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Does anyone else have a shipment of chicks next week that is now embargoed? What happens to the chicks??

We have 50 meat chicks in the brooder and they are growing fast. Considering moving them outside at 2.5-3 weeks age -- which is about 1 week away (they are nearly 2 weeks old now). I've started dialing down the brooder temp and they are thriving at 65-75 degrees F currently. (So much for 95...

For those of you who are raising meat chicks on pasture, what kind of cover crop do you use? This year, we raised meat chicks on a cover crop that was intended to cut for hay and found that they did not eat as much. Perhaps next time, just need to mow down the crop that they are pastured on...

It has been a terrible year for earwigs and humans, but a great year for our chickens and guineas! Take a tall-sided empty can (dog food, canned tomatoes, canned soup, etc) and add a thin layer of cheap cooking oil at the bottom. Literally just line the bottom of the can with oil. Bury the...

I just got the tracking number for my chick order and it looks like they won't arrive until 8pm on Saturday. They have been in transit since yesterday afternoon! It seems to break the USPS rules. Has this happened to anyone else and what can be done about it? Freaking out as I have never...

Just had to share a home solution for respiratory ailment that I just discovered. I noticed that one of our chicks (4 weeks old) was having an issue with breathing. She would open her mouth every time she breathed and look like she was gasping for air. I honestly thought that we would lose...

Sorry if this is graphic - one of our hens was killed last night. There are feathers everywhere and blood splatter -- looks like a struggle due to the feathers all over and blood. Hen's face was missing and body was missing feathers along the back (could be due to struggle). The backside was...

Hi all, What do you recommend for inexpensive, vermin-proof feed storage. I'd like to keep the 50- or 100-lbs of feed dry and vermin-free until finish! Feed will be kept outside near the coop in a shaded location. I have considered those 55-gallon screw top pickle barrels but is there a...

I'm trying to figure out if I need to hang another waterer in the pen. I currently have a single 1-gallon nipple watered for 7 pullets. Should I get another? There may be times we need to leave them for a week -- with a chicken sitter dropping in (of course). But it would be nice to tell the...

Well, today I finished building the chicken coop and run (YAY!) I know you think this post belongs in that coop building topic -- there's more. So I put the chicks out today and they had a fabulous time running about, chasing bugs, eating blades of grass (and their starter mash.) I went to...

Hi all, Biopod - that device you can use to compost kitchen scraps via raising BSF maggots. Then you feed them to your chickens and they love it! Sounds like a win-win to me. I know this topic has been discussed in the past but I wanted to revive it again. I think its a great option for...

My understanding is that hens need 11+ hours of light to lay -- my 5 month olds are not laying yet. Is it too late in the season (without artificial lighting) for them to lay? We're in California.

We have a hen in our flock of 4 who picks at the bottoms of the other hens. She sneaks up from behind to do this and tries to pluck out the feathers from the other hens' bottoms. She pecks/plucks and runs. She seems very aggressive about this except for the fact that she is at the bottom of...

I have 4 chicks ranging from 4 - 6 weeks of age, all healthy. Is it too soon to put them outside for NorCal? (San Francisco) I have them in their sheltered coop which is protected from wind inside, but basically open to the outside air temp. Currently the temperatures is 65 degrees (at...

I'm so mad at them. I put them out in a pen so they could run around and get some fresh air, sunshine and roll around in the dirt. I leave for a few hours and come home to find that they have eaten about 40 seedlings that have been growing for about 2 months. Peppers, eggplant and tomato...

We got our 4 chicks at the feed store last weekend. That was 8 days ago. They were visibly all different ages with one (the Black Australorp) at least double the size of the other chicks. They are all "standard" breed. The Barred Rock chick was at least twice smaller than the Black...