Recent content by snomonkey33

They will assume you're dead and when you return they will assume you're a zombie and will turn against you. Seriously, they will be fine. I have left my chickens with sitters for weeks due to zoning ordinance issues and they behave the same way afterwards as they did beforehand. Not that...

I started with a regular heat lamp, and switched to the amber heat lamp. They seem to sleep a little better with the amber one, and they definitely sleep well if you give them complete darkness (just cup your hands over their head and watch them flop down). Another thing you can do is put a...

I think that the poop-through floor is going to fight against the natural ability of the chickens to turn over the soil and compost their own droppings, since the flies will always have access to the poop.

Love your profile pic! here's my polish chick nodding off to sleep Lol I can see your chickens looking at the webcam. It's like they're watching me watch them.

Perhaps if you make them wait or chase them away before you allow them access they will give you more space. Sounds like they need to go to chicken reform school!

YES this happened to me too, although my eggs were store bought. They were free range from a local farm though. And mine were definitely brown, not black. I think it was food coloring penetrating the shell.

Looks really light weight, I love it!

congradulations!!!

I have 7 chicks in my kitchen that are about 3 weeks old, they don't stink much yet as long as I keep the shavings a couple inches deep and refresh them once a week

The "green" solution to the smell and flies is composting. Smell happens when the waste is sitting on the surface, which gives the flies easy access to the "nutrients". Composting might sound like a lot of work, but all the effort is in getting it started. After that all you need is a pitchfork...

eat him! Naw I would keep him as long as he's tolerable. I do live in a suburban neighborhood though so I understand not being able to have a noisy bird when the neighbors all sleep within 30 yards of the coop.

My older chick always walks on the younger ones. I think its trying to establish pecking order. They squawk a lot but none have died yet.

I've also used talcum powder (similar to baby powder or foot powder), the smell supposedly confuses them so they don't know who to pick on. If she's pecking herself, I'm not sure what the problem is.

I took mine out at a couple weeks when it was sunny, in the 70's and low wind, one started "shivering" her tail feathers after about 20 minutes so I took them back inside.

I assume there isn't space to back the lamp into a corner? It's hard to picture how much space there is above / around the roost without pictures you could cut out part of a wall to mount the lamp sideways, but then you might have to shield the back of the lamp from the weather.