Recent content by TinyBirds

We had them a few years ago and they were bigger than we expected. We did wait until over a year old to eat them though so you may need to wait until 18+ months old for more meat. Now we have beltsville whites and they seem smaller but it is probably just because they're younger . It probably...

I think those are stunning birds (much better than hatchery) but I would recommend Brinkhaven Acres because I got some from them and they are beautiful. I dont think it's true though that good breeders wouldn't sell hatching eggs. Everyone is different and it's personal choice.

We have a fox visiting in daytime right now too. I made the chickens stay in their pens today but thet prefer getting out free range. I just plan to let them out 1/2 hr before dark while standing with them to guard them.

When we have that situation i get a dog crate and put it inside the pen for the 1 bird to be separate with their own food and water. That way if she dies, at least it's more peaceful than being eaten alive and stepped on constantly. Good luck!

I use dog kennels (welded wire thicker 8 or 10 gauge) but the openings are too big so I cover the kennel (including under roof) with hardware cloth 16 gauge 1/2" openings. If the openings are even 1 inch, raccoons will team up together and freak the birds out until they move to the edge and the...

Mine eat flock raiser crumbles and they are free range. Haven't lost a single one, other than the males we ate. Very nice meat.

Production does go down in summer heat. You probably just got used to the high counts in springtime.

We just did 10 birds today at 15 weeks old. They were welsummers, marans, and legbar. All were about 3.5 to 4 lbs live weight. They were quite a bit smaller than the saipan we processed at 16 weeks and those were 5.5 to 6 lbs. I prefer this age for processing because the skin pulls off so...

Lice are much easier than mites, just add a few drops of pure neem oil above the vent and behind the neck. Recheck after 4 days and reapply if needed until all are gone. Usually one treatment is all thats needed even for a bad infestation, if you get the good quality thick pure neem oil. Here is...

Raccoons, they will come back nightly until all are gone. With no time to rebuild fast enough (hardware cloth 1/2 inch 16 or 19 gauge needs to cover to too ziptie every 3 inches at seams with 8 inch long strong zipties, and add apron with rocks on top outside the bottom of fence). For now...

Her tail looks like a hen but her comb and wattles are big if she isnt laying eggs yet. Once hens start laying eggs they do get the bigger red comb and wattles more like a young rooster. If she is crowing for sure though I would have to guess either rooster or hermaphrodite...

I just wanted to mention not to let the broodies have too many eggs at once because I have made that mistake myself. If the broody is sitting in a communal area the other hens will often add to her egg collection and she'll end up with way too many eggs by the time it gets to 21 days. She wont...

If there are air plugs you can make sure they're open too.

Young birds can have white in feathers that might go away with the next molt to adult feathers. Pictures would help if you have time. The main way to tell is once they start laying if they are dark chocolate eggs. Some people breed more for egg color than appearance so it might just be some...

She looks like an australorp but if she's bantam I dont know.