The signs have been all over. From eaten seedlings in the garden to fresh piles of poop on my back steps. The chickens have been slipping out of the redone run. I installed outdoor cameras over the weekend that alert my phone of movement. Unsurprisingly I'm finding my usual wandering culprits...
Just as the title says, my female Cornish Cross laid an egg. I've been keeping her inside my mudroom ever since I noticed a big gash thanks to the rooster trying to mount her. Well to my surprise tonight when I went to clean the bedding and change out her water, I found her laying next to a egg...
Young hen that yesterday was running around just fine. Laying eggs daily, I know cause she's the only blue egg layer. Today I came home to her laying in the grass and pulling something from her vent and eating it. It looked like a soft egg. Next too her was a warm freshly laid egg. She's since...
I have a few roosters I've transferred a couple of weeks ago to a smaller enclosure to give my main flock a break and to hopefully plump them up for butchering. They range in ages from 7 months to 4 months old. I processed two of the older roosters Sunday that looked pretty big, only to find...
I had posted a few months ago when they were still little. I'm feeling pretty happy with my Maran mixes. All three started out as little black fluffs with a white chest spot. The roo recently began to flourish with colors. One of the pullets that is mixed with the Easter egger puffed up a beard...
I have a couple potential Roo's I'm planning to list locally. I usually give my boys a chance at other homes before they get sent to the freezer. They're just so damn pretty, I hate this time of year when I need to make the choice of who stays and who goes.
Do any of these actually look like...
I've got a inkling of who her parents are but for fun I thought I'd pick the brains of this community. Three months old, hopefully pullet. Hint, I don't have any Ayam Cemani in my flock.
Just wanted to show off my handsome bearded roo I got from a Red Easter Egger rooster and Light Brahma Hen. I was so sure he was only going to have traits from his mother, then the beard fluffed out.
Random tractor supply chick I added to my flock this summer. Approx 12ws old and very friendly. I noticed today while giving pets some red poking through around the neck and body. At first I feared blood. Turned out it was the feathers themselves. Is this normal for a barred rock?
Despite abandoning her eggs after the first one hatched under her, I've been super happy with how receptive this mama hen has been to daily additions added under her wings.
For what ever reason after the first hatched, she killed one in egg and then left the box. I came home to one chick almost...
I got a fun surprise today as I checked my broody mama. I wasn't sure about letting her sit on the eggs at first. I've given the fizzle/silke mix a chance twice just to see the eggs abandoned after two weeks each time. But this mama was way way more protective and assertive when I first found...
I have two pekin ducks in my flock and I was surprised to find their first eggs last week. What was truly surprising though was where I found them. While collecting chicken eggs from the nesting boxes I kept finding a big jumbo egg among them. I have three young hens that I knew would be just...
So this morning while checking my flock I was taken by surprise when a rooster I had never seen before popcorned off one of the runs shelters. Clearly I surprised him just as much as he did to me. Now I live in a residential neighborhood within town and mostly familiar with the two other homes...
Little frizzle Serama was the only one of 12 eggs to hatch that were mailed to me. Not the first chick I've hatched but definitely the first time I've experienced this level of social comfortability.
Four are TSC chicks and five I hatched from a barnyard mix. My little white banni rooster is head honcho in this flock. Even if he's the second smallest around he happens to have the biggest attitude!
...so I can't make drastic changes that would allow me to bolt the gate down and lock it. I'm not sure what to do to keep my chickens safe.
Edit* Pictures and update!
My gate was open again when I came home. One of my hens locked inside the coop, this makes the second time I've come home to...
Its my first time ever raising chickens so I'm super stoked to find my first egg. Heard my 18week old jersey giant making a ruckus this morning and was hoping it was the egg song I've heard about. But now I've gotta deal with was her choice to lay outside the nesting box.
My chickens ever since being introduced to their house after the brooder have never given me issues going to bed. Like clockwork I can go out at the same time every night and close up the coop. Tonight though for some reason I open my back door to find the whole lot waiting for me.
Any idea...