Recent content by vick01

Also, if your worried about the extra feed on the floor, leave the feeder empty for a bit, and they'll clean it up. Alternatively, scatter some scratch feed on the floor under the feeder.

I've heard of the wild birds bringing in the lice before, but somehow it didn't occur to me that it was happening to me! Well dah! I don't know if I can keep them out, so I'll have to work on building up their immunity, and combating them where I can (dusting box, nesting box etc). I have...

Back in December, I posted a question about my clay floor run. It was slippery when wet, and the flies were atrocious. After advice from these guys, I ended up putting down a layer of cow manure (because I had heaps of it), then straw mulch. The only thing I've added since is a catcher or...

I had a quick look this morning. As she's separated, I can finally tell which poop is hers, and it looked fine. Only a quick look though. She's still eating, and she looks quite alert. I'll head past the feed store today and pick up some poultry dust. How often should I use it?

This is a photo I found on my phone showing more of her rear end.

Enola, her legs used to be pale, but now seem to be the same colour as the others. I've also noticed that her "ears" are turning reddish. I'm sure they are brighter than a few days ago. But her comb is still underdeveloped and pale.

This afternoon I found her lying in a corner. I picked her up, and she was more than happy to cuddle. I know she trusts me now. When I was cuddling her, I found some lice, so I dust bathed her in diatomaceous earth, as it was all I had. I've also thrown it around the hen house, dust bath and...

This is a photo of Stephanie. This is her sister Alesso, who came home at the same time.

The bottle is at home. I'll have to check.

Hi Guys, I have a red sex link chicken who is around 30 weeks old. She is underweight, has a pale under developed comb and wattles, and pale legs. She has always looked paler than her sister, who is the same age and breed. She eats pretty normally, although is sometimes picked on by the...

Haven't heard of agricultural lime. I'll check it out. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks. Gypsum is a type of garden lime (calcium sulphate) which doesn't change the soil PH, but does help to break up clay. Happy to use it on the garden, but not sure about the chicken run. The run isn't covered, so I guess deep litter method isn't an option??

Hi. I recently moved and improved my coop and run to a shadier spot. The summers here have been really hot. However we have recently had a lot of rain and I realised there's a lot of clay in the soil. It makes it slippery for me, and rock hard for the chickens once it has dried. In gardening...

OK. I'll try to move the roosts on the weekend. They may be hard to move, and have to be turned sideways, due to the available wall space. If I do, I'll need longer poles. As a guide, what size poles do I need, and how far off the ground can I have them? How far apart do they need to be?

This is almost exactly the coop I have. The roosts are at the same height as the nesting boxes, and are 50mm (2 inch) round. One weird thing is that there are 4 perches in here, and they are in pairs about 3 inches apart. Unless they are bantams, I don't know how any chickens could perch this...