Recent content by Stephine

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    You can only pick 6 hens...what's your line up!

    Cream Legbar for the spunk and beautiful blue eggs Green Queen - sweet calm no drama disposition and beautiful green eggs Olive Egger - another easter egger type with great temperament, no drama and friendly, darker green eggs Marans for the dark chocolate colored eggs Barred Rock for white eggs...
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    Do you give your birds rainwater?

    We have a rain season, with unpredictable rainfall, so it’s not really an option as a main setup. And then there’s still the bird flu going around and we have a lot of wild birds on our property and I wouldn’t want them to drink water that has washed over bird droppings. Ours drink well water...
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    Need good recipe for gluten/soy free feed

    OP is complaining that the chickens aren’t eating/liking the current gluten free feed, not that they are worried about handling it.
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    3 hens died over 2 1/2 years. Is this normal?

    Like someone said above - loosing that number of chickens is pretty normal, but the lameness on one side is worrying. Was it the silkie? If I remember correctly they are more susceptible to Marek’s disease. So it is worth keeping an open mind about possibly having a virus in your flock. I...
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    Need good recipe for gluten/soy free feed

    As a low effort solution, you could try mixing the feed up with water (add a bit of yoghurt if you need more enticement) and offer that. Chickens will often eat a wet mush enthusiastically even if they won’t touch the same stuff dry. Also makes it harder to pick and choose as it clings together...
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    Topic of the Week - Keeping Chickens Cool in Summer

    Yes! That makes a big difference.
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    Topic of the Week - Keeping Chickens Cool in Summer

    Glad you are managing to keep everyone comfortable! Just two things, because these keep popping up: 1. Fans do not help animals that don’t sweat cool down if they are just moving hot air. In cool air, fans can cool because of windchill alone (more air cooler than skin taking up more heat from...
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    Ramp question: Can chickens hang a right? (90° turn)

    Careful with using a heat plate in an outside/unheated situation. They might not put out enough heat to keep your chicks warm enough. They are meant for indoor brooding and might state a minimum ambient temperature. I had chicks in our studio under a heat plate a few years ago, room at about...
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    Are there any good pre-fab coops?

    Oh, if you want to raise backyard chickens right, you will never break even. Keeping chickens costs much more than just buying eggs. The eggs you buy are produced in large scale operations and usually under conditions that are not what you would like to see in your own backyard flock. So keeping...
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    Bay Area BYCers!

    not at all. Our coop is on posts set into concrete pillars, with the top of the pillars about 12-14” above ground. All cedar. If there ever was a termite I am sure the chickens would gobble it up…
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    chick standing with head hanging down

    I’m rooting for yours! Often nutridrench or other chick vitamins and electrolytes and a few days of special care is all that’s needed. 🤞🤞🤞
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    chick standing with head hanging down

    Sorry about your chick! No, mine had her head on the ground, literally on the bedding, she couldn’t lift it up at all. I have since figured out that she was suffering from “pseudo botulism” a version of Marek’s that hits early and chicks usually recover from in a day or two with good supportive...
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    I may have finally found a cure for feather picking

    Good point. I have never had an issue with them and my GLW had a looong life with them. She never got to eat scratch treats (because she couldn’t find them), but she would have had to become stew were it not for the peepers (or live in solitary).
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    I may have finally found a cure for feather picking

    I had a GLW for 8 years who was a feather picker. I put pinless peepers on her before she was even a year old and that stopped her picking. Years later I took them off of her thinking she might be cured, but she immediately started ripping out feathers out of any hen in her vicinity again...
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    How bad is it for dogs to eat chicken poop?

    Would be interesting to know what your pup came down with. Glad he recovered. I can’t imagine picking up after each chicken in real time… I would have confined either the chickens or the dog… Ours didn’t encounter chicken poop until he was 2, he has been handling it just fine (working breed...
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