Recent content by chainedspider

Thanks Kilby. Actually, we only keep the chicks isolated with mom for a week and they we let them go out in the flock for a couple hours a day, increasing the amount of time they spend out there as the days go on. This has worked wonderfully with the last set. Within a month, momma cut them...

Well, on broody hen number three right now. First we had a Sussex who was our test brooder. First one who went broody and we learned a lot from letting her sit on 5 eggs. We felt confident when our second hen went broody just after the first one broke her broodiness. This one went smoothly...

We don't control when our brooders go in and out of the coop. Our hen had 5 eggs under her and two disappeared (we think a snake came in and got them) but the three remaining eggs hatched with very little issues even though she kept getting in and out of the box. Every time we found her in the...

This is our first year dealing with a broody hen and we're learning as we go. We only started with 5 eggs under her and two disappeared (we think a snake got them). The three that remained hatched but at different times making the last two hatching difficult because momma wouldn't sit on the...

our brooder would do that as well. if her box was occupied, she'd just hop in another. I always put her back in her box once it was free. we didn't have high hopes for the eggs either but we managed to hatch 3 out of 3 which was a miracle.

I am so glad I found this thread even though I wish I had when I first discovered our broody hen. Here's what's happened so far and lessons I'm learning along the way: 1. Over a month ago, we had one Sussex cross hen start making funny noises and spending time in one of the laying boxes...

We have a brooder who we gave five eggs to so they could possibly hatch. This is our first time doing this. We wrote numbers on the eggs so that if another chicken were to lay an egg in the box, we'd know which ones were which and remove the ones we didn't want hatched. This has been going...

Well, we finally finished our coop. Here's a picture of it. Right now we have 15 hens and one rooster. This coop is 8ft wide by 10ft long and has 10 laying boxes with outside access. Right now we are trying to figure out how to get lights up in there since most of our hens, even the winter...

Been reading this thread and laughing at some of the responses (I remember a neighbour complaining that one of our other neighbour's rooster crowed at 4am). but am glad to hear all the various responses and what the crow might mean. our rooster has just come of age and has been crowing several...

We have 15 hens of varying ages. Our 6 Brahmas are about 2 years old so are pros at laying. We have 3 Sussex cross breeds who started laying just before we bought them a couple of months ago and so they know to use the laying boxes. We now have 4 Ancona and 2 Appenzellers who have just...

I was in my chicken run the other day working on building my brood a bigger, better coop when I heard a low growling sound. When I went to investigate I found two of my dominant hens (we own a rooster but he is still an adolescent and hasn't worked his way up to the top of the pecking order...

I hope someone out that has some information. We recently found one of our Brahma hens rolling around in the dirt. This isn't anything unusual except that we notice that the hole she dug was lined with feathers and the rest of our brood were standing around the hole watching her. We went in...

I would think crow or other bird but the chickens are in the fruit orchard which has netting over the top. we have eagles and hawks here so didn't want the chickens being carried off by them (also, one of the adults we got has no tail because she was attacked by a crow before we got her). the...

Hi, I'm new to raising chickens and I think I may have an egg eater. My brood consists of 6 2 yr old hens (Brahma) that I bought from a breeder over a month ago (she was thinning her flock). These 6 hens have been laying since the day I got them, an average of 0-5 eggs a day. The rest of...