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We have a flock of 5 Austrolorps. As I am talking on the phone I look out the window at our chicken coop. I see one of the hens running around with an egg it it's beak. The hens are young and this was our FIRST egg as far as I know. Did I just create a flock of egg eatesr because I wasn't fast...

Our Australorps are 8 weeks old. Fully feathered and acting like little chickens. They return to their coop every night from their fenced run. . I lock them in to protect them for predators and then let them out at dawn. The outside run is where they have their primary feed and water troughs I...

Our chicks our 6 weeks old today. So... our chicks failed their first " we don't need a babysitter Dad, we will go to bed when it gets dark" test. Went out yesterday to dinner late afternoon leaving the chicks out romping in their enclosed pen. We had hoped that they would make their way...

I have 4 week old chickens. The last few days we have let them out into the outdoor run for the day the weather has been so nice. It is connected to their coop. At around 6 PM I am crawling on my hands and knees as I try and usher them back into the coop for the night. ( not fun) I know adult...

How intuitive are my 4 week old girls? They spent most of the day out in their run for the first time today. ( Beautiful Seattle weather) I set up water and food for them in the outdoor feeders. I also threw some crumble several times during the day on the ground which they appear to have...

My chicks are two weeks old...growing quickly. Right now I have a section of our main coop blocked off to hold the 5 chicks. ( about 2.5 x 2 feet square) A heat lamp gives them an area of warmth. They seem inquisitive and content. Can I take down the wall and give them more floor space? It...

So my baby chicks seem to empty their feeder very quickly with most of the feed going on the floor of the coop. Will they eat that feed on the floor or do I need to keep refilling their feeder? Thanks.

So our 3 day old chicks continue to thrive. All is well. We live in an area ( Pacific NW) that is prone to power outages. Question: The windy weather and flickering lights today got me thinking.....What is a good contingency plan for power outages at this crucial stage when temperatures need...

So we were all set to head over to our feed store Friday to pick out and bring home 4 newly arrived Astralorps. ( They arrive that morning). But I just read that one should wait a day or two to let the chicks recover from their shipping to the store. It also helps wean out those that may not...

I was wondering if I need to be concerned about how to keep our 2 day old(?) chicks warm on the ride home from the farm store to their new nursery in our coop. It is about a 40 minute ride. I actually thought of putting them in our Trader Joe's insulated bag and figuring out something to warm...

I read somewhere that a wood chips covering a vinyl floor is not enough for young chicks to strengthen their legs and balance. That is was a good idea to lay a towel or similar over the chips for the first few weeks to aid in their leg development. True?

I am looking to start a very small flock of Australorps. Our feed store should have some day old chicks in a few weeks. Meanwhile I found a hatchery that would ship 4 week old chicks. ( The price of course is quite a bit more) Wondering if there are disadvantages to buying older chicks? ie...

We have a Speckled Sussex hen ( about 18 Months old) who refuses to stop brooding. She has sat in the nest box for 3 months now. We have removed the eggs from the nest regularly ( the other 6 hens continue to lay in the same box), we have " thrown her off" the nest into the coop, and we have...

Had our first death today. We just found our favorite Orpington in the coop dead. It looks like she died overnight. The other surviving chickens seem fine. She was fine yesterday. Any ideas what causes sudden death like this?

We have a lovely chicken coop that has 3 nest boxes one on top of the other. Our six hens only use the bottom nest box and seem to be happy...laying an egg and getting out for the next hen. Yesterday they all wanted to lay at the same time creating not only a waiting line but 2 or 3 of them...

It is cold and snowy here in Seattle. About a week ago we put in a small infared heat bulb in the coop to keep the temperature from freezing inside. Tonight well after dark we found 5 of the 6 hens on their outside roost. This is the first time we have found them outside after dark.... we hand...

We have 6 hens..... 2 have been laying for awhile like clockwork in the nest boxes. One hen just started a few days ago but she is laying underneath the coop in the outside run area. How does one " break" her of this habit and get her to lay inside? Thanks

We have six hens...two are laying the rest seem to be weeks behind. One of the non-layers has become very vocal in the last few days.... squawking/talking and acting busy. She makes frequent jaunts into the coop but then comes out....I know this is projecting, but is she thinking " What is this...

We got some chicks last May a week or two apart. ( A goldstar laying one egg a day is the oldest!) and the non-layers: 2 orps, 2 delawares, 1 speckled sussex ) Our weather changed to cooler and darker around the same time the gold star started laying.... no other chickens have produced although...

We have 6 hens and a rooster. All grew up together and are about 6 months old. The rooster was a "surprise" and after much deliberation ( and a few neighbor complaints at the crowing) we found a new home for him yesterday. I was wondering what behavioral changes we may see in the flock after...