Recent content by Hollywood Hen

  1. hollywood-henhouse

    hollywood-henhouse

    After having a couple of coops that were really hard to work with, I decided that this time I'd spend some extra time and get it right! This coop was built almost entirely out of scraps, including a wooden shipping crate, some parts of other coops, and plywood from old cabinet doors. The roof...
  2. Hollywood Hen

    I put a low voltage light in my coop

    I'm thinking of doing this in a couple of days...back when I only had a couple of chickens, I didn't really care if they stopped laying over the winter, but now that I have more mouths to feed, I can't afford to have them freeloading through the dark months! How much light do you need for it to...
  3. Hollywood Hen

    Respiratory infection?

    This morning my hen seems more alert and has eaten quite a bit of food, but has been sneezing or coughing up blood. Does that change what I should be treating?
  4. Hollywood Hen

    Respiratory infection?

    I'll see how she is in the morning. My instinct is that she's just a run down bird with a weak immune system. I know she has been indoors in a cage with the person who found her for at least a week, so whatever it is has been incubating for at least that long. Hopefully she's comfortable for...
  5. Hollywood Hen

    Respiratory infection?

    She is mouth breathing, but that could just be because her nose is stuffed up. I just want to make sure my bases are covered because I have no idea where this bird has been. The description of coryza sounds closest to how she is acting. Thanks for the tip about the calcium in the layer...
  6. Hollywood Hen

    Respiratory infection?

    I'm reading that gapeworm eggs show up in the feces, but what do they look like? Anybody know? And is there any harm in treating for it, just in case? I picked up some tetracycline, and she's drinking some water and taking a bit of food but still having a lot of trouble breathing. Chicken...
  7. Hollywood Hen

    Red Star acting weird....Please Read.

    That sounds a lot like how my red star was when she had an egg stuck. A bath in warm water might help if that's the case. For mine, when I picked her up it was obvious what the problem was...she had somehow formed an egg the size of a baseball! No way it was coming out whole, even with the...
  8. Hollywood Hen

    Respiratory infection?

    I have a new hen (rescue, found in someone's backyard!) who seems to have some kind of respiratory problem. There is a nasal discharge, and she sort of rattles when she breathes. She doesn't seem very interested in food or water, and it looks like she had some yellowish diarrhea. Her crop is...
  9. Hollywood Hen

    Fencing for EEs

    I've had EEs fly over six feet with wings clipped! They are lighter bodied than a lot of the other breeds and just seem to find trouble more easily. The most difficult time to contain them is when they are teenagers. After they start laying they seem to settle down a bit.
  10. Hollywood Hen

    New chicken staying up on roost

    I had one new girl who did that for a couple of days. After the first day, I saw her sneak down and get a drink and bite, then right back up on the roost. She stayed up there for all but a few minutes a day, but at least I knew she wasn't on a hunger strike. It took a few days, but she seems...
  11. Hollywood Hen

    Whats all the names of ur chickens?

    I don't really name all of them, but some of them pick up names as they go along. Henrietta - EE Blackbeard - EE Orangina - EE Fleur - Speckled Sussex/mutt Calamity Jane - mutt Little Red - mutt Clementine - RIR Eggletina - black bantam hen Fancy - Light Brahma
  12. Hollywood Hen

    Hardware cloth vs. chicken wire. Also, insulating a coop for winter.

    I used hardware cloth for the vents and windows in the coop, and 1x2 fence wire elsewhere. The issues with chicken wire are two separate things - 1. Raccoons can pull a chicken through it and eat them piece by piece, so you don't want it anywhere near your sleeping chickens. I learned this...
  13. Hollywood Hen

    freezer time for some roos, which goes and which stays?

    Keep the ones with the nicest personalities. I wouldn't worry as much about looks or how loud they are - if they're still young that can change a lot as they age. Also, are the two hens the only ones you have? Two roosters might be pretty hard on them...I'd probably just keep one.
  14. Hollywood Hen

    Anyone here have circle opening for nestbox with access door outside

    I did this when adding exterior nest boxes to my coop - it just seemed easier to cut circles out of the existing plywood walls with the jigsaw than squares! I think it keeps more bedding in the nest box too. I built the boxes as separate pieces and then hung them after they were completed...
  15. Hollywood Hen

    What do you do to clean the run?

    About once a year I pitch the old straw onto the compost pile and break open a new bale. All the safe cuttings from the yard go in there, along with all the kitchen scraps. The birds keep it pretty well turned and fluffed looking for every last bit of the handful of scratch I throw in every...
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