Recent content by Dutchess

7569 hatching eggs!!

I have to agree, they do look a little scrawny. Orps are usually larger, but it's hard to tell without something in the picture for scale...They do look like if you felt their chest bone it would be prominent. Tough call!

She probably just had a hiccup (for lack of better terms) in her laying. Sometimes when they are first starting to lay, their body is still getting used to the egg passing through the system. Sometimes the system gets a hiccup and a shell doesn't form, or maybe it forms, but it's like a...

Hello Mistydbowen, Good to see a fellow Mainer here!!! I'm from southern Maine (Lebanon) and we have had a heck of a time with foxes (and other predators) ever since we got the chickens (4yrs). The mother fox is feeding her babies so she will be back, time after time, if she was successful...

Thank you so much for the replies. It makes sense that the feather loss is from him, but I will check for parasites for sure. I will try to separate them on occasion to give the hens a rest, hopefully as he matures he won't be so aggressive.

I have a flock 7 of chickens, 2 Barred Rock hens, 4 Rhode Island Reds and one Lakenvelder Rooster. They are all the same age and came in the same group in April 2012 from the hatchery. This is my first flock with a rooster, the only reason I have this one is it was a “free exotic breed” sent...

Check out these "PestChaser" devices. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Victor-Sonic-PestChaser-Rodent-Repellant/21778127 I was having a major problem with Fishers AND Weasels/Minks. I bought the pest chaser and haven't seen one since. Simply plug it in inside the coop, it's worked for me for six...

Mystyray_lynn, If I were you I would clip their wings to keep them out of the neighbors yard, number one. Two, take a look at the color of their leg skin, if it's nice bright yellow (if their yellow, not white) and her comb/waddles are bright red, chances are that hen is NOT laying. If the...

Hello JVeith! Welcome to BYC! I laughed when I read this one because I had my mother (70+yrs) check on my chickens while we were gone for a long weekend. Well, I have the door to the run so that it opens "in". *sigh* kinda embarassing, but very funny...she couldn't get the door to "open"...

It's very hard not to feel guilty when they depend on you to live. Since 2010 I have had 4 different flocks including the one I have now (4 RIRs, 2 BRs, 1 Lakenvelder rooster). The first two flocks were taken, one by one, by a fox around our home while they were free ranging. The third flock...

oops, I meant to quote... I thought it was funny that the chickens knew that weren't getting their scratch! Nice try!

Free Rooster - I have a 3 month old Lakenvelder rooster, beautiful boy, free to a good home. He's not human aggressive at all, but he is flighty, just as the breed indicates. He was my "exotic chick" from McMurrays. He is coming along nicely protecting his girls and I really do hate to part...

I was surprised to hear a squirrel could or even wanted to eat an egg...then I saw this picture a while back on the forum here. I googled it and found it again, shocking! Furry little carnivors!

x2 - I have a Lekenvelder Rooster that's 10 weeks old now, and at 6 weeks his comb was twice the size of the pullets. He is so funny, now he is starting to crow. What an awful sound! I thought someone was blowing one of those plastic horns this morning and it was the Rooster!