Recent content by Fergie

  1. Fergie

    Are snowberries harmful to chickens?

    http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html I guess they are according to this, so I will have to watch out. Make sure no berries are within reach!
  2. Fergie

    Are snowberries harmful to chickens?

    I know they are harmful for humans to eat, but apparently we have to eat a lot of them to make us sick!
  3. Fergie

    Are snowberries harmful to chickens?

    I saw one of my pullets with a snowberry in her mouth yesterday. She was running away from an older hen that was trying to see what she was eating. It fell out of her mouth, so I can't be sure she ate one, but it made me wonder... are snowberries harmful for chickens to eat?
  4. Fergie

    Raccoon Worked over hen...

    I will do that, thanks. I am going to put her in a dog crate in our basement for the time being so our other hens don't pick on her. She'll be a bit warmer, too. She lost quite a few feathers....
  5. Fergie

    Raccoon Worked over hen...

    My 4 1/2 year old Cuckoo Maran was attacked by a raccoon during the wee hours (first time in 4 1/2 years we forgot to close the chicken coop at night), and lost a bunch of feathers, but doesn't appear to have any open wounds. She however is acting very weak and lethargic. And her comb is...
  6. Fergie

    Runt chicken?

    By the way my "runt" chick is now a full grown 4 year old normal sized laying hen. :)
  7. Fergie

    Pecking order changes drawing blood

    Yes, I am happy to say they have settled down into a nice threesome again.
  8. Fergie

    Pecking order changes drawing blood

    Thank you. I separated the bully Wyandotte for a day, then let them all back together to roost, and things have settled down in the day or two since then. However, the Wyandotte is still clearly the bully and gets after the Maran, although there doesn't seem to have been any attacks since that...
  9. Fergie

    Pecking order changes drawing blood

    Peepers? Please elaborate.... Thanks.
  10. Fergie

    Pecking order changes drawing blood

    I've got a small flock of 3 hens and all has been pretty peaceful for the whole 3 years we've had them. They live in a chicken house that is approximately 4' x 10 ', and is attached to an outdoor covered coop that's about the same size. We let them all out into our 50' x 100' fenced yard for...
  11. Fergie

    Ticks

    I saw a grayish pea sized lump on one of my hens a couple of days ago that I'm now realizing was probably a tick. It's now gone, but there is a small bloody scab right by the top of her comb. I thought it was a wart or something, and I was going to keep an eye on it. So I made a mistake not...
  12. Fergie

    Ever since the shell-less egg.....

    Sometimes if they aren't forming shells appropriately (for whatever reason), they'll lay the soft or no shell egg. And other times chickens just pass the yolk from their oviduct to their abdomen and they "pile up" in there, which can cause egg yolk peritonitis. It's actually an infection of...
  13. Fergie

    weird eggs, molting or sick???

    Vitamin deficiency? They need lots of Vitamin D and calcium for proper shell formation. Make sure your feed hasn't gone bad. We had that issue last summer. Store it in a cool dark place. And buy what your hens can consume before it goes bad. If your hen isn't forming egg shells properly...
  14. Fergie

    Mature hens attacking young rooster.

    Each flock is hard to predict in how they'll react to a new flock member. I've already read that introducting new flock members slowly is the key to minimizing the pecking order bullying. Have them separately penned nearby so they can see each for a week or so helps. And introducing more than...
  15. Fergie

    Ever since the shell-less egg.....

    I would keep an eye on her. If she layed one soft shelled (or no shelled) egg, she could be laying internally, which can make them real sick! Make sure she's getting enough calcium and Vitamin D. They need that for formation of shells.
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