Recent content by cbrodsky

I figured it out... When shoveling out their coop, I discovered massive red mite infestation under their poop board. I keep a board under their roost that sits on top of the nest box enclosures - and in that crevice, there was a huge colony of them. I also seem to have a big problem with a...

Quote: They are definitely not eating their food much based on how slow the feeder level is dropping, but they go after treats aggressively and otherwise behaving completely normally. This is why I'm somewhat puzzled... -Colin

Hi - I have a flock that is mixed of 1 year old Rhode Island Reds (3) / Silkies (1) and added this spring, younger production reds (3) and ameraucanas (5) that are about 4-5 months old. About a week ago, a 1 year old silkie died. Today I found a dead production red. Both were just laying on...

I only have netting over about 2/3 of the area to help protect against hawks. I also setup branch piles and pallets in some of the open areas to give them some cover opportunity. The birds are about 8 weeks old. They are slightly slower growing colored rangers - but pretty good size. My hen...

Lost my first chicken after about a year of keeping them :-( I have ~30 meat birds in an area penned with one 80-foot length of Premier poultry netting. They have a portable coop that I have been leaving open at night. This morning, I found a chicken pressed up against the bottom of the...

Thank you for the replies - I'll give it a shot. I got 3 crappies and a couple bluegill today that will make a nice pile for them. I was thinking I would put them in a bin that I can remove in a few hours to keep it from spoiling or rotting anywhere - if anything is left. I'm curious to see...

I sometimes fish for panfish and end up with quite a bit of leftover scraps after cleaning the fish. Can chickens eat anything on a fish and/or will they pick what is safe for them to eat? Would it be better to steam/cook the fish scraps before feeding to them? A panfish has a bit of meat...

We are currently 3/4 on egg yield - one was cracked on the end, I suspect because she keeps kicking out all the nesting material in the center of the nest, thus exposing the plywood bottom. She did this first with pine shavings that had a golf ball. Then I tried no golf ball, but refilled...

The black silkie's parole is going well so far. I'm not sure if it helped to have her seperated for a few days, but there is much less pecking and posturing today.

Thanks - all these replies make me feel a lot better about letting them all run together to see if they can work things out, and glad to hear that the spot identified is normal. I will try the idea of seperate feeding/water areas as well. We also have a huge garden and I generate a ton of...

Here is the picture of what I mentioned regarding exposed spot on hen's cheek (please feel free to tell me the correct terms!)

Hi - We just built a coop which I will post pictures of soon, and started with (4) 8-week old rhode island reds. About two weeks after, we added two silkies that are about 4 months old. We were hoping that they were young enough and equal enough in size in a newly organized flock that they...