I have a similar issue...My BO goes broody every 4 weeks or so. This latest time I had her in jail for 4 days. I let her out because she wasn't sitting in the nest box unnecessarily, but after 4 days she's still puffed up and sounding her broody cluck (not the normal cluck). But since she's...
The site has been very helpful in getting me up and running. Sadly, I usually only come here to get help when some problem comes up and need a solution. I should come more often just to browse.
After all this, (and thank you) I'm wondering about coop size anyway. Elsewhere on these forums I read that each chicken needs 12" of roost space. In the photo below the long roost is 36" and the two perpendiculars are 17" each. In my "reasoning" I figured that would be adequate for my 5...
Now that I'm thinking about roosts, they wouldn't go into the lower level if I built that out, would they? They like to be up high. And if I did what Chanticleer suggests, I'm not sure if there would be room for new roosts. The height between the new floor and the ceiling would go from 18" to...
I've had five hens in a TS Sentinel coop for almost two years now. I also attached an additional 40 SF covered run to it. They only go inside to roost at night and to lay eggs. That seemed like an OK setup all this time. Now I've noticed some feather pecking going on and I was advised that's...
Looking for cause/treatment/other for the following condition I noticed on two of my five hens. The Partridge Rock has frayed feathers near the tail (whiteish instead of the normal brown/black) the Barred Rock's feathers are not frayed. They both have bare spots in the same areas near the...
I have a BO that gets broody about once a month. She'll be in jail for 3 days, then okay to join the rest of the flock. Then in a month or so, gotta do it again. She's about a year old. This started in the spring so we're on our third round of this. Is that just the way she is, or am I not...
I thought I'd ask you since you seem to know about this...I got some 2,4-D Amine from Alligare. I mixed it at 3 oz per gallon. After I spray, do I need to wait a while before I let my chickens out to free range? If so, how long? I weed whacked the weeds on the patio and was going to spray...
Does anyone have any guidance regarding lime usage to control run odor? We have had so much rain here in the last 6 weeks, that my dirt run has turned to mud a few times recently. With my hens pooping in the mud and walking around in it all day, they have turned it into a muddy poopy muck...
I just chainsawed some dead branches in the same yard where my hens free range. It dawned on me that during the normal operation of the saw, chain oil tends to get sprayed on the ground and gets on the sawdust as well. Has anyone here ever used a chainsaw in a yard, then let the hens free...
I recently chainsawed some dead branches in the same yard where my girls free range. It dawned on me that in so doing some chain oil was sprayed around the area during normal saw operation. Is this oil a danger to them?
Here's a picture of my Easter Egger. For the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that the head feathers are losing their vanes. Four months ago I introduced a couple of Buff Orpingtons at which time the BOs would pick on the EE. I haven't seen this behavior recently, but sometimes I see the EE...