Recent content by WYOwhy

I'm sorry for your loss. Was she overweight? I don't know much, but I just read today about heart attack in chickens. It could happen to an overweight hen with no previous symptoms - just suddenly falling over dead. The book I was reading said that a veterinarian can often determine cause of...

I got a shipment of 25 chicks in the mail yesterday morning. One was DOA. The rest seemed fine and healthy. My friend's kids picked out four more chicks at the feed store yesterday afternoon and she couldn't resist buying them, so she brought them over to add to my brooder. Last night, one of...

Thanks for the advise all! I will call my post office for sure and bring them cookies when I pick up my chicks. I'm looking forward to 25 happy peepers in my garage. Too bad I have to wait all the way to mid-March. Evernf, I'm in the Casper area. Nice to see some other Wyoming folks on the...

Please excuse my newb question: I just ordered 25 chicks from Meyers and forgot to ask. Does anyone know if they automatically place a "hold for pickup" on their shipments or do I need to notify my post office? Thanks.

Another form of chicken math: If my proven brooder setup is inside a garage, with a heat lamp and the possibility of a space heater, and the average temperature for the month historically is 38F, lows as cold as -20 and warms as high as 60, is it too soon to order 25 new chicks? I don't want...

It is time for a new coop... and this time I want something mobile. Has anyone converted an old horse trailer into a coop? I'd love to see pictures or hear ideas. Thanks!

Heat: no Insulated coop: no Amount of ventilation (approximate sq.ft.)you employ during the winter: the coop has six 12 sq.in. slits up towards the top for vents. All day long the pop door is open. run is approx. 100 sq.ft. Coop size: approx. 12 sq.ft. Litter method: Shavings about four...

I get the classic: Are you even allowed to own chickens? Do you really eat those eggs? and; Aren't they very dirty/smelly/a lot of work? But my all time favorite came when explaining why I traded out my roosters (didn't bother calling them cockerels - he wasn't going to understand). I said, "I...

I'm glad you all are thinking pullet on Europa. I was too, but her tail is so manly. Could the silkie in her cause the tail to look like that? Are those streamers? Sometimes the fluff on her head stands upright and almost looks part Polish. I love my mutts, the oddness of them makes them that...

I got some baby chicks from a friend, and after the first couple of months it became obvious that two of the three were cockerels. So we swapped chickens and this time I got an adult hen - silkie - and a sibling to my cockerels. She (I think) has the manliest tail feathers and lighter colors to...

The white one is from the store... the other four are from my Leda! I'm so proud of the pretty girl!

My new silkie hen decided to leave me a gift while I was out of town. First eggs ever laid at my house! The white one is store bought, for comparison purposes: The gratuitous proud of what my hen can do shot: The responsible party:

Thanks! I was hoping that was what you were going to say. No rooster here, so I'm pretty sure we're safe from developing eggs. Unless she can hold onto fertilized eggs from when she lived on the country estate. I'm happy to say, this is most assuredly not a chicken sitter's joke. It is the...

Started with 18 baby chicks last May. Raised them and returned them to their country home. Missed them once they were gone. Then I got three more for me. Planning another 20 for the country home this spring.

I was out of town for four days on a work event. The chicken sitter must have been extra good, this morning I found 4 eggs lined up neatly in the nest box. My first eggs! So, they might have been sitting out for as long as four days. Are they still safe to eat? How long can an egg sit out at...