Recent content by lizch

Yeah, the sad realization from this is that I can't ever let the chickens free range, even when I'm out there with them. That bobcat was brazen.

Just thought I'd post an update with what I decided to do and what the outcome was. I decided to set her up temporarily in the garage. She still wouldn't eat or drink, and had really strange poop (dark green, liquidy). I read very mixed things online about whether it was OK to force fluids...

Yesterday, one of my BAs got attacked by a bobcat. By remarkable coincidence I was very close to the attack, startled the bobcat, which then dropped the chicken. I assumed she was dead at first, but I sat with her on my lap for about 20 minutes as she gradually got her voice back and stood up. I...

I have two RIRs and as a chick one had HUGE feet compared to the other one (and compared to the 5 black australorps too). For a long time, I worried that meant it was a roo, but she's grown up to be an egg-laying hen. So in my very small sample size of 7, feet size didn't seem to matter.

I have 7 laying hens. We had 7 eggs yesterday. Today, there have been a total of 6 normal eggs so far, plus one hen is still sitting in her nest so I expect a 7th any time now. In addition to these 7 eggs, on the poop board, there was what appeared to be a broken egg. When I rolled it toward...

Just had to post a happy message that yesterday was the first day when every hen laid an egg--a total of 7 beautiful, orange-yolked eggs. The hens are 28 weeks old, and may have all been laying for a week or so, but yesterday was the first day I could be 100% sure of that. Even on their...

Arookar, I'm noticing that my hens are getting ever friendlier as they get older. When they were around 15 weeks, I worried that my attempts at socialization hadn't worked. They didn't seem to recognize me or be willing to put up with much handling. Now they're 24 weeks (2 laying, 4 more...

Quick update. It really was a very short-lived problem. Monday and Tuesday each revealed one egg, laid on the ground in a little hollow she made in the bedding. We now need to try to convince her into the nest boxes, but I'm happy with this for the time being. Tiniest eggs I've ever seen, but I...

Thanks...nice to have the reassurance that this tends to be a short-lived problem. Can't wait for the first edible egg!

I've searched the forum and found links to the problem of roosting in the nest boxes, but I have the opposite problem: the first egg from my 21 week old flock was laid while the hen was sitting on the roost. It fell 2 feet and smashed on the poop board below. I'd noticed her creating a nest in...

I had a couple of names for the chicks when they were tiny (my favorite was Panda, because she had the black and white pattern of a panda on her face). Now the black australorps are almost full grown, they're all black and to be honest I can't tell them apart! My daughter has named them, but her...

Quote: Wow, that's 1,750% You win (so far!!!)

I added a sliding latch to my coop door for this very reason, even though it already had a door knob. The latch is stiff enough that I have trouble opening it sometimes, so I'm hoping even the most persistent raccoons will fail.

I have 1x2 boards, flat side down. There are two roosts the width of the coop. The lowest is about 18" above the poop board, and the second is about 6" higher and 12" behind the first. The poop board is 18" above the floor of the coop. They've all been hopping up since they were 7 weeks old. I...

ginger c. : yup. you mastered chicken math! I think "mastered" is a little strong, given that there's only a 1 chick difference between the intended number and the actual number. Or, to put it another way, only a 6% increase. My own initial exposure to chicken math produced a 233% increase...