You might find, if any of your birds are like mine, that they will see your ceramic eggs in each box and raise you all the ceramic eggs in one box. Granted I only have two boxes, but my Welsummer and BO will not suffer letting eggs be in separate boxes.
All four of my ladies prefer to...
Idk. Mine will do it when they see eggs, right before and after they lay eggs, or when they see another bird in the nesting boxes. My BO also made a similar sound the time my polish decided to go adventuring in the neighbors front yard one morning (and worried me half to death).
Maybe they're...
It can also take up to a month for them to have a regular laying cycle. My first layer only took about a week, but my ee, the last to start laying, took longer to get a routine going.
I gotta go to Albany to renew my dogs' licenses in the next few days anyway, so I'll have to look at what's available at home depot (we don't have a lowes). It's too bad I can't just convert our old shed; it's neither wooden or water tight.
...in but they usually just get to roam the entirety of the back yard / garden at will. We might change that next year, since bf doesn't like bird poops on the patio (he's more the only one) and they killed some of my garden plants this year (not that I *needed* those cucumbers anyway, but still).
They help to reduce the amount of bacteria on your hands. Alcohol does in fact kill salmonella; it poisons most bacteria that I know of, just like it poisons people in large enough quantities. It won't totally prevent an infection, but the cdc recommends the use of hand sanitizer when soap and...
While I agree that over use of hand sanitizer is not beneficial (just as over use of antibiotics causes both resistant bacteria strains and can destroy your digestive system's beneficial bacteria populations), using it when appropriate, e.g. when I come in the house from handling chickens and...
...Cookie dog (she's a border collie mix, so she's a little larger than a purebred) for scale. We were just so uninformed when we bought this. *cries*
The nesting box is actually sagging so we had to prop it up. This piece of trash has only been put together since April at the earliest.
If I had the room I'd probably do that. Initially it looks less nice, but then ya gotta remember she's not interested in roaming when she's broody anyway. :) I don't think the water thing is probably that bad though. The bird in the video was very calm the whole time and it can't be much...
That's the problem with the coop. There's not room to put roosts higher (I have been struggling to think of how to do it for two months now and no dice), plus it's so small that I'm worried they'll take up bad behaviours if I keep them cooped up. Pearl (my ee) already is run off from...
So salmonella is a bacterial infection. Afaik all chickens have salmonella bacteria. That's why you gotta wash your hands after handling your birds or handling anything that comes in contact with their feces. The only way to get salmonella poisoning (from your own chickens, assuming you keep...
There are roosts in the coop but they're level with the nesting boxes and mostly just on the floor when the droppings tray has wood shavings in. Very poorly designed and I wish I'd known better. Like, it's supposed to be big enough for four hens and that may be truth mathematically but it...
Just when you start to think you have a grasp on the whole bird mom schtick, they (the birds) decide they're going to start being weirdos. Well, at least, mine have.
So I have 4 chooks all if whom are currently laying and are about 6 months old, iirc. Until recently, everyone except Lady...
The fiance and I took a dozen eggs from our flock to give to his dad, Tom, the last time we went to see his parents and lemme tell you I have never seen Tom that excited. It was pretty satisfying.
In other news, my buff orpington lays eggs with cloudy whites, right? The first one freaked me...
It probably depends on the chicken a lot. My polish had been squatting for about 4 weeks before she started laying. I have another hen who has been squatting about five or six weeks now with no eggs.
It's a little easier to be patient when we've found an egg every day for the last three days now. I really wasnt expecting one today, so, idk, kudos to whoever is laying the teeny beige eggs. She's winning the race so far.
I'll keep that in mind and I'm trying to be patient, but I'm just so excited to start getting eggs regularly from these birds, man. Patience is not my strongest quality.
Yesterday morning they were the chattiest things, hanging around the coop a lot (normally they like to hang out in the garden or behind the shed), generally acting like I'd expect birds preparing to lay to act, right? Accidentally caught Pouff sitting in there when I went to check for eggs after...
My girls just started laying yesterday so this is a few years down the road yet for me. When they start tapering off on laying, I'll probably get a permit from the city to exceed my current limit (5 without a permit; I have 4 right now) so the young'uns can pick up the slack. They're honestly...