This is the first time we got a "pullet" that turned out to be a rooster and unfortunately, we can't have roosters. My kids are devastated. I'm looking for someone in Illinois/Indiana/Wisconsin near Chicago who can take him and he won't wind up in a soup pot but live out his life. I think if I...
Has anyone 'boarded' their hens with someone else before? I might need to be moving much sooner than expected and will need somewhere for my hens to go while in the process of moving. I'm currently near the Joliet area.
And now it looks like Sunday will be a HIGH of -5! Which means lows will be about -18 not counting wind chill. My birds might be acclimated to winter, but not those temps! Time to try to get some heat in the coop?
There's about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, which probably won't be melting any time soon with these temps. I opened the run door yesterday and it didn't look like anyone went out in the snow, except for a very small bare patch near the coop wall. The coop itself is a 6' x8' garden shed with...
For the next few days we will have temperatures in the negatives. High of 5F with wind chills -15 to -20. Low temps even colder. This is the first winter with half our flock and a couple are still molting, especially around their heads and necks. The rest of the flock is almost three. This is...
I'm taking the run walls/fencing with me. The coop is a shed that was on the property when I bought the place, so it's not going anywhere. Chickens will be confined to the coop/run, or even the coop with the pop door closed when the house is showing.
I'm not really sure where to post this because it doesn't seem to fit anywhere. I may be moving from a populated suburban area 2 a rural farming area. Has anybody had to sell their house while owning chickens and did it hinder the selling process? I was told my house won't sell if the chickens...
I have three fully feathered 6 week old chicks. I need to get them outside. Temps will be around 50 at night and 65-70 during the day. I have separated a section of the big girls' run for the chicks and made an "emergency" coop for a hen that was injured, using a large plastic trash can on its...
My first batch of chicks, when I moved them to the coop, spent about 5 days in the coop only. Their food and water was in there, their roosts were in there. Just the coop, no run until they considered it "home". Then when they were roosting at night on the roosts, I opened the coop to the run...
four week old gold laced wyandotte already showing red in comb and wattles. It's probably too early to tell, but my kid is curious if it's going to be a cockerel. Sorry about the quality. Taken by my phone that takes crappy pictures by my eight year old.
(I'm not sure if this should go under chicken behaviors, injuries, or managing your flock so if someone thinks it should be moved, please let me know.)
I went out to let my girls out of the run into the yard today to give them some roaming time and I noticed that the chickens were pecking at...
And...it's looking like the one barred rock we have left might be a roo. :-/ I've been trying to read up and it's still confusing to me.
Here's its leg, Kinda medium in color.
And its head spot. Rather muddled, with light on its chin too.
And its wing tips are already white. Not...
Big R was nice enough to take the chick back and exchange for another one, since it was same day we bought them. While I was there, I did check and it is a barred rock. My daughter didn't want one of the same kind so she chose a wyandotte who looks to be a couple days older and so hopefully a...
From what I've researched, they're looking like barred rocks. She (SO) said that sounds familiar. **roll eyes**. I think they're good with kids/docile? One of the black ones is not doing too well, flopping around, fell in her water, laying on her side, etc. I've separated her for now, and put a...
My SO can home from the store with three baby chicks today but didn't know what kind they are. I found the sku and called the store. They told me they were auracanas, which we all is easter eggers. I think they meant the yellow one. I'm trying to figure out what the black ones with the yellow...