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Hi, I have a fully covered run that is wrapped in plastic sheeting for the winter. I use construction sand and for the past 2 years I’ve added a good layer of chopped straw for winter warmth. My vet wants me to ditch the straw as this is the 2nd year in a row that my oldest hen has developed an...

Hi, I currently have my 18 month Buff Orpington, Holly soaking in a tub of warm water with Epsom salts. Yesterday I noticed she was pink/red swollen and firm - not hard under her vent. She is currently molting steadily and has lost feathers already in the same area. She seems to be eating...

My 3&1/2 RIR still lays a small, usually not quite oval egg 4-5 days a week. The shells are very fragile even though she eats oyster, eggshells & fermented feed. My biggest issue is that the yolk has a "strange" taste (not from foods, as my other eggs are fine) and the albumen is partly runny /...

Hi, Anyone who lives in Brockton, MA, our BOH is trying to establish new strict chicken and livestock regulations. The next meeting will be 11/1 @ 4:00 in the G.A.R. Room in City Hall. We have created an online community on facebook to work together to fight this. If you live in Brockton and...

I live in Brockton, MA. I was inboxed an article from the Brockton Enterprise that our Board of Health are looking to change laws / regulations for chicken keeping. The wording is a huge step back and honestly seems uneducated to today's practices of keeping backyard flocks. A meeting and most...

My 1 year old RIR hen has a new blister (bump/ bubble?) on the end of her comb. She seems ok otherwise. I just noticed it this evening. It has been around 85 degrees and humid the last couple of days. My other 3 girls don't seem to have any on them. Any ideas? Thanks

I let my 4 girls out this morning and began my daily cleaning of the coop, I found 3-4 small flies in the shavings and 1 on the curtain. I did squish them and they seemed full of blood. What type of flies are they and are they biting my hens? I keep a very clean coop and run (scooping several...

Hi, I have 4 hens. Three are 35 weeks old (EE, BO RIR) and one RIR who will be 3 yrs in the spring. My younger RIR, Pippi is constantly pecking people. It used to be shoes & clothes, then lightly on skin when someone first comes outside. Now she is relentlessly pecking hands and any exposed...

Hi, I have 4 hens. Three are 37 weeks old (EE, BO, & RIR) and one RIR who will be 3 yrs in spring. My older RIR is top hen with my EE in 2nd, but usually trying to get in 1st (she was 1st before I got older RIR in 8/15). The last week & a half my EE seems "off". She seems to be eating food &...

Does anyone know where I can purchase washed construction sand and have it delivered in south eastern Massachusetts? I live in Brockton, MA, my run is 16' x 8' and I want to put at least 4 inches in. Any ideas what estimated cost I'd be looking at? I have no clue & want a fair price (as everyone...

Last week I started a thread because I was concerned about integrating a bullied adult hen that I was taking in with my three - 13 week pullets. So, she arrived Saturday mid afternoon while my girls were free ranging the backyard. She seemed nervous (of course) and when she was near my girls she...

This is kind of a backwards issue from the norm. I have three 12 week old pullets that have been together and with me since day 2. A friend has a flock of 7- 1&1/2 year old laying hens and 1 has been bullied horribly. It has recently become so bad that she has asked me to take her bullied hen. I...

My girls? are 9&1/2 weeks - RIR, BO & EE. I got them at a local feed store as day old (pullet) chicks. I'm nervous about having cockerels as I live in a city with a no rooster law. Any insight in sexing would be greatly appreciated H

Hi, my chicks are 4 weeks today! I started with 4 - day old chicks. From the start I had concerns that 2 may be roos (mostly by their size). One is a BO & the other is an EE. They were and still are substantially larger than my RIR & PBR. Sadly my PBR was killed by my Jack Russell Terrier. My...

I recently lost one of my four 3 week old chicks to my own dog. I am devastated over the loss of little Shirley, a Barred Plymouth Rock, who was so sweet and shy and beautiful! I don't blame my dog Spike a 15 year old Jack Russell Terrier for doing what is instinctual for him. And I can't blame...