Recent content by Chicken Huck

I don't use DE because it kills earthworms as well as intestinal worms.

Deer corn is whole corn, sometimes coated to prevent mold and mildew. Cracked corn is corn that has had the kernel removed and has been crushed. Easier for chickens to swallow and digest. Less fat.

I would thin the mineral oil with a little alcohol. Also kills any germs on the surface. Not good to put anything on eggs intended for hatching. Hatching eggs should not be washed, instead should be scoured with dry scouring pad or medium sandpaper. Also do not handle hatching eggs with...

The egg shell of certain breeds has bile added to the shell during formation making the eggshell blue. Brown eggs have a white shell with pigments added to the outside, Their are several genes that determine the amount of pigment deposited on the shell. This is why some breeds lay darker eggs...

Normal. As the days get shorter some hens tend to quit laying. You can stop some of this by giving them additional artificial light. You need nothing more than a 100 watt light bulb left on for about 4 hours after dark. A regular household timer works well. As long as the temperature can be...

I feed layer feed to my hens during laying season, have been doing this for somewhere around 40 years. Only effect I have seen is more eggs. If I have a broody hen that I can isolate she will commonly hatch all or nearly all the fertile eggs. In incubator I get about 85% hatch from fertile...

You do not have to refrigerate the eggs that you gather from your flock. The only reason you need to refrigerate eggs is if they are over a month old. The eggs you buy at the store must be refrigerated because they are usually at least a week and sometimes as much as three weeks old by the...

I have been a member for several years, but have not been active for some time. I have been raising chickens for about 60 years, mostly bantam breeds, although I have occasionally had large fowl as well. I have also raised pheasants, quail, peacocks, ducks, geese, etc. as well as many types of...

Responding to a post almost a year old about animals raising odd "children". When I was young my neighbor had a cat that had newborn kittens get run over. She was trying to bottle feed them but not much success. She only had two left when I found out. I suggested that we try to see if my dog...

Love both quilts, especially the one with the boats. Takes me back to when I was growing up. My Mother died when I was eight; that's when I went to live with my Grandparents. My Grandmother always had a quilt hanging from the ceiling in the living room that we would quilt on when the weather...

I have most of his books, most of which I reread every so often. I ,also, liked "Haunted Mesa" My favorite is "The Walking Drum". I think he planned to write a sequal to it but died before he could. He also wrote several mystery books and some very good sports books. He wrote several of the...

They are dewberries. They grow on vines low to the ground and ripen early, long before the blackberries. They also don't have as many thorns as blackberries. They grow wild all over here in Arkansas. The fruit look like blackberries, but taste sweeter.

Try putting a golf ball in the area where the eggs are usually laid. If it disappears you had a snake, probably more than one. I keep golf balls in my nest for nest eggs, I have to replace them pretty often, but have the satisfaction of knowing another egg stealing snake has committed...

Chicken math seems to be mostly multiplication.

You will always have someone willing to hear about your chickens and someone to crow over your pictures and to cry with you and to laugh with you when you share them on BYC.