell but the angle of the ramp from out of the coop into the run looks a bit on the steep side. You can search the forums on the maximum angle of a ramp. I had a similar issue that I solved by running the...

Hi Noobie, as others mentioned, your first coop looked big enough for maybe 4 chickens. You can search the threads for recommended sq footage per bird. Looks like you have a large space for the chickens to roam in the daytime if you decide to let them range so you could probably go a little...

So heating the bran in the oven won't kill the mold?

A while back I bought a big bag of wheat bran with the intention of adding it to my mealworm container. I finally got around to it today and just as I was about to pour it in I noticed green mold on the bran. Can I sterilize the bran in the oven (20 minutes at 150 degrees) or should I just chuck...

Thanks. I do give them a handful of seeds/grains every afternoon. The mix includes BOSS, milo, one other grain that I forget (maybe millet?) and cracked corn, although it is mostly BOSS. I'm guessing/hoping it's just that she is molting and the other hens are doing her a favor by pulling out...

They get Layer pellets. I believe the brand is Scratch & Peck. I just gave them some meal worms to try to boost their protein. It was just odd that the pecked hen was laying there apparently unphased as she was being pecked by the other three. I just noticed a large bald patch on her leg. No...

Today I noticed three of my hens standing around pecking at something. Upon closer inspection I discovered that they were pecking the fourth hen. The "victim", a Wellsummer, was buried halfway in the litter apparently dust bathing and seemed to have no problem with the other three pulling out...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking but the guy at the store said I should take out all the old stuff. Thanks.

Hi Everyone, I use Sweet PDZ in the poop board in my coop. Over time the PDZ has gotten low so I picked up a new bag. Do people take all the old PDZ or just add more to the existing? Thanks in advance,

Here's a pic of mine. Iirc, it's about 16" wide and about 8 inches below the roost.

I've only done a poop board with sweet PDZ but I've found it to be very easy. Every morning it takes less than 5 minutes to scoop up all the poop with a kitty litter scoop and deposit in a little bucket next to the coop. About once a week I empty the bin into my compost. No scraping required. My...

DE = diatomaceous earth. It is the fossilized remains of diatoms, small sea creatures. If you search the forums you can get a lot of information on usage. DE is supposed to help with controlling pests and parasites.