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Update on our chicks. my wife Schmije posted earlyer in the thread.... we set 30. at lockdown we candled and removed 11 - quiters. we marked 3 others as likely no-go but because of dark shell colors we were unclear so we kept them in. As of this late morning we have 4 hatched with more...

I feed slightly more... id say currently around 40 chickens. a 50lb bag of food lasts 4-5 days, toward the 5 days in the summer when they free range, 4 days or under in the winter when they have no forage.

In the wild they would roost in trees. branch diam of 2" or so seems to be favorite. I use a 2x4 on edge for long spans or 2x2 for short spans of 4' or less. pipe is often talked about but is a poor choice. PVC is generally to slick and lacks sufficent rigidity, and metal pipe will get to...

Its time to buy some more feed so ive been pouring over some records and comparing to some other sources. Another source i recently read stated a non-laying chicken would consume 60lbs of freed a year. and a laying bird nearly 90lbs. As all my birds arnt laying i used an avg of 80lbs/yr based...

+1 we currently have 3 because we wanted the option of doing full breed buff orps, but the buff roo has always been an outcast and our 15 new girls seem to have at least one roo so we will likely process him at the next chance. this will put us in the 12-15 hen per which i think is a good ratio.

Ive heard of snakes eating eggs. but a 4 month old chicken. what size snakes you grow down there that would get into a coupe? If they are roosted on a high roost and require a jump of 2' or more i would think they would be safe from most snakes that would try to eat them.

We free range exclusively. -I have taken steps to try to mitigate losses from predators. Roosters will keep the flock safe from overhead threats. I lost quite a few small birds (not fully grown yet) to an owl one year, but that was a separate flock that had no roo with it. -losses from...

bad idea to include pesticides. If you provide DE (diatomaceous earth) that is all you need to effectively controls ticks, etc. You can search or google how DE works for a better understanding.

I never considered it a weight issue (unbalanced) and more of a lift issue. the feathers that you have clipped dont perform the same, eg dont provide the same mount of lift on that side of the bird. so its extremely difficult to fly in a straight line anymore. so they aim for the top of the...

There are multipul threads on merging flocks. Physical size is key as well as numbers. merging 2 new girls into an established group takes much more time than merging 2 groups of simular sizes. For this type of combine we usually include the little ones inside the coupe of the big girls with...

Chickens should be provided a source of grit. It can be purchesed by the bag at the feed store. (generally they are grannet chips) There is chick grit also. I supply both grit and oystershell freely from rabbit feeders. they will go through about 4x grit to oystershell. They probably...

Prove that i did anything. "Im not saying i did clip the wings, but we discussed this with the animal control who said I was clearly in my right to kill other animals that were endangering my own livestock. I think you would agree that a few clipped feathers is better than just not having...

interesting. I love my buff orps. I think they are my most fav breed for egg laying, potential broody and friendliness. In our current flock our 2 most friendly chickens are buff orps. Course one or so layer groups before, the queen of the roost was a orp who was clearly top of the...

We have had good luck with friendly roo's We stick to large breed roos and we really like them. Just enough aggressive to protect the girls and do there jobs, but certianly dont chase you or others that come to feed treats. We have turned several into chicken n dumplings that have chased...

You need to reconcile this type of attitude toward the chickens else you'll never develop a satisfactory solution. Protection of your property is a serious matter that neighbors need to understand has real consequences. From the sounds of it your unlikely to get a diplomatic solution out of...

Can I get an upgrade from 4 to 6 please?

This is mostly covered in the meat bird section. I am currently in the process of rebuilding a large portion of our old barn to accommodate what will be 40 chickens. I was hopeing i could put this thread in our new forum as I plan to discuss some of the issues ive had to deal with that normal...

you can take a second small chick and put it in with him. or give him a mirror. he will see himself and think its another bird and not think he is alone. (we have used this before in chicken ICU)

Eating eggs is a sign of an imbalance in diet. usually they are craving the calcium in the shells. Make shure you have a good supply of 16% or better protein layer feed, and provide free access oyster shell. (grit also)

agreed, very good info This sort of issue is becoming more and more the norm. A never ending flood of questions quickly drowns out good information. IMHO each forum should have a sub forum of FAQ threads maintained by the mods. Then info like this could be easily categorized and found in...