Recent content by Anndie

We are going through the same thing ! We did a head count and came up 2 short, so the search was on :) We found her in the cattle run, which is a high traffic area, under a huge thistle, which my husband was about to cut down ! She is sitting on 10 very small green eggs. That was 2 weeks...

Also check for any dark spots in the coop that you can't see into. I just pulled six eggs from under the steps leading into my coop. Unauthorized egg layage !

You are in bear territory for sure ! And I live near the coastal range in Oregon, I have seen lots of elk poop, but bears have always scared me a little. I know they are around though, people have to protect their bee hives from them with electric fence. :(

Black bear poop I have seen is filled with seed and berries and it is more like a pile , not elongated and kind of folded looking, google elk poop, you will see what I mean

My first thought was elk. Do you have any near you ?

I had a hen get egg bound once. I know with her I could feel a mass inside of her. Can you feel a lump or hard mass in her?

Have you thought about adding a light on a timer to the coop ? Bump the daylight time up a little to 14 hours . And definitely make sure their protein and calcium needs. are being met.

The thing is that unfortunately it can change so suddenly, one roo decides it is time to move up in the pecking order, and then you come home to a bloody mess. I have currently have 7 to 60 ratio of roos to hens, and they still occasionally fight, and they are all free ranging. I had one...

Do the broody test , see if she puffs up growls and pecks at your hand if you dare to take one of her eggs :mad:

Roosters have a natural aggression towards each other, that many roosters together may not end well.

Speckled Sussex ?

We have red tail hawks here, and alot of them. They buzz by the flock many times a day. Maybe because it is a constant threat the roos are more aware. And one thing I noticed is normally there is always at least 2 roos with any group of hens and they take turns eating and watching. We also...

We free range our flock of 60 hens during the day. We do lock them up during the night, but during the day it is the job of our 6 Roos to protect their ladies. Our Boys have a definite pecking order, but when a hawk flies over , they all call the alarm, the hens take cover and they stand out...

Another thing we do that is a little different is we bust out our chicks in distress while hatching. I started doing this when my husband and I about 3 or 4 years ago watched one of our broodys hens unceremoniously pull a egg out from under her , the chick was chirping frantically, she broke...

The 10 are Dorkings, but the hatch before were from my own flock. I put 14 in and got 12 out. This year we have to replace 25 hens to keep up with our egg orders. So we are kinda scrambling right now, all broodys are being put to use, I didn't know if the RIR hen could handle all 10...