Recent content by Nate19

Lethargic, heavy rapid breathing.. and most concerning the hiccup/cough noise. The bird still eats, although I am not sure if it is drinking much. This is 1 of the 12 meat chickens I am raising for the first time. I need to decide whether whatever it is afflicted with can be easily treated...

I haven't laid eyes on his chickens yet. I will check them out for anything obvious when I go over there next week. I don't believe they are overly aggressive, although I'm sure there will be some sorting out of the pecking order should I choose to introduce them.

I currently have 8 chickens (mixed breeds) that I raised from chicks. They were vaccinated by the hatchery for Marek's disease. I am looking to add 2 more chickens to the flock. I have a friend willing to give me (2) 2-3 year old chickens since he is downsizing his flock. The chickens were...

My Cochins eye problem resolved on its own. I did try wiping it once or twice with a clean and warm wet towel, which didn't seem to make it any better or worse. After several days to a week after she was born she gradually held her eye open more on her own. She's now ~17'ish weeks. Happy...

Bushman, I think that is a good lesson for all of us to learn from your experience. I think if anyone is close enough to make a short day trip to pick up birds that seems to be the best option. I was able to lay eyes on my birds before ever leaving the hatchery. I was able to watch them for a...

I think you need to rename this chicken Chuck Norris, Rocky, Superman, or something of the like..

First of all, I'm not trying to be rude about this. I'm just curious. Like many here, I'm new to raising a backyard flock. Anyways, I am fortunate enough to live less than 2 hours from Meyer, so I drove down to get my 8 hens. Knock on wood, all have been happy, healthy, and thoroughly...

Its those Ohio Cochins! Tough birds! I'm raising 2 of them currently (bought 2 "blues" but I think I got a black and a splash.) Hope they don't have a similar hard time to your poor hen. Glad she made a full recovery.

Its ok. You can buy the vaccines online and give them to the chicks yourself. It only requires a small injection under the skin. http://www.jefferspet.com/products/md-vac The link I posted is a vial for $20 that is enough for 1,000 chickens. Meyer is a good company and I bet you'll be...

Got'a say that I'm pretty impressed with you after reading through this thread! Kudos to you for being so caring and willing to stick with this hen to whatever the final outcome is. Hope she does well! Really looks like you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's with all of this. I'm...

If you ordered from their website it should have given you the option to vaccinate them. Did you say No and now change your mind? I would still try to call them! If there's any chance for them to they likely will. They have been a good company to work with.

I soaked some of the pearled barley over night and attempted it as a treat this morning. At this point my chicks are still skittish so only 1 out of 8 (one of my Barred Rocks) ventured close enough to peck a few pieces out of my hand. She seemed to enjoy it and when I came back later with a few...

I have been feeding them a starter crumble with grit mixed in. Only mixing in grit because I want to be able to introduce other foods (like this barley, mealworms, etc.) as they grow. I will mix in the pearled barley with their crumble, if you think that's the best way to go about it?

How do you suggest cooking it? Just bring it to a boil for a certain period of time? Does it change the safety of the matter that they are ~2 weeks old? (If it helps to know, I have been mixing in small amounts of grit to their feed over the last several days)

My girlfriend and I recent purchased barley that we wanted to sprout to feed to our new (first!) flock. We didn't do enough research and ended up purchasing pearled barley from the store, not that whole barley that you need to buy if you're going to sprout it. Now that I have several bags of...