Recent content by Brigala

Ok, so it's not as super simple as I imagined! Maybe the best thing to do would be to set up a coop-cam and start with watching to see which hens go into the next boxes at all.

I think it's about time to retire a couple of our older hens to the freezer, but I don't know which ones! I've had 3 of my hens for at least 3 years, and I don't know how old they are but one of them is more or less a "pet" so she can stay as long a she wants (and she still goes broody so that's...

Our roo was over a year old and was still letting the girls henpeck him. Predators are a concern in our area, but our coonhounds pretty much deter them from getting too close. Much of our property is also protected by an electric fence. Between the electric fence, which keeps the domestic dogs...

Does the color of Orpington matter? Someone nearby is selling a White Orpington. I'm also pondering a Sussex since that's what my only purebred hen is. Thoughts?

I was looking at Welsummer, also. By "calm," do you mean you think they are meek enough to let the hens pick on them a lot? That's my only concern with a mild mannered roo. We don't have much trouble with predators (coons, coyotes, etc) because of our dogs (which obviously pose some risk of...

In my flock I have mostly random backyard hens. Our rooster just had an unfortunate run-in with one of our hunting dogs today and we need a new one. What breeds produce good backyard roosters? We were going to replace our rooster anyway because he's lame (which is why he couldn't outrun the dog)...

Iheartchicks<3 : Where did u get these awesome smilies? Google, and then just inserted the picture's url as an IMG. And put a chicken on each end. It's just one big smiley. I checked the smiley archive of the forum first, but they didn't have one. Maybe the moderators can add it.

Is it safe to mark the possible eggs with a Sharpie?

I'm in a tough spot. I found a hen a few days ago that had gone missing, brooding in the crawl space under the chicken coop. She is a Spotted Sussex; I'll call her "Spotty." She'd been missing 2-3 weeks. In that time, she has managed to collect two dozen eggs (our egg production dropped...

Quote: Any chance of getting a picture of the poop slide, too?

Quote: Check Craigslist and make a post offering to upcycle old now-illegal drop-side cribs into chicken coop parts. I bet you'll get donations!

With the new laws saying that drop-side cribs can no longer be sold or re-sold, it seems like there might be a lot of people ditching parts of cribs. I have an old crib-side I think I might use as either a roost or a ladder leading up to the nesting box.

Ok, maybe not worthless, but it would be really cool to see pictures of both the poop hammock and the poop slide!!

Thank you for posting this! I just bid on one. This could really solve multiple problems with the chickens and rain and pests... pests include the sheep, for whom chicken food is like crack. My son has to walk through the pasture to get to the chicken coop and they harass him mercilessly and try...