Recent content by Henhouse Harry

My wife and I looked at the hen's feathers today and found no signs of lice along the shafts. Nor was there evidence of any poop on the skin. Her vent was clean too. We did notice that the feathers are missing partway under her as well. I'm inclined to think the redness is because of the cold...

The Orp is 9 months old. Still laying and laid an egg just yesterday, unless it's from the other Orp who hasn't started laying yet as far as I knew.

Actually, there aren't many feathers lying around. And there should be more as I recall some big ones that aren't there now. I suppose this might not be a new thing, but I don't recall any feather explosion in the last month either. I found suggestions that the birds might eat them for protein...

This is my first winter with chickens and so far things have gone fine. One of our hens is an Orpington with a very fluffy butt, which leads to the need to clean poop off of the feathers. My wife and I trimmed some to cut out the poop a while back, and reduce the feathers in the way that might...

Does vaseline get into their feathers? Like when they bury their heads under a wing to sleep? Wondering if that affects the feathers ability to hold heat.