Recent content by KTmomma

Thanks! We were hoping for girls -- at least one -- but they'll still have a home here. 🥰

While we were at TSC to adopt our second batch of chicks this summer, my daughter fell in love with a pair of fuzzy yellow ducks. BOY did they grow FAST!! (It was three months ago yesterday, so they're 13 weeks and weigh about 10 lbs each.) We suspect they're both drakes based on videos we've...

Oh my stars they're SO CUTE!! No idea of sex or breed, but they're lovely!

She's HOME! The silly "old" hen didn't like the shelter we created for her (preferred roost in the bushes), but she did like the nesting box I set up on a whim, and SHE BEGAN LAYING EGGS -- SIX large, brown eggs in the last week and a half! So apparently she's not as old as we thought. Also...

Got a much closer look at her today and she's definitely an older bird. Her feathers are quite scruffy and disheveled. I don't think she's sick, but possibly hard of hearing? Or maybe she's old enough she's doing the aging-animal thing where they wander off to be alone before passing and we...

This may be the best alternative... give her the option of a safe and cozy roost, but out free during the day. We had debated letting our own flock free-range, but after seeing the carnage from the stray flock are far less inclined to let them roam.

All valid concerns I share myself... Since chickens tend to be social animals, I suspect she'd be happier (eventually?) being a pampered, retired "granny" hen in with the younger ones versus living on the porch by herself. Certainly safer, but I suppose there are plenty of free-range chickens...

We have no idea where the flock came from, but they're still in the area and their numbers are dwindling due to predators and cars. And we're not worried about her being nonproductive, just don't want to come out some morning and find she's been eviscerated like some of her (presumably) former...

Can/should we keep her? Been reading BYC since bringing home our first batch of chicks in April, but first time I've needed to post... A small red hen appeared out of nowhere and decided to nest in our front planter. We suspect she was part of a large flock of chickens (3 dozen?) that appeared...