Recent content by carlsaSC

Huzzah! Recovery has been amazing. Thanks for the hints. Poly-Vi-Sol plus scrambled egg with garlic powder and oregano added, and she's up, eating, pooping and acting like all the rest of her clutch. I hope reintroducing her to the flock goes well and will do this evening.

She seems to have no strength in her neck. We've started giving her some Poly-vi-sol, and she did live thru the night. So, today we'll try the egg. Going to add the vites to the other chicks' water. Oh, and thanks for the hints and video.

Just noticed this symptom in a month old buff orpington chick. Looking for information. Should probably separate her from her clutch.

I have a mutt hen that I hatched out. She is fully black with a bright red pea comb. I think she is about 3 years old. She used to lay green eggs like an Ameraucana--there is some in her lineage. Now, she does not lay and has a crow that sounds like a young roo just learning. She has fully...

I had a barred owl in a tree overlooking my coop and run. The chickens all went into the run and were squawking up a storm. That's what caught my attention and drew me to look. This was afternoon hours, and the owl did not return the next day.

A hen takes about 21 weeks before they will think about starting to lay. I would not expect a roo to begin to crow before that age, either. Don't worry, in 12 weeks or so, you'll be asking when it will stop

I have a friend whose parents had kept a journal. Although she does not remember it, they wrote about having tried to keep chickens. They decided to stop because of the many deaths within their flock. This was probably pre-WWII times

I, too, had plastic bird netting over the run and realized that raccoons were regularly getting into the pen area. We are not in an area where snow load is a problem, but leaves and pine straw fell on the netting stressing it. Eventually, I built a ridge pole and rafters from free bamboo. (the...

I'm 72, is that too young? (lol) Poorly phrased title. Had to inject some grammar police humor, sorry.

I am six years late to this party. It is a barred owl. I had one perched about 15 feet up a tree about 25' behind my coop and pen yesterday. All my free-range chickens were huddling inside the pen area squawking up a storm. But, the owl was probably there for the squirrels and any other small...

OK, I confess I have never wormed my free-ranging flock. I don't like to poison the birds on a whim. I don't understand why one would have to use a vet to get a fecal count, but searches for home worm counts have not been promising. It would seem that with some agitation in an appropriate fluid...

The Navy took me to the Philippines in the 70's. Thanks for the picture of a bottle of San Miguel.

I have a 6 yer old Buffie, one of the birds from my first flock. She still lays an egg every other day. No doubt that she is the boss of the flock. Late winter, she went broody and hatched out 5 chicks that are now 17 weeks old and getting ready to lay.

boss = black oil sunflower seed

I have 5 chicks about 11 weeks old now. They were hatched by a broody hen who was very protective of them for their first 7 or 8 weeks. They had been kept in separate quarters until they began free-ranging with everyone else. The elders can chase the biddies away if they compete for a food...