So, does everyone think a hatchet is easiest for one person than the head in a cone and slice method? It certainly would be a quick kill, but I'm not sure how I hold the chicken still enough to swing the hatchet. This is particularly true for my healthy rooster whom, if he gets much more...
I guess beheading wasn't really what I was thinking. I thought the easiest way was with one of those cones. You stick the head in there and hold it with one hand then slit the neck with the other. I think for one person to hold it down and chop it with an axe might be harder and more likely...
We did manage to isolate her, but our isolation coup won't be here until next week. We have given her some yogurt and olive oil soaked bread. Her croup is pretty squishy. I think I might try to pick up some Nystatin in case.
Inevitably, I'm going to have to put one of my chickens down. From reading, it looks like cutting off the head is the most humane way. I would rather not have my first try go horribly wrong, so I figure I could get something from the butcher shop to practice on. What might be a good thing to...
We have started to notice that one of our brown leghorns has a large croup. She is definitely skinny too. We are new to chickens and aren't entirely sure what to do. This leghorn has always been very skittish, so she is very hard to get a hold of. We did finally buy an isolation coop, so we...
My wife was home today and she is still hanging around. I just hope she sticks around during hunting season because she's a little too comfortable around people to last long.
Yes, this is a real wild turkey. I didn't see her today, but we were gone during most of the time she was around Saturday and Sunday. I'm pretty sure that she has been around for a while. I have a few pics, but it will take a while to post them.
In order to steal our chicken feed, she...
I'd noticed that something was following my chickens around a week ago, but I had assumed it was after them. Yesterday morning I went to give snacks to them. They all came running in from the forest and just behind was a wild turkey. The turkey hung out with my chickens all day around the...
Three days who, one of the eggs I found had blood on it. I couldn't see any evidence of a problem on any of the chickens. Yesterday, another one had blood on it, but it was less than the first time. What might be the problem?
We live in the woods with foxes and bobcats, so free ranging is a weekend thing when we are home. They've been getting pretty gutsy in going into the woods lately too. They have been getting OO brand layer feed. Lately though, some of them have started losing feathers so, on someone's...
I know your supposed to feed them lots of things with beta carotene to get extra yellow eggs, but greens are running short now that fall is coming. It seems that everyone tries to judge eggs by the color of the yolk even if it's not really all that significant, so I'm willing to cheat a little...
After looking at the pictures in this thread, I'm beginning to suspect they are just molting. The feather loss looks just like this except the skin is not so red. They also have started to lose a bit on their chest. I did get some game bird food, so I'll use it. That stuff is spendy though.
That makes sense. Is there something I can do? Do I need to add a food station or something so there is enough? They are such pretty birds, but they are small and skittish.
I have 19 hens and one rooster. I'm not sure of most of their breeds, but the brown leghorns are pretty obvious. They are a bit smaller than the other birds. All of our hens have just started laying. Last week, my wife noticed that one of the brown leghorns was losing feathers at its back...
I'm trying to move my nest boxes because they are below where they roost and get pooped on all night. The problem is that these nest boxes have, for some reason, been built with a lip on the back that prevents me from just screwing them into the studs of my chicken house. I feel like I might...
My chickens just started laying (I'll get pics up when I get on a real internet connection.) We have 19 hens, and will soon be overwhelmed with eggs. One of my plans is to auction off eggs at church, but I can't just wait for 50 dozen eggs to come out. Nobody needs as many eggs as I will...
It seems I miss calculated on feed and ran out. I cannot get to the feedstore until tuesday afternoon. I could go now, but they are closed on Sunday. I have 20 chickens that are all about 13 weeks old. There must be something I can get at the grocery store that will work until Tuesday.
The picture is 2 years old. The article is 2 days old. It's been playing on the news a lot. I don't think it's a big deal. Any hatchery that deal with a large number of chickens is running the risk of getting a bad strain of salmonella. People that handle baby chickens should know to wash...
Since we are in the middle of a heat wave with no end in sight, I wanted to get some ideas and techniques to deal with the heat. I already have a fan blowing air into the coop, and I put ice blocks in their waterer. At the moment they are stuck in their coop, but with the fan, the temperature...