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That's a great cart, AV8RChick! Using that dolly was a brilliant idea, and I bet Foghorn appreciates that he's not limited to just "forward" and "backward" mobility options. His cart's design is less hard on the feathers, too; another big plus. I love seeing the creative ways people find to...

Just found this thread. I did have some trouble when I let two broodies share the "broody apartment." One of them, a d'Uccle, hatched out yellow chicks with stripes. The other, a bantam Cochin, hatched out some yellow with stripes and some dark brown chicks. The d'Uccle conceived a hatred...

This breed is really hard to tell gender on when they're young. I have the same problem with my Easter Eggers. One youngster (EE mother, Andalusian father) pretended to be a pullet until he was 4 months old, whereupon he hit a massive growth spurt and that cute little pea comb morphed into a...

My hens do this too. Sometimes I'll have a broody who seems to understand which box is "hers," and defends it against all comers for a week or even two . . . but sooner or later she gets mixed up and abandons her clutch for the eggs in a different box. I'd recommend fencing off a little area...

One of the Easter Egger mutts we had as kids lived to be thirteen years old. This was despite the ruptured crop that she developed around five years old: she just walled the site off and it didn't do a thing to her for years. She was the longest-lived of her bunch. Currently my oldest hen...

I don't think she'll be bearded. I haven't raised a lot of Silkies, but I've raised a few d'Uccles, Polish, Easter Eggers and interesting mutts that were bearded. Your little one looks like she's going for the "clean-shaven" look.

I haven't tried using a greenhouse, but I would worry a lot about things getting too hot in there. They're designed to concentrate light and heat, after all. If you replaced or covered the clear roof and south wall with something completely opaque like wood or tin, then it might work OK. But...

Feed stores do tend to order from hatcheries this time of year, which pushes the probability of these being purebred up several notches. They are very cute chicks, certainly, and I agree, having a variety of colors in the flock is lots of fun! If you want to see photos of different breeds...

I'm not familiar enough with Leghorn chicks to say whether they look like Leghorns or not, but it's early days yet. That pale down will either turn to white feathers, or they'll start developing some color within the next 2 months. Leghorns will be lighter and leaner; Rocks will be sturdier...

Hmm. Are they definitely purebred? If they are, that makes it easier to figure out. With purebreds, you can look at leg color, comb type, extra toes, presence or absence of leg feathering, etc. and narrow down the choices quite a lot. If they might be crossbreeds, however, then we've got a...

Mm. I'm no trained craftsman, but it looks as if you just need a stable enough framework to hang a door from, and you'll be good. If you plan to build a door out of wood and wire, you'll probably need a wood framework to hang the door from. I might be tempted to build a rectangle out of...

Woi. Thanks for the heads-up; I have one of these incubators, and will have to take a good squint at the base to see if it's from the recalled batch or not. I used it two summers ago; had indifferent success with chicken eggs, but it did rather well with peacock eggs. Catching fire, though...

How much you ferment will depend on how many birds you're feeding, how much of their diet you want to be fermented feed, and the size of your fermenting tub or bucket. Some of the hard-core fermented feed people use a small plastic trash can to do the fermenting. For my lot, I use a small...

Thank you for the info!

If the culture were something other than the active species in the apple cider vinegar, it could potentially cause harm, yes. However, there are several factors that work against culturing the wrong bugs: 1. The apple cider vinegar mother is fast-multiplying and creates an acid environment...

Really? Had no idea.

Sadly, bird medicine is still in its early stages, and there's a much stronger focus on high-dollar birds like parrots than there is on poultry. Parrots are not poultry; they're a completely different animal. Sometimes a vet might freeze up because they know how to treat a parrot, but nobody...

The fermented feed smells a bit yeasty and a bit fruity. When it's 24 hours old it smells rather nice. After 24 hours, it starts getting a little feisty as the culture gets stronger, but it never smells rancid, foul, or spoiled. With care you can nurse it along for several days without it...

My birds crave greens like crazy when going through a molt. Do you have any grass you can give them? Or will the local grocery store give you old wilty greens? My birds go nuts for collard greens, broccoli, and bok choy, and they even like green cabbage (didn't much like the red, though)...

Something also to consider: with chronic respiratory infections, some birds get abscesses in their sinuses. A chicken abscess is a firm tight wad of yellow cheesy material (pus). You can't squeeze it out like a cat abscess. The hard pus creates a hiding place for the infection, and it also...