Recent content by dschoey

Education and college are two different things. You will always need to be learning, but not always paying money to learn. I was talking to a farmer friend once and asked him advice on the best time to plant corn. He picked up a handful of my dirt, squeezed it, and began to explain how it would...

Just wondering, is the mint safe for the chickens to eat? Will it give their eggs an off flavor? I want to plant a bunch of mint around the chicken coop to help keep mice at bay. Thanks all!

I tried attaching a picture of our water container but must have done it wrong-- try try again!

Our water is just one of these plastic heated containers. I have a metal one too but don't see how buying a heated stand for it would fix this problem. We fill the water every night and it's bone dry every morning... no leaks or holes. There is also a big puddle/ice skating rink on the floor...

I'm going out of town for Thanksgiving. Usually don't need a farm-sitter and shouldn't this time either but with the cold weather our 3 pet ducks have come in off the pond and now spend every night trying to swim in the chickens heated water trough. It's been bone dry every morning and the...

We had a chicken with crop issues... held her upside down and massaged her crop till she threw up. Her vomit was black, foul smelling-- really nasty. We gave a lot of grit and only a little food for a few days just to make sure she was able to "digest" again, then returned her to the coop...

I have a 55 gallon drum with a faucet, I attached some PVC with 5 chicken nipples and every nipple was done the same-- 2 stream water, 3 work fine. Any thoughts/advice/suggestions?? Thanks all!

I have one of those Farm Innovator, white styrofoam incubators. It has forced air and an automatic turner. It has 40 eggs in it and they are due to hatch this coming Saturday. My first hatch (last month) was terrible. Only 8 chicks from 42 eggs. Mainly that's because in spite of all I...

My blue egg layers were sold by local hatchery as Ameraucanas but I've learned more now and think they're just Easter Eggers-- only a couple have muffs. Anyone know if I'll keep getting blue/green eggs if I just have a pure Ameracauna roo or will I need to start over with my layer hens to keep...

As for having my layer flock fertile it's mainly cuz I want to raise replacement layers and to fill my freezer-- and do it without having too many hatches. Incubating is a bigger hassle than I realized. :) We have a mixed layer flock (some Easter Eggers) and a Wyandotte flock (it's an...

We've only had chickens for 3 years but we're ready to go egg-selling-crazy. We've got a great market and have had lots of requests. So, I'm planning to expanding my current flock of 15 hens 1 rooster into 3 flocks living in two coops-- is that even possible? The numbers and sq ft works out...

Whew! I've only had one rooster prior to this year. I had never thought about them still being too immature to fight. Thanks!

How do they keep fighting roosters safe? I've seen the circle of wire cage surrounding those big plastic drums with a hole cut in them, but I don't understand how this would protect the bird from predators. Is there a guard dog or something I'm missing? I will soon be incubating a few dozen...

Hello, I've been using this site for years... finally got around to joining. We started just 3 years ago with 6 little pullets and we are hooked. My daughter even took 2nd place overall in the poultry competition at this year's fair. We have 20 chickens, 1 rooster, 4 ducks, and 17 quail...

A 4 H group was giving out free quail chicks at the fair-- only to other 4Her's but still, reminds me of all those dead gold fish in colored water... Anyhow, a friend picked up some but couldn't remember what type of quail they are. Now they're ours. They are probably about two weeks old. Any...