I think that if you are looking for a job, it will not be helpful. Volunteer at a local kennel, shelter or clinic for on the job training and local recommendation.
Here is a study on using amaranth as chicken feed.
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/ARTICLE/AGRIPPA/550_EN.HTM
Seems impractical to me to always have to cook their food for them. If I were you I would look at other grains such as broom corn or the same millet found in bird seed (proso?) Let the...
BTW: With dogs, we always called this a religious nail trim. That's when you yell: OMG!! and grab the clippers! wink
Funny!
Her toes were probably bent like that to start with - accident of hatch or genetic defect. So she could not trim her nails by scratching and sounds like nobody was...
So they were free ranging at the time? If that is the case, I say again; predator.
Or if they were in a run, that is not hardware cloth, I say again; predator.
Were the tail feathers of the now tail-less bird on the ground at the scene? no? probably in the mouth of some predator. Lots...
You need another guard dog fast. Soon it will be too late. The coyotes will get bolder and bolder until one day soon (yes they will kill in daylight) they will move in and kill your whole flock and remaining dog. No joke. I happened to my friend's 40 chickens killed in 2 days and her older...
I believe this may belong in the predator section. Any chance a rat can get into your coop? Or that she injured herself on a nail or something?
This doesn't sound like fighting chickens. They don't fight at night (they don't generally even move in low light).
They will go for blood the...
I just reacted to his posted feelings. I don't know to what post he refers. I felt his hurt and wanted to support someone who was hurting. (Perhaps the idiot part refers to me.)
Maybe later when everyone is feeling better, you two could create a useful conversation about it.
How far apart are your fence posts? Maybe you could run 2 inch lumber between the chain link and the hardware cloth and attach both to it thus allowing you to raise the chain link up at least a foot or foot and a half above ground level.
Hardware cloth on bottom and up 2 feet, and then the...
You need hardware cloth on the bottom (as planned) so that the chickens will not stick their heads out and get them bitten off and also to keep young chicks inside the run.
You have the right idea on the hardware cloth, but I'm not sure that the chain link will staple up high very well - seems like you would need to fasten it at every link to the hardware cloth to be sure there are no gaps. Doesn't sound practical.
Maybe someone else has an idea?
I hope for their sake that the run is hardware cloth. Otherwise you need to move them into the coop each night (and put them on the roosts) until they start doing it on their own.
The lamp had nothing to do with it. This is pretty normal - do a search for pasty butt and you will find a ton of threads on it. She is just a little stressed probably.
Best thing I have found is to start putting some finely chopped greens in the brooder. Chopped grass works well for this...
So, do your chickens not leave a bunch of droppings under their roost? Seems like most domestic birds leave lots of droppings under the roost, and I'm wondering if yours have self-selected against this over the years.
She just got confused as to where her nest was. She didn't mean to leave her eggs (she is just not very smart). Since she hasn't been sitting very long the eggs should be just fine.
If the eggs were older this could have caused problems, so you might want to move her to her own spot (like a...
If you don't care about her laying sooner, then just keep taking her off nest to eat and drink at least 2 times a day and eventually she will stop sitting.
She won't overheat sitting still anymore than she would walking around...she'll be fine.