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  1. Missoula Chicken Lady

    No Eggs?

    Only if they're eating that instead of their nice high-protein layer feed... Each chicken eats about 1/4 to 1/3 lb. of food a day (thank you to Gail Damerow and her comprehensive book Raising Chickens.)
  2. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Broody hen is stressed

    No telling except over time I've had girls sit for two weeks and then get up on a cold night and just stand until morning. Just make her little nest box as dark and fluffy as possible, and make sure she's got a little outside area as part of her hutch to stretch her legs (sounds like you do.)...
  3. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Help - Caught chickens eating own egg

    ...they're low on calcium and the eggshells are thin. I just have a few bowls out all the time with oyster shell. You can offer oyster shell or *pulverized* and rinsed eggshells (if the crushed eggshells are recognizable, then it just reinforces the egg-eating habit) in a bowl, at all times...
  4. Missoula Chicken Lady

    What to look for to determine sex

    Regardless of what sex they are, giving them some more space might help? If they can get away from each other, unless it is some sort of gang attack (have seen this, not pretty), it seems fights are reduced just by virtue of fewer encounters... I look for thick legs, early overall growth, and...
  5. Missoula Chicken Lady

    brooder

    Also, because your space varies so much temperature-wise, you'll want to check on them often -- may be too hot during the day, and too cold at night. Watch what they do -- if they are pressed up against the sides of the box and panting, it's too hot. If they're piled on top of each other just...
  6. Missoula Chicken Lady

    brooder

    That's a big brooder box -- how many chicks are you planning on having in there? I would say at least one 125 or 250 watt red bulb, and probably two. The best thing is to do is to hang the brooder lamps above the brooder before you get the chicks, and place a thermometer in the bottom of the...
  7. Missoula Chicken Lady

    UGH! Brooder temps and poopy butt issues, I'm going nuts!!

    I found that when I had the most issues with pasty butt was when I was using the wrong feed...are you using a specially formulated chick feed? Regardless, warm to hot water, soap, and an old toothbrush do wonders for a gentle butt cleaning.
  8. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Bator making me batty!!!

    I have tried three hatches in both the still air and the fan LG incubators. Have had TERRIBLE hatches -- worst was 1/39. Some of my problems may have been because I ordered hatching eggs from across the country, but even with my chicken's "fresh" eggs the hatches have been poor. Added two...
  9. Missoula Chicken Lady

    How do YOU wash your eggs??

    Hi! I don't ever get my eggs wet. When they get wet, the natural protein coating that protects the egg from drying out (and from absorbing bacteria or green pepper smells from your fridge) is destroyed. So I just use a little sandpaper if they're really dirty -- but otherwise, I just leave...
  10. Missoula Chicken Lady

    HELP!! Chickens pecking each other around the vent!

    Hello - Gail Damerow in Storey's Guide to Chickens says to use kelp meal to help prevent feather-picking and cannibalism -- the salts seem to satisfy a craving otherwise for blood! Also, make sure that you have a RED light on in the coop if you use a light in there. White light seems to stress...
  11. Missoula Chicken Lady

    When is mounting too much mounting?

    Thanks, ddawn. Do you recommend any particular books for breeding, since it sounds like you have researched this topic??
  12. Missoula Chicken Lady

    When is mounting too much mounting?

    Thank you all for your thoughts. My inclination is to leave the roosters in there (there are less than 12 - maybe 9 or 10.) So perhaps I will spend an afternoon or morning watching all of their interactions and decide whether or not I think those roosters are being too aggressive - though I...
  13. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Predator proof run

    One thing you can do is to extend some hardware cloth (small, relatively rigid metal mesh) or poultry mesh out from the foot of your run. This discourages predators from digging under your run. Alternatively, you can bury your fence about a foot deep. If you haven't already done this, of...
  14. Missoula Chicken Lady

    When is mounting too much mounting?

    Got a flock of about 230 on about 5000 square feet (rotating through multiple pastures this size). Mostly pullets as I had them sexed at the hatchery. But there are a few males of each breed, and they are starting to mount the pullets, who do not seem that annoyed. I know roosters can get...
  15. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Introducing Big Groups of Different Breeds of 3 Week-Old Chicks?

    Just an update for anyone else who is raising lots of chicks, and needs to introduce them to each other, after they've been in separate brooders: The intros went just fine. A few days before we moved them in together, we removed the cardboard from the little brooders so they could see each...
  16. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Introducing Big Groups of Different Breeds of 3 Week-Old Chicks?

    Debiraymond - They are not visible to each other, because each of their brooders has a 18" border of cardboard around the bottom, but they can hear each other because they're all in the greenhouse..... The move is next week - our farm needs the greenhouse space for seedlings, so it's time for...
  17. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Introducing Big Groups of Different Breeds of 3 Week-Old Chicks?

    In our greenhouse, I have four brooders full of four different heritage breeds of chicks - about 60 chicks in each brooder. I am hoping to mix them together in our hoophouse in a week or so - when they are about 3 and a half weeks old - has anyone out there introduced this many chicks to each...
  18. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Pasty Butt experience

    I dealt with pasty butt with nearly half of my 250 chicks for about a week, then it seemed to disappear (knock on wood.) I think it only affects chicks usually for the first two weeks. I found a soft toddler's tootbrush and some warm water in a mason jar, along with a paper towel, to be a good...
  19. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Anyone raise and feed red worms to chickens for extra protein?

    Well, I think red wigglers are great - adding them to your household is effective for recycling all sorts of things - whether you have chickens or not! I do think a good reason to take the extra step of feeding worms some of your kitchen scraps is that the worms provide more protein for your...
  20. Missoula Chicken Lady

    Who has a chair in the coop....

    I have a cot in the greenhouse where I'm brooding my Buff Orpingtons, Silver-laced Wyandottes, Dominiques, and Light Brahmas.
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