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German Wirehair Pointer and Standard Poodle. Hunting dog is a great bird dog, so it's a delicate balance, because we don't want to kill his birding instincts. Our solution is to know where the chickens are roaming before letting the dogs out. The dogs are limited in their area due to a wireless...

OK. That helps a lot in my decision. Think I'll keep the two new banty roos and go from there.

Thanks for the feedback. Really, the only reason I would get rid of Whitey (the current head honcho) is because I'm sick of him attacking my feet and ankles every time I go out to take care of them. Sometimes my mother-in-law fills in when we're gone, I would feel bad if he hurt her. But I...

I started raising chickens a little over a year ago. I had a happy bantam flock of 7--one rooster (Whitey) and 6 hens. The end of May I acquired 6 days-old chicks from the school's kindergarten egg-hatching project. I also let one of my banty hens hatch 3 eggs. Long story short, I currently...

I have 7 bantam mixed cochin/old english--one is a rooster. Recently I acquired six regular sized chicks, who seem gigantic at 5 weeks compared to the bantams. At least one of these big chicks is a rooster. I'm wondering how well they will get along. Will I have to get rid of one rooster? Is a...

Well, tonight I was able to get 4 of the chicks under one hen. I have 3 broody hens. So I moved another one to the spare coop and put a couple of eggs under her. I'll move the remaining 3 to that hen tomorrow night and let the 3rd one try to hatch some of their eggs, if she wants. It's my...

Many thanks!

I was planning on setting my 1-2 day old regular sized chicks under a broody bantam Cochin hen. A. Will that work? and B. How many will fit or how does one know how many is too many? I have 7 chicks. I have a plan for how to do it, just wasn't sure about the size difference.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into a different kind of feeder! I used to have a bird feeder for birds, but stopped it when the sparrows took that over. Too bad because I had some pretty Woodpeckers, Finches, and Cardinals. :(

Sparrows descend upon my run where I have the chicken food and I think they eat it all. Not sure if the chickens are getting all they need. How can one tell? Any suggestions for eradication that don't involve a pellet gun or .22?

I feel TERRIBLE. My first time with chickens and my beautiful roo has a frost bitten comb. Put a bulb in the coop tonight, hopefully that will help. I need one of those humidity and temp monitors.

One of my chickens didn't come back to the coop tonight. I went searching with a flashlight and found her sitting on 19 eggs. I carried her back to the coop and noticed an egg stuck to her underside like it didn't fully exit. It finally dislodged a few minutes later. I wasn't sure if that's...

Thank you for the reply! I was worried about my hens, but my rooster seems to be fairly well behaved, and he's a lot of fun to watch as he herds the hens around and guards them. They are bantams and pets--so no goals other than keeping them healthy and alive :)

It's getting cold in Iowa and I'm about to move my chickens to a bigger coop. They are used to free ranging during the day. Will I have to keep them confined to the new coop for a while so they get used to it, and if so, how long? I also recently learned by reading posts that I need more hens...

Thanks for the feedback MeepBeep, I'll cut the meal worms down.

I'm unsure about what in moderation means. I feed my 7 bantams All Flock and they seem to not like it. They also get dried meal worms (2-3 handfuls a day), some scratch (maybe 8 to 10 oz), and they usually free range during the day. Sometimes I take them an apple or other leftover people food. I...

Thanks for the replies! I think it must be a FEED ME squawk.

I know when chicks are little and are squawking loudly it means they need something (e.g. might be too hot, too cold, etc); does that also apply to adult chickens? It's starting to get colder here in Iowa (dropping into the upper 30's/lower 40's at night, but it hasn't been very windy), and...

Thank you all for the welcome. I know we absolutely can't let our guard down with the dogs, particularly since one is a hunting dog with an affinity for birds. He's had the shock collar on and responds well with that. But I gotta watch him like a hawk.

Hi! My husband and I recently procured some chickens and I just love them! They are about 4 months old, 6 hens and 1 rooster, bantam Cochin/Old English mix. Right now they have a coop and run, I let them free-range after work and on the weekends when we are home. Never had chickens before...