Recent content by beaker

Is there a good way to introduce the chicks to the broody hen? I have 3-day old chicks and would like to introduce them to my broody.

The Chickens' Maid : Just curious . . . who was showing the seramas? Dick Hauff, from Agawam MA. I love how they are all so different.

Quote: Excellent article, thanks for the link. And a really useful thread, as we peruse hatchery catalogs and contemplate next year's menu options.

I have about a dozen Australorps, they are nice birds and good layers. I did have several go broody last summer/fall though, and were quite determined about it. I haven't let one be a mommy yet, maybe this coming year. That blue boot-hating rooster is very weird - I thought chickens couldn't...

Wow! Eggs from chickens fed conventional feed go for $3.50/dz easy around here, organic fed eggs $5/dz or more. Any free-range eggs get snapped up at those prices here. As you say, regional difference in price are really substantial, but certainly to me $1.50/dz sounds very low.

Some of my eggs also occasionally have a little blood on them. More likely with new layers, I think. As for the cracks, if I leave eggs in the coop too long when it's cold they crack like that. Missing chickens, though, that's more worrisome...

Quote: My Speckled Sussex hens were born this spring, so they had only been laying a few months when the cold set in. I do believe they quite laying (or some did, anyway) when it got cold; then we had a 5-day power outage (so no light in coop) and darn near everyone quit laying. So end of...

I had one of my SS hens drop dead this morning, & am trying to figure out why. I had 5 SS hens, and all of their combs bleached to pink as soon as it got cold this fall. So I've been concerned about their cold-heartiness. It has been VERY cold - lows near 0 F at night. I assumed since they are...

A friend got chicks two-three weeks ago, and one (a black Austrolorp, I think) sneezes and shakes its head frequently - like every few minutes. I believe it has been doing this since it arrived, or soon thereafter. It is a little smaller than the other chicks, but otherwise seems perky and...

One of my hens did the same thing, she did such a good job protecting her babies (VICIOUS to the other chickens if they got too close) that the others quickly learned to avoid them. So we decided to leave them all with the rest of our chickens (we now have about 50!). Babies are now a few weeks...

Three of my six Hamburgs are (or were recently) broody. The first snuck off in the wilderness and came back with 10 chicks, 9 of which are now independent from mom. The other two are brooding in the same corner of the coop, despite all my best efforts to discourage them. We need eggs not babies...

He is a 1-year old and a real beauty. Calm and not at all aggressive, likes treats. A McMurray mystery chick, we have too many roosters so he has to go!

I had a young rooster that never crowed even once while stuck in the coop this winter with the other roosters. As soon as I opened the door to the yard this spring (we still had 3 ft of snow but I threw sawdust on top of it near the door, he marched right out onto the snow & started crowing. I...

This morning I checked on my chickens and wondered why there were a bunch of little black birds in with them. Once I got closer, I realized they were chicks! My Hamburg hen that disappeared 3 weeks ago returned to the chicken yard with her 10 teeny chicks in tow. I thought about separating them...

organic feed is made with grain grown without pesticides, the bags are marked certified organic (very clearly, to justify the price!). We have tried to keep our chickens on organic feed, but it is difficult to get ahold of at times, especially the chick grower/starter. And did I mention the...