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Currently taking a break from the world of backyard chickens. The coop is cleaned out and sanitized, ready for new pullets if / when we decide to resume backyard chickens. We had an infection of scaley leg mites before getting rid of our birds. How long will the scaley leg mites live in the...

Sourland, Thanks for the info. I did a search and got some learnin', washed & dried their feet (I felt a little like the Pope of Poultry! ) and then applied a mixture of olive oil and tea tree oil with a cotton ball up into the leg feathers. This is how I treated both the Speckled Sussex...

Hi Folks, I noticed one of my hens was limping around and saw that she has some kind of warty growths on her feet and legs and some oozing sores. The other hens all seem fine. Does anyone know What this is, whether it would be contagious to the rest of the flock, whether there is a cure for...

"Time to slaughter the rabbits: Two lawyers and their five kids raise — and kill — animals on a suburban farm" Story from the Washington Post on raising the meat you eat, and doing it in the 'Burbs: Here's the story (video)

Oh, yeah, this is usually the kind of discussion where I'll turn to the newbie and whisper, "they're not very smart, you know." :)

Quote: I've got a pair of Sussex who have been laying little pullet eggs for a month or so now, and this is now what I wanted to hear... :( But, now I know and will be content to get little eggs from them from here on out. Hopefully they'll grow into laying bigger eggs one day. -DB

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this but I've heard that the faux eggs are so that the hen doesn't come out and think that all her eggs are gone, and thus conclude the nest is not a safe place to lay. Hennies are not very good at counting (or telling their eggs from golf balls) so it only takes...

Thanks Rani! They get to free range for a lot of the day and at the end, they go back into the run but just bed down in a corner rather than going up into the coop. It also occurs to me that when we get the first really cold spell when they only leave the coop to eat and drink, that may do the...

I'm three weeks into raising a new flock of pullets I got when they were 4-mo old. I have been placing my 3 Golden Comets, 2 Speckled Sussex, and the EE up into their coop every night to teach them where they're supposed to sleep. This has worked in just a week or two with all my other previous...

there's an ordinance against roosters crowing in my town. Since the hens don't crow, we'll be able to grow them out longer. Hopefully the size difference between the hens and roosters won't be too significant and we'll have big birds to butcher. I consider my time butchering to be worth a lot...

My experience last year with the Red Rangers and previously with the Freedom Rangers has been that by processing time there were usually a few starting some attempts at crowing, but nothing I'd consider a nuisance, even considering that roosters are against city code where I live. Right now my...

They were great. I just checked my calcs for how much feed we gave them as the next batch just arrived and we're lining up a feed buy. After 12 weeks we butchered the McMurray birds. Birds arrived about August 10, butchered on Nov 3 (I think, the Alabama -LSU game was that night...) Total...

I've been piling the litter and coop cleanout, along with kitchen scraps, and other compostables to my 4x4 composting bin for about a year and a half. The last time i added litter to it was about a couple of months ago. It's probably about 50-50 coop cleanout to brown manure. How soon can I...

I've raised FRs and McMurray's Red Rangers, at about 11 weeks we were getting a little warbling crowing, but not full on crowing. Then we sent them off to freezer camp...

I'll probably get more when it's time to raise another batch. I was pleased with the McMurray Red Rangers we raised recently, however I'd still like to get females (no crowing allowed where I live), raise them for about 16 weeks instead of 12 and see how big they get. McMurray didn't seem to...

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Our old heated base just wasn't cutting it on the cold nights it so we got a new one. Before I toss out the old one, has anyone ever replaced the parts inside one of these things? The manufacturer's website seems to be down or else I'd be checking there first. Any info on repairing these...

Unless that smoked salmon smells bad, it's still probably just fine for people food. those freshness dates usually have a lot of safety factor and are planned for worst case food storage scenarios (out in the sun in 90 degree heat). here's a recent article from NPR on the topic. Enjoy! -DB

Thanks! Is that your experience with the Red Rangers or another "fast" growing breed?

I've go a batch of the McMurry Red Ranger cockerels and live in a place where we can't have crowing roosters. They're 10 weeks today, we're planning to butcher in 2 more weeks. I'd expected they'd be just starting to crow at about 11-12 weeks like the FRs I've raised in the past. I think I...