I have a 5 year old buff Orpington whose vent is very bloody. Not bloody poop, but oozing straight blood and goopy blood clots. No external injuries, and vent does not seem swollen or inflamed. Very much like when a person has a heavy period. (Apologies to gentleman readers.). She is eating...
So, 4 weeks ago my broody hatched a little blue ameraucauna chick. How old should it be before I post pics to find out if little Charlie is Charles or Charlotte?
I say Plinky's a girl. The barred rock looks darker than a cockerel would...girls usually have more black than the boys, so I'll go out on a limb and say girl for that one, too.
I'm FAR from being an expert, but here is my very limited experience: I put 3 fertile eggs under my broody, and only one hatched. We went to the feed store and bought a second chick. I didn't want to set up a heat lamp just until dark when I wanted to put the chick in the nest, so the family...
So, I am starting my little girl in 4-H, and it is best for kids to start with banties, as the kids can handle them more easily. She has decided that the Belgian d'uccles will be her breed, and we will be getting a couple soon. I will do a thorough quarantine follows by a look-don't-touch...
I went with the old lady names...for the most part. We have Amelia, Dot, Penny, Lucy, Rosie, Lily, Dolly, Daisy, and Stella...but Stella, a speckled Sussex, has been officially renamed Sparkle.
My brahma is a dear. Big and mellow. My favorite chicken, however, is my barred rock. She follows us around the yard like a puppy, is a voracious bug eater, and is a faithful layer of nice, large eggs. Our buff Orpington is a great layer, too, and is quiet and curious. I steered away from...
If you go to the top of the page and type "coop in the great northwet" it should take you to my coop. Be careful to type northwet, not northwest... Particularly appropriate right now! Let me know what you think.
I live in western Washington, too. I've had chickens for 2 years, and we seem to be doing ok. Since it's rarely way hot, I'm doing pretty well with a couple windows for cross flow in summer, and some roofline vents year round. I use the plastic nest boxes they sell in feed stores, and I made...
With our first chicks, I started them in a brooder...which they quickly outgrew, so they wound up feathering out in my bathtub. I'd like to avoid that this time! I have a buckeye hen who goes broody regularly, so I'd like her to raise some chicks for me this spring. I have a couple dummy eggs...
I have a corgi, too! Mine is a cardigan named Maddie. She LOVES our barred rock, and went through a phase where she would use her as a chew toy. Had to do a little training on that one. Now she's getting on well with the hens, and is pretty good at herding them. I adore my corgi!
I'm sure other people will be appalled, but when my chicks outgrew their brooder, they had to live in the shower for a while. I couldn't use other bedding, so I went with puppy pads. The chickies scratched them around a bit, but they worked okay, and everyone made it out happy and healthy.