Recent content by drdoct

Trust me.... she knows what she needs a lot better than you do. Leave her alone and she'll be happy. Their body changes when they go broody. They don't need near what you think a normal chicken does. In fact, the more you mess with her, the worse off she is. Don't stress her.

I always think the other rooster is trying to woo my hens from afar and my rooster has to respond immediately to let them know he's on the job. Really have no idea since I've never had a hen break the flock to go find her far away rooster love. But they do make a racket competing with each other.

We have a rooster within earshot and so ours talks to theirs that's about 1/2 a mile away all day long. Both my neighbors have big dogs that occasionally go nuts barking and carrying on so they have no real gripe. But both say they love hearing the rooster. We're in the county though, but our...

I understand what you're trying to do. I had 100% free range chickens until a couple of strays cut my flock by half. What we did was take an area where their coop is which is in the shade. Then we made about half an acre electric fenced in for them. Most of it is shaded and in the trees. But...

I hate to say it, but sometimes sweet little cockerels end up being huge jerks who attack everything and don't get along with anyone or anything. Doesn't make you a bad chicken momma. It means he's probably just being a rooster.

It won't be long that you'll wish they'd go back in that coop when you're trying to catch one. I agree with shadrach above. They'll brave up soon enough.

What sometimes seems violent is just him figuring it out. Same with the girls figuring him out. Chicks aren't very friendly and caring towards each other.

Trust me.... the less she eats... the better. You'll already have plenty of broody poop. Ours was so determined to sit that she pooped right off the nest. If you haven't experienced broody poop yet... get ready.

My current cockerel is around 6 months old and maturing. Around 4 months he started crowing and mounting the 2 hens he hatched with and chased them. The would try the bigger girls, but they put him in his place. Then about 5 months they started letting him mount them. In fact, some actually...

The chicken/cat dynamic is a curious one. At first the cat is greatly interested in the little chicks because they want to eat them. But after a month or so, those little chicks aren't so little. My cat is a great hunter/tree climber cat. But when it comes to taking on chickens... nope... No...

It's also early in the year for egg laying depending on where you are. Heck, I'm in Middle Georgia and am just now starting to get 4-6 on 10 laying hens. They'll get to laying when they're ready. I suggest either putting out oyster shell or switching to a layer feed. I don't like oyster shell...

None of that ever worked with my rooster. He just didn't like males and half the time my wife either. I got to where I would carry a rake around with me just to keep him off me. I tried holding him down. I tried kicking him. I tried about everything in the world except killing him. Why? Because...

We had a dog attack and weren't so lucky. However we did have 2 hens that escaped but with some obvious signs of a struggle. One had a bare spot on her left leg quarter behind where she was missing feathers. She never had any problem with the flock. The second was one of our 'tamed' hens that...

Had a tragic stray dog attack that killed my awesome rooster who fought for over 1 hr while most of my hens got to safety a month or so ago. My new introduced chicks and their previous broody mother are integrated. Yesterday we heard a faint crow. Then again and again. We were so happy to have...

Not yet. I'm waiting for them but also have a semi secured electric netting/fence perimeter for them now. I put a 50 mile charger to light them up if they try it. I genuinely hope they keep them in. The second to last thing I want to do is kill dogs. The last thing I want to do is have to deal...