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Agreed! I'm thinking certain treats/produce/feed is seasonal with chickens. During hot weather my girls scarcely eat cooked yams and sweet potatoes. In colder Fall/Winter weather they can't devour the squashes fast enough whether from the store OR from my friend's organic crop. Organic...

My girls consider pumpkins as yard art and just walk past them as if they were just scenery. Not a one was curious enough to check out pumpkin. In the past I tried cutting up raw pumpkin, cooked pumpkin, whole pieces, mashed pieces, Jack O'Lantern pumpkins, whole pumpkins with a small hole to...

Chickens are so fickle. One day they are interested in a food or toy and the next week they ignore it. Then as soon as another chicken eats/plays with it all the other chickens suddenly become interested. Fickle birds

MyPetChicken.com had them but are out of stock. Apparently cooped/penned chickens will use swings but free-range won't because they have so many foraging interests to keep them busy.

It takes chickens a while to get accustomed to introduced new items. It took my chickens 3 days before they'd use the new ladder ramp we made to replace their old rickety one! If they see something hanging around a few days and realize it won't bite them then they will start to get curious...

Penned up birds need a lot of entertainment - swings, chairs, perches, treat balls, dust-bath tub, etc. I saw one owner use a clear water bottle to make her own treats bottle for her 2 pet chickens. They saw the seed inside the clear plastic and kept pecking at it until the seed spilled out of...

A couple breeds I had were respiratory sensitive so I declined using powders like baking soda, DE, lice dusts, etc. There were so many warnings on white food grade DE about wearing masks and goggles and gloves when handling and since I can't put masks/goggles on my chickens I declined using it...

Penned chickens are especially hard to keep busy. Boredom even visits my free-range girls! I have to fence them off while I'm gardening so they don't stick their heads under my tools when I'm digging! Pesky girls but I love them.

"Tilly's Nest" website has an article on how/why the new avian flu is spreading and how the type A viruses mutate -- she's a nurse and is always on top of medical issues re: chickens.

I dialogued with a Texas breeder of several breeds of chickens who said he believes that the size of a chicken's comb has less to do with heat tolerance than the weight of the bird. He experiences temperatures as high as 112 and says his big heavier breeds perish more than his smaller...

We had a Cocktiel for a few years. I read that round wire cages agitated caged birds' vision so we moved him out of his round cage to a rectangular cage. Maybe the round wire chicken treat ball is like a round wire bird cage and scares the chickens? Maybe take the bell off from the bottom of...

Some breeds before POL will have nothing to do with being picked up but seem to calm down once you have them in the "judge's hold" (scoop from the front of the chicken's breast under her with one hand and use the other hand to hold her wings down from flapping). I have one Silkie that tries to...

Our SoCal winters are pretty mild so we don't pen our chickens. Still they like different things in the backyard. Next week I'll be pulling all the dead/dying tomato plants from one of the raised garden beds and then I'll turn the girls loose in that bed to have a go at turning, scratching...

Chickens love au natural settings like plants, wood, and wet soil. Your photos are lovely!

No need to call our girls for lockup. They know there are treats close to roost time so they purposely hang out in front of the coop door milling around waiting for goodies. After our routine bonding and hand-treats time they willingly go inside for the night!

Shelties are a natural herding instinct breed whether it's sheep or poultry doesn't matter as long as it's herding something! I had a Rottweilter which are instinctively cattle herders and he loved herding ME!

We have one Ameraucana that's afraid of Japanese Beetles and runs from them but we have a little Silkie that does the "Whirling Dervish" in one place chasing one of those crazy bugs! She's the only one fast enough to catch one and boy does she enjoy her feast!

I saw an Aussie on youtube build a couple raised boxes with meshed wire over the top. He planted grains and they sprouted through the mesh. The chickens got the greens without digging up the soil at the plant roots. I have a 4x4 raised cedar bed I am going to try using the same way in the...

The important thing about herding chickens is not to make sudden movements or chase them. It's embarrassing for them to get chased and they won't go where you want. I've never had more than 5 chickens at one time and treats always worked for us to get them to follow us. This other method...