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Mine get leftover potatoes all the time and they're still kicking! LOL! Believe it began with the logical advice to not let them eat any potato skin that's green as that indicates a buildup of solanine which can make them - and us - sick if they eat too much. Somehow that changed to any potato...

DE is the WORST thing you can add to true Deep Litter. It kills the bacteria and tiny critters that makes deep litter break down and work. See link to one of my favorite threads regarding deep litter and what occurred when he added DE to it after the first year. Quite telling...

While a new coop would be ideal, if you can't do that now you could expand their outside run area to give them more room. You could fashion a cover over a portion of the run to protect them from the elements. From the pics I'm seeing they don't have anywhere with much room to go in the event of...

Sorry you're having to go through this and sorry the chicks are having a tough time. I'd call the nursery where you got them and see if there have been other reports of similar losses. This is a real head-scratcher. Possibly their feed is bad? I'd change it given the situation "just in case"...

What symptoms are they showing before they die? Are they fluffed up and/or lethargic? Are there any changes in their poop?

I'd suspect worms as their combs are pale and a heavy load of worms will impact their laying. I normally take a "representative" sample of their poo - mix it up from a few birds - to my vet to do a fecal test to be sure. That way I know what type of worm I'm dealing with and can get the right...

I do deep litter and I don't bother the feathers. They shortly get mixed in with the litter and eventually decompose. It may take a while but they don't cause any problems so I don't see any reason to remove them.

I don't use it. It has its own set of respiratory hazards to both humans and I would certainly imagine chickens. Put it in the coop and the stuff is flying in the air every time they scratch the litter. I do deep litter in the coop and DE isn't compatible as it's thought to kill the tiny bugs...

Health of the bird is primary and standing on wire will create foot issues including bumblefoot. Beyond that, chicken poop will not fall through 1/4 inch wire. It won't fall through 1/2 inch wire. Chicken poop can be rather solid and droppings from full size birds can be substantial in size...

My girls can get like that if they're sleeping in the nesting boxes and pooping on themselves. Make sure everyone is roosting as that will keep their hind ends cleaner.

IMO, 7 week old chicks are physically too small to be integrated into a flock of grown hens, even if they've seen each other. I wait until they're about the same size to give the younger ones a fighting chance.

Go to the Ameraucana Breeders Club website and check out their photo gallery. You'll see what chicks of the breed look like. http://www.ameraucana.org/

Great choices, all. I have barred rocks, Easter eggers, Wyandottes, one Delaware, and one Buff Orpington. Keep in mind that Buff Orps are inclined to go broody so you'll have to either break the broodiness or give her fertile eggs to hatch. Our one Buff Orp has gone broody every spring and we've...

"Hamilton the Musical" Broadway cast recording. Been listening to it for the past 6 weeks!

Canned beans are already cooked so - yes - you can feed them to your flock straight from the can. I give my girls cooked legumes every once in a while as a protein boost. However . . . the great majority of my girls turn up their beaks at kidney beans. I've got one or two who eat them all!

I think you'll find that will help a lot but keep in mind that there has to be a minimum amount of moisture for the worms, bugs, etc. to survive. In a dirt floor coop, that moisture comes up from the soil. You will get some moisture from the birds via droppings and respiration but - depending on...

Is she a new layer? It's not unusual for them to have a touch of blood when they first start laying. Guess they're stretching things out a bit too much. I've had several eggs like that with my new set of girls, too.

Leftover rice that I added several eggs to and fried up, like fried rice. I then added two overly rip tomatoes, a handful of sunflower seeds, and some canned corn. One is having a very hard molt so I'm trying to get extra egg and protein into her. They were happy girls!

I've got a wooden floor and portions have tin over the flooring and have done deep litter for several years. I add several shovels of dirt from our woods to my coop to give it the microbes, etc. it needs to help with decomposition. Works just fine. I do deep litter in both the covered and...

I'm really envious of your dirt floor! Would love to have one in my coop as I do deep litter but the lay of our land didn't allow for it. That being said, I'm not envious of your flooding problem. I've had that situation before and it's not fun. Fix your flooding issue first. We used sandbags...