Recent content by DorothyBlancheandRose

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    one of my flock with feather loss around vent for 6 months and now stopped laying, even seen by a vet. Stumped!

    I have a 1-ish year old hen who rapidly lost a large area of feathers around her vent about 6 months ago, and now has stopped laying. She still eats and drinks regularly and acts normally, with normal-colored comb and wattles, normal poops, etc, and the other two in my flock are fine/no feather...
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    Shrub fertilisers that are chicken-safe?

    The chickens dust bathe under them, so it’s the least fertilised spot in the run, lol, what with the constant scratching away the dirt/dust. I think a good layer of compost, bone meal, guano, etc and then block it off so it actually gets absorbed for a bit before they can scratch it away. Thanks...
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    Shrub fertilisers that are chicken-safe?

    Its been a hot, dry Oregon summer and I have several large arborvitae that really need to be fertilised, but don’t know what is safe to use. The arborvitae are growing inside the run, so anything I put in the soil will be fully accessible to the ladies. Any suggestions for something that will...
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    Bare dirt vs straw in dirt floor coop?

    That’s what I was leaning towards. Slightly more work for me, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it I guess! :) FYI I discovered pine needle straw (long leaf pine needle bales) works better than anything else I have tried for the outdoor run to keep the mud in check. It doesn’t break down or...
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    Bare dirt vs straw in dirt floor coop?

    Its that time of year for a complete coop/roost/run clean out and I’m wondering what folks with dirt floor coops do in terms of keeping the dirt floor bare or adding deep litter? I have always used a good layer of straw, amd will add to it. The chickens move the straw around, and the poop...
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    Chicken feeding on equine pine pellets

    I think you have to wet them down as soon as (or before) spreading them out. That way they are already expanded when the chickens are exposed to them, and sawdust isn’t something they’d be interested in pecking at. If you don’t expand them with water first, chickens could eat a compressed...
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    Best substrate for rainy outdoor chicken run?

    I have considered a roof, but I admit I am awful at building things (don’t want it to crash down on the poor ladies from shoddy workmanship ;) Possibly a larger shade sail than what I currently have might help? The run does actually slope away from the center out to the fence, but since it’s...
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    Best substrate for rainy outdoor chicken run?

    I live in Portland, Oregon where it rains a lot in the winter months. My gals have a pretty nice set up with a roost and coop that stays dry, but their run gets so muddy. Short of keeping them in their coop for 6 months of the year (not an option, they would be so grumpy!) what have people found...
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    HELP! Hen with really swollen butt below vent and feather loss

    From what I’m reading, the swelling for water belly is more the entire belly. She is only swollen right below her vent, where her feathers are. She’s also acting completely normal, eating, drinking and laying as usual and no signs of distress at all. I took her to a vet today who gave her (and...
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    HELP! Hen with really swollen butt below vent and feather loss

    Anyone?? Please 🙏
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    HELP! Hen with really swollen butt below vent and feather loss

    Help! I just noticed my lavender Orpington is missing all her feathers just below her vent and is really swollen- to the point I can see some bruising on her skin from the swelling! (She is so fluffy normally that it is hard to tell until I happened to be on the ground and she hopped up on...
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    Neighborhood cats stalking my flock

    Hello All! I have 5 full grown (8+ month) hens and recently two neighborhood cats have become waaaay too interested in my flock. I’ve caught them on the fence, then in the yard, and now they’ve found a way to get on the roof of the coop, from which they could easily jump into the run/coop. My...
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    Nevermind- it’s dirt!! 🤣🤣🤣😅 (just can’t figure out how to delete the post)

    I just noticed these dark spots on my hen’s comb!y three others look fine, but for how long?? I change the pine shavings in their roost regularly, always have fresh water and feed scratch n peck organic plus free range garden snacking nearly every day. She’s eating and drinking normally and no...
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    Winterizing the chicken run

    Luckily I don’t have drainage issues, just mud when it rains...and rains...and rains here 😝
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    Coop run in Oregon

    You can get free wood chips from Chip Drop or PGE in the Portland area. The problem is they’re from landscapers chipping whatever branches or PGE cutting branches back and chipping them, so you never know what you’ll get/whether something in there may be unsafe for chickens. And you get a TON of...
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