Recent content by MallardBay

  1. M

    Question on chicken death expectancy?

    Ha, nice enough is a good phrase! He’s pretty predictable when he’s going to try and attack—mostly in the morning when I’d assume his testosterone is high? He also seems to sense when someone is nervous and will take advantage of that. But if you stand your ground and tell him no like a puppy...
  2. M

    Question on chicken death expectancy?

    I’ve thought about what happens when you breed yourself and end up with too many roosters. The rooster we have we ended up with because of a mistake in sexing (thankfully a Silkie so generally tolerable even when aggressive), and I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of him. I understand the...
  3. M

    Question on chicken death expectancy?

    Interesting—we do have a couple wire dog crates we’ve used for other things, so I’m thinking those would work. We would have to let them roost at night because of the coop set up (the wire crate I don’t think would fit.). Good suggestion!
  4. M

    Question on chicken death expectancy?

    You definitely don’t! The dog attack was an error of family member supervision, and I shouldn’t have trusted them—my brother in law had his dog over and hadn’t counted the chickens and one was still outside the run when they let the dog out to the bathroom. The dog has been since been banned...
  5. M

    Question on chicken death expectancy?

    Good evening—I’m writing a little bit concerned about my flock, or more so questioning my abilities to manage one. We started with 10 chicks last year. Since then we’ve lost one to a dog attack, one mysteriously disappeared, and just tonight one suddenly died while broody. Is it normal to...
  6. M

    ⏰ How Much Time Do You Spend With Your Chickens Each Day?

    I checked 15-30 minutes because this time of year I can't enjoy being out in the cold too long! But I always go out there in the morning to say good morning and open their coop and then at least once more later in the day to give them a treat and check their food/water/nesting boxes. I have a...
  7. M

    Are you adding to your flock this spring?

    We are adding 6 to our flock in April! Just placed the order yesterday. We have 8 already (1 silkie roo, 1 silkie, 1 leghorn, 1 buff orpington, and 4 black australorps) and I was considering the following options: 1) Pick up 2 from Tractor Supply chick days. This ended badly last year, and...
  8. M

    What are your Spring 2021 hatching plans?

    You are all inspiring me to hatch chicks instead of purchasing them from a hatchery this year. The Harris incubator with the built in candler looks ideal. The question is, if I hatch more than we "need", would we be able to find homes for the chicks?
  9. M

    ~4.5mo old Silkie

    He also looks like a rooster to me...we went through this exact situation last year! I bought two, thinking they were both hens and as they grew it was clear they looked very different. The tell tale sign is that pronounced bump above its beak--a pullet wouldn't have that. He should also start...
  10. M

    Adding new breeds to existing flock—suggestions!

    Not necessarily—I was just looking into Bielefelders and they were markedly bigger. The Australorps are probably the biggest size I’d want, but they are totally fine.
  11. M

    Adding new breeds to existing flock—suggestions!

    Is 3-4 too little to add at a time to a flock of 8?
  12. M

    Can a dog and chickens safely coexist in a small backyard?

    I didn’t read all the replies—it seems like people have very strong opinions and great advice already. But for what it’s worth, I have two dogs who operate very differently around the chickens and I’ve done nothing differently with either of them. When we first adopted our chicks, we had (and...
  13. M

    Adding new breeds to existing flock—suggestions!

    Thank you! We should be able to easily portion off part of the run and keep them in their brooder for 10 weeks. I’ll look into those suggestions—I didn’t realize there were so many choices!
  14. M

    Adding new breeds to existing flock—suggestions!

    Good afternoon! I’m looking for some feedback on a couple new breeds to add to my flock. What I have now are all 6 months-ish birds who will be about 9 months when we welcome new ones: 1 Silkie Rooster 1 Silkie Hen 1 Buff Orpington Hen 1 Leghorn Hen 4 Black Australorp Hens We will be...
  15. M

    Can Australorps live with Silkies?

    We have a silkie rooster and a silkie hen together with 4 black australorp hens and they do fine. They’ve been together since hatching, if that makes a difference. The black australorps are extremely docile (though better flyers and tend to roam when they get out of the run). Personality wise...
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