Recent content by prairiehousewife

Hello, Last fall my dog got 9/10 of my hens, so I got 6 more from a neighbor with a seriously over-crowded coop. I have/had no idea how old these hens are/were and they didn't lay eggs all winter. They've finally started laying and I seem to only be getting 2 good eggs from those 6 chickens. The...

I hear it's best to leave them, but I only get a few eggs and I use them pretty quickly, so I do wash my eggs first. When I had more eggs, I washed them with vinegar water and let them air dry. I don't like the idea of storing something covered in poo in the fridge with my fresh veggies.

Something I've struggled with since I got chickens is how often to clean the coop. I really wanted to try the deep litter method, but couldn't convince my hubby to do it. That's fine. But I'm wondering how dirty of a coop can the ladies handle. I suppose our coop is around 6x8 and we have 7...

So my other question, as I read on about taking care of my chickens...can they be let out in the snow or will that be too cold for their feet?

All good advice. Will have to check out that post/website suggested. When we winterize our old house, we'll have to do the same to the coop. I just want to be sure they'll be okay when it gets really cold, espeically the ones that were half pecked clean in their former (overcrowded) coop at a...

Our coop is just an old shed that came with our house, so it's not insulated and it's rather breezy. It's maybe 6x8 or so. I'm wondering, as a winter settles in here in SD, how cold is too cold for the chickens? I have 7 total and a 10 slot nester deal, so they all have a spot to nest/sleep at...

Glad I found this. Was searching for any help as I have a chicken with projectile diarrea, too. Nearly got hit this evening as I was closing up the coop. I've given the ladies yogart twice this week, as I've noticed this runny pooh problem for a while. Seems like just one or two have it. I can't...

So glad I found this. Thank you for posting! I left chicken feed in our empty coop all winter, which was great for keeping the mice out of my house, but now they know where the goods are, and I have a variety of mice with several entry points. I plugged several with steel wool already. My...

MMM...I think they're 1-2 yrs old. The guy we got them from told my DH (typical...like he ever takes care of the chickens!) who can't really remember. What sorta "broody behaviors" should I look for? They seem to be laying every other day. Could it be the weather? It's been cold and rainy. What...

I don't know the answer to that, but I'd sure like to know when you do find out. I wonder if my coop should be cleaner. I clean it out about every two weeks since my DH wasn't hot on the deep litter method. Maybe I should be cleaning it out more often...

The first egg laid at our house after the chickens came here to live. It was really cool to pick up that warm egg and know more would come! Unfortunately, we didn't eat the egg because I dropped it and it broke. Hope that wasn't a bad omen!

I thought about that, but I've had them locked up for a week or so, and still only about 5 eggs max.

Hello, New to all this chicken raising stuff. We got our 10 chickens a little over a month ago. They were laying 8-10 a day, but we're down to anywhere from 2-5 these days. I heard from someone else that chickens don't like change. The chickens were given to us by a neighbor, so there was a...

I'm new to having chickens. Just got them a couple months ago--free from a neighbor. So...what's a broody chicken? Is this something I should be worried about? How do I know?