Recent content by Laver2k

He didnt know what the problem was but he prescribed 5 days of butine which helped her alot - but the vet wont give me any more without bringing her back in.

Hi there, I have a hen who a few weeks ago was sitting down alot and then refused to come out of her coop in the morning. We took her to the vet and she had repository problems and was underweight. We brought her inside, gave her antibotics for a week and she recovered, acting alot more...

Hi all, My bantam has amassed these round balls at the end of her toes. I tried to grab her a few times over the last month but she is not a friendly one! Anyway, today I managed to grab her (she cant really escape anymore) and put her in a little cage with warm water at the base (to soak...

Hi all, Any advice I can get would be great. I have a bantam and a medium sized hen. I have an Orpington pullet that I would like to add to the flock. I had the 2 hens and the Orpington in separate coops with the runs touching at the end (but not able to get to each other). After a week...

Hi Farlo! In Winter, I think you can get away with keeping them closed up a little longer. In Summer though, on a sunny day they are going to be awake at 5ish, so keeping them in a coop for 7 hours is probably a bit much. Mine tend to let me know they want out within a couple of hours of...

Hi there, We want to hatch our own eggs for the first time. We are aiming for a couple of orpington hens to keep. We could easily give away extra hens but we live in an urban area and it would be unfair to have any cockerels crowing. My sister's husband would be happy to cull and eat them -...

Eggcessive - thanks so much. It makes me really angry that the farmer tried to tell me that she just had a cold. Its just one orpington and we kept her separate from our flock. We will keep her in a cage indoors overnight and return her. I'm so disappointed, she is so pretty and friendly...

Hi there, We just bought an orpington from a poultry farm (chickens were free ranging and seemed healthy and happy). However, we got her home and noticed that the bottom of one eye was slightly foamy. So, we decided that we better not mix her in with our flock of 2 tonight. We called the farm...

I think that in an urban area - you really need to consider your neighbours. Is the risk of having a cockerel worth giving up your whole flock if you get complaints? Is it right to decrow a cockerel? Have you thought about what happens when you get some baby cockerels hatch? There just seem...

Thanks guys! I'm glad there's no reason to wait. I dont think my coop is big enough for 4 chickens....I will see what they have at the bird farm and what the other half will allow ;).

We had 2 bantams that went broody in September and then straight after went into a moult. They still aren't laying around 4 months later. However, in October we got a full size hybrid pullet hen - and her first egg was actually on the shortest day of Winter! I think the bantams will probably...

Hi there! Chard We grew quite a bit of chard last year from seeds a friend gave us. Turns out, we don't like chard. The chickens loved it though. It grew really big in a short space of time and was around for about 3 months. We just picked off piles of stems and leaves - they loved tearing...

Hi all, We had 3 hens but woke up to find that one had died during the night. She was only around 2 years old but had been happy and eating the day before. Her comb and wattle were red and I throw around some anti-mite powder every week. I think it was just one of those things. We are left...

Hi there! I have had a couple of bantams for 3 months or so and would love to add a full size hen for some bigger eggs! I've read that adding 1 can be difficult as they get bullied or take a while to be accepted. But would adding a full size hen to a 'flock' of 2 bantams be tricky? I also...

Hi! I have had a couple of bantams for about 3 months and they lay every other day or so. About 4 weeks ago one went broody. I didn't mind, I just thought I'd ride it out and let it pass. 3 weeks later she is still broody and the other one has joined in. The second one is not as aggressive...