Recent content by SchusterChickens

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    breeding to sustain own flock

    We have 19 hens and 2 roosters and are wanting to hatch our own eggs to keep the flock going without buying new chicks from other sources. Do we need to be concerned with our roosters mating with their daughters or brothers and sisters mating? I have read about spiral breeding and line breeding...
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    My chickens don’t like grit or oyster shell?

    Makes sense. I don't know how to figure out which hen is laying the eggs without shells. We have 19 hens. We have a camera in the coop, but can't really tell the hens apart. We have colored rings around most of their legs.
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    My chickens don’t like grit or oyster shell?

    Mine don't seem to like the oyster shells either, but love the egg shells. The problem is, I don't have enough egg shells for them all the time. I sell some of the eggs and am hesitant to ask people to save shells for me. Some use them in their own gardens. I'm going to try adding some oyster...
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    Cleaning poop boards

    Thanks! I was hoping those would be the answers.
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    Cleaning poop boards

    I was just wondering how clean do we need to keep our poop boards? We have 3 16"x8' melamine (malmac) boards that we scrape everyday. (The inherited the coop - 8'x8', off the ground - and we have to climb into it to clean it. We needed light weight boards that we could easily pull out without...
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    Bumblefoot, what do I do now?

    It did come back, after 2 days but not so dry. It is loose around the edges. We tried to remove the new core, but it started bleeding and my husband was hesitant to do more, so we applied peroxide and more Neosporin and wrapped it up again.
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    Bumblefoot, what do I do now?

    Looking for advice for bumblefoot. This is the first time we have had to deal with it. We soaked our hen's foot for a couple days and today we got the plug/corn/callus out. Underneath was a big hole. Is that normal? It didn't bleed. There is still some yellow stuff in the hole. Are we supposed...
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    How long to keep saddles on?

    I am using the shoulder pads.
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    How long to keep saddles on?

    I did get one of the DownUnder saddles. It is working well. However, we noticed that the hen with it is sleeping in a nesting box. We realized she may not be able to get up on the roosting bars with the saddle on. Has anyone else had that problem?
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    How long to keep saddles on?

    My daughter-in-law made some chicken saddles for my hens. They often flip up, so I am wondering if they are thick enough. They are one layer of denim. The one hen has a very red back, so I guess it is flipped up more than down on her back. Any suggestions on how to get the saddle to stay put or...
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    Help! Older hens drawing blood!

    Just wondering what "fully healed" means. I have a 13 week old chick that got out of the area we had for her & her 6 'sisters' into the big hen run about 5 weeks ago. They pecked all the feathers & skin off her head. We thought she would die, but has recovered nicely. We have had her isolated...
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    Feather Loss - Molting?

    Sorry I was delayed with pics. Having trouble with my phone. I'm leaning toward molting. I don't see any active feather picking. Couldn't get a picture of missing feathers (uncooperative husband 🤨)
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    Feather Loss - Molting?

    I'll try to get a picture. It is raining today.
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    Feather Loss - Molting?

    I am a new chicken owner. I have a 9 month old Barred Rock that started to look scruffy. I noticed her tail feathers were shorter (or gone) and then saw a bare section on her bottom. None of her sisters show the same symptoms. I read many places that chickens under a year don't molt. Hopefully...
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    Scrap

    I am also a new chicken keeper. The 10% rule is confusing. Volume? Weight? If each chicken eats a 1/2 cup of feed/day, my flock should only have about 1 cup of treats a day. But does that include all kitchen scraps? We eat a lot of watermelon & cantaloupe & give the rinds to the chickens. It...
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