This is Chicken Little about two weeks ago. You can see a little bit of a comb there but not much. She is a barred rock/americauna cross so I have no idea what the comb is supposed to look like but both her sibs (a hen and a roo) have combs already. She will be a pet for sure.
My little one is still alive and kicking and finally starting to catch up with his siblings and he's still so darn cute! He's my favorite and will sit in my lap and snuggle when none of the others will. I'm so glad I didn't cull him when most people would have. It's like most things in life...
I have 13 full sized birds and one silkie that have been raised together since hatching. They get along fine and the little one even challenges the bigger birds even though some of them are 4x his size. However, I find it very difficult having to size the height of everything for the little...
Thanks for all the comments and it is quite clear to me that the answer is at best, unclear! I will just have to wait till they mature and observe the dynamics of the group to see if they can both earn their keep. As with all things chicken, nothing is cut and dried.
I would have been happy with anything for my chickens but hubby is persnickety and wanted the coop to match the house. We saw a design from Tuff Shed but they wanted a boat load of money for it so he designed his own and we're pretty happy with it. The finished coop is 4x8 feet. It is four...
I have not read all the replies but I would recommend perennial plants for chicken fodder to reduce the work needed every year. A little know plant that is excellent is Australian Pea Shrub. It's a legume and produces pods high in protein for the birds, is thorny to provide good deer...
I have one of these to keep the deer out of my garden and it works great. I was hoping that it would work for the chicken run area at night. Anyone tried this?
Thanks everyone. We have at least two young roosters and maybe a few more that are too young to tell. I will probably have to get rid of one or more of them but wanted to check here first before I made the decision. I guess I'll try to keep two and see how they get along. They will be free...
Trying to decide if it is worth it to pay to feed more than one rooster. I am thinking that two will provide better predator protection/early warning than one, provided the two get along. I will have around ten hens for them to look after and we have two acres for them to roam. Any thoughts?
Just an update for those of you who are interested. All the chicks are doing fine and are out in the big coop. No signs of bloody poop in any of them and they are all healthy. Maybe I just got lucky but I trusted my instinct and it was the right choice.
Thanks! Glad I found you guys. I posted in the pest and disease forum about not treating for coccidiosis and boy did I get an earful! I prefer to go the natural route if possible. All my chicks are doing well and have recovered with no issues with only probiotics for which i'm very thankful.
I'm new here but am very interested in what everyone has to say. With such an active thread it seems like it would make more sense to have a separate forum for natural chicken keeping rather than just a thread. Has anyone suggested this? Looking forward to learning from you all!
I have exactly the same issue with one of mine except they are eight weeks old and he is just barely getting feathers. Most people would say you should just cull him but I can't bring myself to, he's such a little fighter! And so adorable, he still looks like a baby, just like yours. I don't...
Thanks Erica, you make some good points and have great suggestions. I did not start them with medicated starter and the ones that started with the bloody stools were from the most fastidious breeder I have ever seen. None of his breeding stock or any of the chicks had ever been on soil of any...
I guess my thought is, and this is how I treat myself and my family as well since I'm an RN, if they are not showing ANY signs of being sick and the bloody stools seems to be self limiting lasting only about 48 hours for each chicken, what is the point in exposing them to antibiotics allowing...
Ok, I have searched and searched and can find no reference to folks just letting their chickens cure themselves of this thing. I'm just trying to get an alternative to treating with antibiotics so here is the deal. I have two sets of chicks from two different breeders, one group is 8 weeks and...