Recent content by deborah

I only have 2 olive eggers; the most green eggs we ever get are 2. The other olive egger had gone broody. We just broke her of the broodiness (We've already hatched 3 batches of chicks this year and didn't want any more). We got our first green egg in a while yesterday and I figure it is from...

My 2 year old olive egger has started crowing. We have a rooster who crows louder and better. She is not a dominate hen. We first noticed the crowing when we had some 12 week old chicks and figured one of them was a cockerel, but after we sold the chicks, the crowing continued. That's when...

How do your White Chanteclers do in the Summer? I've read they don't take the heat well. I've been considering White Chanteclers, but I too am in Southern Michigan and am concerned how well they would do during the summer here.

Thank you Eggcessive for the advice. I ordered Valbazen today; it should be here Monday. The rooster seemed much better today. Not totally his usual self, but not sleeping most of the day either. But our bad news is that one of the older hens (my favorite of course) died. We heard a...

Our Black Copper Marans 2-year-old rooster hasn't been himself for 2 days. He is very lethargic. Sleeping with his head down frequently. This morning, he was the last one off the roost (very unusual). His comb is turning purple toward the back. I'm not sure if he is eating; we will check...

3 leghorns. When I first opened the henhouse to take photos, 2 were on the floor and one was on the roost to the right. When I stepped in, the 2 on the floor went out into the run. Normally we put out 2 feeders. One in the run, and one outside that is taken in at night. Once we got the...

Last evening 3 of the pullets had empty crops and the other one had about a marble sized ball. I'm concerned they are not getting enough to keep warm. There is a heater in the hen house that turns off when it gets above 32 degrees and there is a heater under the water. Our chicken coop is...

We did a major cull of our flock this fall. Pending the cull, I sold 4 older hens and our 5 year old rooster. We had been thinking we might not have a rooster anymore, but once the rooster was gone, decided one was a good idea. We hatched 11 chicks this summer. 5 female and 6 male. In the...

Looks like she abandoned them today. Last year we had another 1-year old go broody and she abandoned her chicks around 4 weeks. She hasn't gone broody this year. I kind of hope this happens with Lacey. We have 3 older hens (4 and 5 years old) that have gone broody every year since they were...

Congratulations! Beautiful chicks!

Lacey hatched 4 chicks on 07/17/15. We put her and her chicks in a chicken tractor much longer than we usually do because we've had 4 broody hens this year and Lacy is only 1 year old; low in the pecking order. We wanted to avoid her getting into fights with other hens; especially other...

I bought a dozen supposedly fertilized leghorn eggs to put under my broody hen. Today is day 22. One egg pipped yesterday, but the chick couldn't make it out of the egg. We've candled the remaining eggs and only 1 is fertile. But it hasn't pipped and I'm worried it won't. This hen starting...

I have 29: 8 Bar Rocks Hens 1 Americana Hen 1 Buff Orpington/Americana Hen 1 Easter Egger Hen 5 Buff Orpingtons Hens 3 Leghorns Hens 2 Black Copper Maran Hens 1 Black Copper Maran Rooster 2 Leghorn/Black Copper Maran (1 is a cockerel and we are hoping the other is a pullet) 1 Black...

How old was your Blue Andalusian when you butchered him mama24? We've hatched 4 chicks this year and can't have any more roosters When we let the mam hen hatch these chicks, I told myself we would butcher any roosters. So far, I know at least 1 is a rooster. They free range with the rest of...