The strange thing is, when the egg hatched, all four hens just stopped laying. I am hoping that the rubbery eggs was just from their system "starting up" again. Could that be?
We allowed our broody hen to hatch and raise a baby chick, it's doing great and growing fast! She is a good mother and very protective.
For about a month, while the chick was very small... none of our hens were laying. We don't know if momma was chasing them out of the box, or if the weather...
We finally have our first baby chick, it hatched today successfully. There had been two eggs in the box. The first egg got "crushed" or trampled, we're not sure by which chicken or why.
The second egg... when it started hatching we brought it into the house and carefully watched it and kept...
This is all so new to me but I am sure that the end result will be the self-sufficiency and better-for-me meals I am trying to attain Thank you all so much for your very helpful advice and info. I have had farm-raised, "country" food chicken before (not from the store) and I know it can taste...
As hot, humid and "buggy" as it has been here these past few weeks, I felt that hanging the bird even for 20 minutes would result in the meat going bad. I hung the bird just long enough to let the blood drain out and immediately brought it in. The carcass was HOT. I had to run it under cold...
Thanks everybody. The more I read, the more I think it was the bird's age, and she was also stressed (picked on by the other hens and just coming off a broody cycle). She had gotten skinny when she wasn't eating and I was trying to get her off the nest. Just not a happy-go-lucky chicken, she...
To salvage, I took all of the breast meat, chopped it up and I'm going to try to slow cook it tomorrow in a cajun stew. Probably will come out great, but thanks! What did people used to before refrigeration, I wonder... when it comes to letting the meat rest?
Hi all,
Well we decided to cull one of our Rhode Island Reds, she was about 18 months old and had a bad habit of escaping and running off into the woods. We didn't want her to teach any of the new hens that bad habit.
Killed her with an axe, let the blood drain, and immediately plucked and...
Thank you so much. Now I know what to look out for. So far I haven't seen any discharge from her nostrils or labored breathing. And her eyes look good. She may have just been "dumpster diving" so I'm definitely going to try the bath first. It wouldn't hurt. Those birds arrived so dirty.
Hey all,
We recently got four new hens. I was disappointed when they were dropped off. They weren't in the best of shape when we got them; all had leg mites and were skinny and dirty and had been living in a cage that was coated with droppings. So far they are doing better, putting on some...
Anyone selling Plymouth Rock hens or pullets? I need 2-3 more egg layers. I'm in Tazewell County, VA and would prefer to just pick them up over shipping. Contact me? Thanks
And he is also very smart... he's taught our hens how to "jump" over a section of chainlink fence, so they can go across into what used to be "his" yard (neighbors yard). But, he's also smart enough to not jump the fence into the street and he keeps the hens from even thinking about it. I...
Went outside with my husband, "cornered" all 3 chickens so we could get a look at their legs and yes, there is definitely something going on so I guess we'll be breaking out the pillow case tonight to de-mite them all. Thanks Pop for letting me know about this. I had no idea there was even...
It's funny, my exact comment to my neighbor when I went to tell her she had a bird up in her tree after that snowstorm was "you feel like chicken tonight?" LOL. In all seriousness though he's now a shared pet / almost a neighborhood "celebrity". Everyone walking by the yard stops to look at...
Heh... my husband is telling me he's picked Henry up before with no problem so now I'm like "okay, YOU do it..." LOL. Thanks everyone. Yeah I've checked all the birds behinds for "bugs" before and have never seen any. As far as I can tell, they are healthy and I had no idea about the mites. I...
The legs are yellow so I guess she's a Plymouth Thanks! When we got them they were babies in a pen and they were being sold by some kids who didn't seem to know what kind of chickens they were.