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So I have at long last had my first chicken mortality, other than a little chick who came defective (poor Beatrix). Henrietta, one of my original five easter eggers, has passed on to chicken heaven. She was extremely fluffy and had a huge beard and a very small pea comb, and laid eggs that were...

I gave my girls half a medium watermelon this morning. Plenty to go around with 14 chickens, I thought. Everyone can eat as much as she wants. Perhaps too much in fact. I went out this afternoon and there was pinkish, wet poop everywhere! I was close to panic when I realized what must have...

I couldn't find this posted anywhere yet so I thought I'd share. There's an article from yesterday on keeping chickens in The New York Times! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/business/04chickens.html?_r=1&em

I am not overly fond of Japanese Beetles, but neither do I want to spray them, so someone directed me to this beetle trap which seems like a good idea. But someone else suggested that instead of a trash bag at the bottom, I direct it into my chicken run! Then the beetles fall out the bottom...

My 1 1/2 week old speckled sussex is gasping and making tiny wheezing noises. I think she might be choking. She keeps closing her eyes and is obviously unhappy. It just started a little bit ago. I searched and saw a couple drops of olive oil might help? But I don't know how to get them in...

I went out to check for eggs, as I do every morning, and pulled the door to the run shut behind me. I didn't pull it tight to latch it, I normally don't do that unless I'm going to be in there for a while. But it was windy, so the silly thing blew open and out went Ethel, Henrietta and Olive...

I'm so excited! I've been giving people eggs for months, saying I would probably start selling them come spring. Well, the girls have picked up their laying now everyone is done molting, so I figured I'd give it a go. A neighbor had said he would be interested in buying some, so I brought...

So I was watching the birds (the wild ones, not the chickens) this morning, sipping my tea and thinking about how nice it was to see the sun, when I saw an unusual sight. Normally we don't get squirrels here, we have corn fields and meadows and not too many trees around us so I guess they don't...

Two male ring necked pheasants have been visiting our yard every day, pecking under the wild bird feeders and running away from the crows (who are equally nervous of them) and the hawks. This is neat, but the funny part is that they keep visiting my chickens! They go over to the run and stand...

Buttercup, my final hold out in the egg laying department, has given in and laid her first egg at the ripe old age of six and a half months. It's exciting! But, I really don't have chicks any more, do I? So it's happy/sad, bittersweet, growing up. I suppose some day I'll have more babies...

One of my EEs, Emma, keeps developing icicles on her beard. I think she must get it in the water when she drinks, and then the cold air freezes it and it just keeps building up. But I'm a little unsure what to do about it. Should I trim her beard, or would that hurt her? Plus then her neck...

My mom keeps a vague eye on my chickens while I'm at work. She only likes them from a distance though, even when they were fuzzy chicks. But she is a nice person, so when she noticed that they had somehow knocked over their outside water she became concerned. What if that was the only water...

Hello everyone. First, background: I have to give away Franco, my very clearly not a pullet, and I'm not entirely sure how to do it. I've found him what will hopefully God willing be a nice home where he can have a bunch of girls of his own. My mom was going to let me keep him and see if he...

Hi all. Polly, my four and a half month old EE pullet has broken the end off her beak somehow. It was bleeding earlier but now it isn't. I feel like a moron as I didn't realize that she was the one with the injury, I thought she had pecked one of the others so I checked all of them first and...

I accidentally (duh ) stepped on one of my eleven week old cochins today. I stumbled somehow and Franco got right under foot. He let out a dreadful squak and then was kind of chicken whimpering. He is limping, and lying/sitting down a lot. I feel absolutely horrible! I know I'm not the...

I ask because when I was at my local feed store picking up chick food, they had a big bin of these little chicks and the label said "chu". I was distracted from asking the feed store guys by the bin of day old quail that made me wish I had an apron so I could scoop them all up and, I don't...

Hi, and yes, this is yet another 'is it a roo?' question for all you wonderful people. These girls (I hope) are six weeks and one day here. Supposed to be pullets, according to the friend who gave them to me, but I am suspicious of Franco. It would be ironic if she turned out to be a he...

Okay, background: When I put my chicks out in their coop a few weeks ago, they did not appreciate the move. I ended up putting their entire brooder inside the coop so they could still be more secure and hopefully calm down. One of the girls, Emma, who has always been clingy rather than...

One of my four week old cochins has decided that the best place to sleep is really on top of the brooder, right under, and sometimes sitting so she's inside the heat lamp. She likes it best about an inch and a half, two inches from the light bulb. She stretches out on her side with her wing...

I got a call from a teacher I know last week. She was raising chicks in her class but needed a home for them once school got out. Of course I said yes! She just brought them out. They are three and a half weeks old and ridiculously adorable. They're so tiny compared to the big girls...