Recent content by PicketFarmer

  1. PicketFarmer

    What breed is she?

    That's what I ended up deciding. I felt bad watching her pace the fence when the others got to free-range, while we were trying to get her used to us, so I let her out of the chicken yard and she went right to the fence and hopped over to return to her home in the brush. I'm sure we'll see her...
  2. PicketFarmer

    What breed is she?

    Should I just let her roam free and be a part-timer, then? I'm starting to feel bad about leaving her penned up, looking for a way to escape the chicken yard. We certainly don't need another chicken with 9 new layers and 2 almost retirees (not to mention the 5 other retirees and the rooster)...
  3. PicketFarmer

    What breed is she?

    Huh, I didn't see game hens in my search for green-legged chickens, but after looking it up, the hatch and/or pumpkin hulsey is definitely what she looks like. She's definitely a pretty girl, and Pumpkin would be a great name for her if we end up keeping her. This would be the first game hen...
  4. PicketFarmer

    What breed is she?

    We recently caught a stray chicken that's been hanging around our yard from the other side of the fence for at least a month. At first, she would just pace the fence and chat with our girls. Occasionally, she would hop the fence and stand outside our chicken yard, squawking to be let in, but...
  5. PicketFarmer

    Half-broody hen

    We actually just hatched one chick today from an incubator, and two other eggs look like they're ready to hatch. I'd thought about introducing them to the broody girl, but wasn't sure how she'd take to them. I've read some horror stories about trying to get hens to bond with newly hatched...
  6. PicketFarmer

    Half-broody hen

    I have an almost mature hen (11 months) that I'm pretty sure is going broody. She's extremely protective of her favorite nesting box, clucks to her eggs, pecks at everyone (but me) whenever they check for eggs, started plucking her chest feathers, and I'm pretty sure she's stopped laying. The...
  7. PicketFarmer

    Possible Broken Toe

    Yesterday, I went out to check the girls and noticed that one seemed to be limping. When I picked her up to examine her, I noticed that one of her toes was bent backwards. She acts perfectly fine, though she is definitely hesitant to walk or run (unless I'm trying to pick her up), and has a...
  8. PicketFarmer

    Do you feed your roos layer feed?

    Everyone I've talked to says that layer feed is perfectly fine for roosters. There's enough calcium for the ladies, but not too much to hurt the roos. My chooks have been on layer feed for a month, and the rooster acts just as happy (and randy) as ever. We also give them crushed eggshells for...
  9. PicketFarmer

    My hens won't eat anything other than regular feed

    Oddly, our chicks hated watermelon when we tried giving it to them around 2 weeks. We tried worms, blueberries, and woodsorrel (clover) before that, and they loved them, so when we read that they love watermelon, especially seeing how great it is for chickens during hot summers like ours, we...
  10. PicketFarmer

    Keeping chickens off treadle feeder tray lid

    Actually, our rationale was to keep the food from getting wet in the pouring rain and chickens raking food out, but pests like rats and squirrels was a consideration (cockroaches still get into the feeder, but the chickens eat them up, making them a non-issue). Aside from the tray lid issue...
  11. PicketFarmer

    Rooster of the week!

    Meet Richie. He's an 11 week old Barred Rock, and is truly the cock(erel)-of-the-walk. He's also still a big kid: he's friends with all the girls, but still pecks at them when they get too close while he's in my lap or getting treats; he's territorial and protective of his flock, but still...
  12. PicketFarmer

    Keeping chickens off treadle feeder tray lid

    I recently got a Super Handy treadle feeder for my flock (11 barred rocks, 11 weeks old) and have been training them for the past couple of weeks. They're on the lower training bolt, with the lid half closed, but seem to be ready to take the training wheels off. However, I've noticed a lot...
  13. PicketFarmer

    Official BYC Poll: Crumbles, Mash, or Pellets?

    I've only ever given the girls crumbles, and never really considered what goes in it, since I figured that all factory feeds contain relatively the same amount of vitamins and nutrients that they need. That said, I've left food out when it gets wet, and they actually seem to prefer that (mash)...
  14. PicketFarmer

    Helping a chicken detox

    We never intended to start them on medicated feed, which is why we switched off; we ordered the chicks non-vaccinated, but neglected to ensure that the first bags of feed didn't have any medication. Oh well, lesson learned. An update on Prudence (I figured she deserved a name since she had to...
  15. PicketFarmer

    Helping a chicken detox

    We just switched over to Purina non-medicated crumble feed less than a week ago (were previously feeding medicated feed, also crumbles); according to the hatchery guys, they should still have enough medication left in their systems from the previous feed to protect from bacterial infection and...
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