I really believe in the concept of free ranging my chickens, but so sad when I lose one.
We have a beautiful 6 acre piece of land, about 1 acre of which is yard/meadow, the rest is forest surrounding us. The chickens (we have six adult hens right now) have a 10x16 run and 10x12 coop with...
Are you a professional photographer? Every picture I try to take of my girls is a blurry mess, no one will volunteer to hold still long enough for a photo.
She certainly thought she was, but considering I got eggs from her when she was in solitary, I'm pretty sure she was just a bully. I sometimes wondered if getting a roo would have fixed the problem.
When you say "bossy," do you mean towards humans or the other chickens? And can you comment on the difference between bossiness and aggressiveness? In the past I had one chicken (an easter egger among 12 other easter eggers) who constantly mounted the others, picked at their feathers, etc. I...
I have 8 easter eggers currently, and would like to double my flock, as I have TONS of room (8 acres of land, 160 sq foot run, 100 sq foot coop), and my girls are getting past their laying prime. Our chickens are mainly pets, with eggs as a side benefit. We chose our next 8 just by cold...
I have 8 easter eggers currently, and would like to double my flock, as I have TONS of room (8 acres of land, 160 sq foot run, 100 sq foot coop), and my girls are getting past their laying prime. Our chickens are mainly pets, with eggs as a side benefit. We chose our next 8 just by cold...
I have the same situation, except the two dirty butts are not lethargic or hunched over. Here's the question I was going to post, I hope you don't mind me piggy-backing on your post:
I have two 1- year old chickens who are otherwise healthy seeming, but have messy behinds. All other 13...
We normally keep her on a short leash near us when the chickens are out. She loves them, and really enjoys laying at our feet watching them. She will let them come up and pluck at her tail or hop on her back. Very gentle dog.
On the day of the incident, I was cleaning out the coop, and...
We had set up a seperate enclosure for our little polish rooster because the hens were pecking his crown so badly. Unfortunately, it was not as secure as it should have been, because when I went out in the evening, he was just gone. He must have squeezed between the top of the wall and the...
You've brought up a lot of good issues. Until last week, the door of the coop was screened, so provided a lot of ventilation. We had a couple cold windy days, and so I covered it with cardboard as a temporary measure until my dad could help me build a proper door. However, the coop is not...
My girls are:
Peregrine- pictured on my shoulder. The friendliest of the bunch
Sugar- pictured sunbathing... if there is only one chicken laying down in the yard, it's her
Bonnie- pictured perching on the chair
Freckles- best friends with:
Twinkle- the first to lay, and has been producing an...
I have one out of my sixteen "Easter Eggers" just start laying last week. So far, each egg has been laid in a hollow she scratched out of the litter. None of my girls will go in the nesting boxes at all, even though we have ceramic eggs in them. Is this something that they will eventually just...
We have a pretty big coop/run setup (see pic) for our 16 chickens.
After reading this and that here and there, I thought that deep litter might be a good option for me because I have a garden, and I thought it might help keep the chickens more warm in winter. I live in the Berkshire foothills...
My 13 week old hens are on Dumor grower/finisher feed. They'll eat all the little grape-nut sized pieces, but leave all the finer "dust" behind. It seems pretty wasteful for them not to eat it. I tried mixing it with warm water to make sort of a pasty-textured porridge for them, but no...
I did build them a little "training roost" about 8 inches off the coop floor, and they do hop onto it during the day, but if I try to take them out of the pile in the evening they freak out and have to start their pile all over again.
Such little weirdos. I suppose they'll figure it out...
Second question of the day....
NONE of my 8 week old hens use the roost at night. They make a massive pile in the corner.
During the day, they flap up to both a low roost we have just for fun, and a "loft" that we built for fun also. I know they can fly up to the roost, because each...