Interesting read.
My objective is to tone down an overly frisky bantam roo. I don't want him to turn transgender, just to take the edge off. This boy is about 6 months old and he is so frisky that all the girls hate him and he attacks people, which isn't cool. Is there any chance of something...
We got another one today. I think it's an older Ameraucana who has always had trouble with thin shells or they come out with weird lumps. She had a traumatic childhood: had all her tail feathers pecked off and was bleeding at the feed store where we bought her. She eventually made her way up the...
Probably one of the young 6 month old layers but we also have 5 year olds. Oyster shell in their feed and a variety of organic feeds, treats, including blueberries, veggie trimmings, even leftover oysters, some free ranging. Probably just a fluke hiccup with a jammed calcium gland or...
So, months later, she went a little broody one evening and the saddle feathers flattened out. She stayed in the nest box 1-1/2 hours later than everyone else, and came out cured and went to bed.
In the photo, you can see Mavis, the hen on the right has all her saddle feathers standing on end, like they do before shaking off but they are remaining erect and only in that area. You can compare to Sarah, normal barred rock on the left. Sarah is smaller.
Mavis is behaving normally. I['m not...
The barred rock on the right has her saddle feathers standing on end. She is behaving normally. I'm not sure if she's laying. There was another thread but no photo and the bird was lethargic, some suggested sick with a stuck egg.
Not my invention but this is my take on a treadle feeder:
The idea is to prevent small rodents from getting to the feed. Chickens hop on the platform and their weight opens the hatch, exposing the food. in reality, it's not all that effective because as you can see, the chickens shovel feed...
Thanks! I added more details if you click on the photos, there are now comments for each one with a little more back-story (original post linked in my signature). I've been working on putting this in a blog or something, wrote a long detailed draft last year that never got fleshed out, and have...
Ha, this is a great format for describing our flock and their personalities!
Our flock started with Crazy Eight (Eightie), the Silver-laced Wyandotte, who had a crazy looking habit of shaking his head. We imagined he found himself having bad thoughts and shook his head to try and clear that up...