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Hi everyone — Within the next month I plan on doing my annual cleaning of the coop. I use the deep bedding method so need to accommodate a ton of accumulated bedding for composting. We live on a large piece of land in the country next to the woods. I was thinking of dumping the old bedding in a...

My 10-month old rooster has an odd injury on his side: some missing feathers with exposed red skin. He’s eating, drinking and otherwise behaving normally. Thinking about applying chlorhexidine since it is an open wound. Will try posting pic tomorrow. In the meantime, how do I apply chlorhexidine?

Hi everyone. My chicks currently have a covered and winterized run with sand. I was thinking of covering the sand with wood chips and straw for the winter. Is this possible? Does it make sense? Thanks for your thoughts!

Two questions; General advice for winterizing coop in barn? Should I be putting up plastic around my enclosed run? If so, what type of plastic and how and where should I attach it? Thanks for your advice!

Hi! My pullets started laying a couple of weeks ago. Everything is going very well but this morning I noticed shells from 2 eggs on the poop boards! Yikes! How do I treat this behavior?! Thanks for your responses!

Hi everyone! My chicks are almost 17 weeks so I’m about to prepare their nesting boxes. Up until now, I stopped up the empty nesting boxes with cardboard boxes and egg cartons so they wouldn’t go there prematurely and get things pooped up. Well … while removing those boxes this morning I...

I have been feeding my chicks both fermented feed and dry feed since they were a week old. Up until about 1-2 weeks ago they went crazy over the fermented feed (they just turned 16 weeks). Now, they barely touch it. I haven’t changed what I do — the feed is the same, the consistency is the same...

How much ash from untreated wood should I put in the run for a dust bath? We have plenty from our wood-fired oven.

So today was the day I introduced my flock of 11 8-week old pullets to phase 1 of their own garden of Eden: the run. After transferring them from the brooder to the barn coop, I kept them in the coop for 1 week to make sure they bonded with it and saw it as their new home. At noon, I let them...

Hi there! My chicks are about 6 weeks and I would like to start them on grower feed. How do I transition them? Gradually over a week (mixed in with some starter?) Thank you!

I am going to be moving my almost 6-week old chicks from the brooder in our house to the coop. I read that one should keep the chicks in the coop for a few days or longer to get them used to their new base and only after a week or so to move them into the run. This seems very odd to me...

I just noticed that one of my 3-week old chicks (Speckled Sussex) has a very irritated neck with no feathers. She may have been pecked. All the others seem robust and fine. I just isolated her from the others in a small brooder. She is drinking and eating. Here are photos. What is this and what...

Help! I just noticed that one of my 3-week old chicks has some kind of inflammation or irritation on neck. See photo. What do I do?

So my 2.5 week old chicks are all fighting to roost on top of the heat plate. No one wants to go underneath - it’s about 80 degrees in the great room where we are keeping the brooder. I just turned off the heat because I think they are trying to tell me something. Did I do the right thing? 😬🙄

Hi everyone! At what point do I give my chicks Earth, grass, flowers etc? Grit? My chicks are just about 7 days old. I actually gave them a pile of earth with grass and dandelions yesterday, but did not give them grit. 😬 Since they were about 3 or 4 days they have had some sand and love it...

Life means chirps. The chicksters have finally arrived!

After all my research about automatic coop doors, I just realized that I don’t understand how chickens know when to return to the coop at night! This may seem like quite a silly question, but honestly, I don’t get it. If it’s a warm summer night and “the living is easy,” what incentive do they...

Anyone use a cleaner with a power washer in the coop? If so, what kind of cleaner? Can I use any biodegradable suitable for a power washer? I’m doing a deep clean of a coop I inherited … thank you for your responses!

Hi everyone! I have read many posts about feeders as I embark on my chick journey (still waiting for their arrival this month!). Planning the coop and run phase of their lives, I am interested in what folks have to say about where the feeder should be — inside the coop or in the run. While the...

At what age do I give chicks grit and how much?