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  1. SamLockwood

    Chicken making very strange high pitched noise.

    From my birds it could be a predator they see off in the distance, a noise they don't like, or you or one of the other birds is doing something slightly annoying. One weird thing about their vocalizations is they're often context-dependent. For instance, what people call the "egg-laying song"...
  2. SamLockwood

    What the heck??l?!?!?!

    Looking up the breed, they appear to be a hybrid. All my marans and maran-based hybrids have red earlobes. White earlobes I've only seen on my cream legbars, so maybe somewhere in that hen's family tree there's some blue-egg-layer genes.
  3. SamLockwood

    Did I get dealt a crap hand or….?

    Are they all the same breed? If so are they a breed that tends to be sold out a lot? It could be they're somewhat over-bred and the genetics are weak. I say this because my cream legbar hens I got from one particular hatchery seem to be prone to health problems: I've had three die prematurely...
  4. SamLockwood

    A problem with two Roosters

    Multiple roosters can always be dicey, and even if you free-range them every day and they have a big enough coop things can still get messy: at the very least someone's going to get a nicked comb and / or wattles and some pulled feathers. You need at least 4 hens per rooster and a LOT of open...
  5. SamLockwood

    Chicken making very strange high pitched noise.

    That's a low-level threat-alert. Either she's not comfortable with whatever you're doing or she thinks there's a predator somewhere in the vicinity.
  6. SamLockwood

    Thinking of getting Rooster

    Like the others said, wait until the hens are older before getting a rooster. At least laying age, or better yet 9 to 12 months old. Adult hens are much less likely to put up with a.young cockerel's nonsense. Otherwise they tend to bully and stress out younger pullets when their hormones kick in.
  7. SamLockwood

    Can’t stop flying over fence.

    Even with clipped wings they can assist a jump with their wings and leap surprisingly high. I even have a few birds that are agile enough they can climb straight up a solid fence with enough foot-holds by flapping their wings as they climb. They have more trouble with fences that arent' as...
  8. SamLockwood

    Extended broodiness?

    Some of them are like that: they'll stay broody much of the summer. I have some others that will phase in and out of broody for a couple weeks at a time. I have noticed the ones that stay broody longer in the summer are the ones that tend to lay more frequently in the winter, but if you have a...
  9. SamLockwood

    Cream legbar 9 months - egg strike.

    On the hidden eggs thing, you'd be surprised some of the places they'll decide to lay an egg. I've even had some bury them in the bedding to hide them.
  10. SamLockwood

    What predator may have attacked guinea fowl with no evidence of struggle?

    In my experience, the ones big enough to hit and run off with an adult bird that quickly are coyotes or bobcats. Both will attack in daytime if they're hungry enough.
  11. SamLockwood

    Is my rooster getting aggressive?

    Following you around isn't a problem by itself. All chickens will do this if they imprint on you. I have a two and a half year old roo that follows me around when I'm in the years and he's never been the least but aggressive to me. If he's rushing you from behind, or trying to herd you, or...
  12. SamLockwood

    16 week cockerel behavior questions

    It's normal for a cockerel to be passive among adult hens at that age. If they're aggressive that young that's actually abnormal and not the best sign, plus having adult hens beat manners into an uppity cockerel actually helps things out in the long-run. Otherwise you'll get a rooster that has...
  13. SamLockwood

    RIP, Paris-- honest question about chicken bullying and predators

    Unless you've got a LOT of birds and they're severely malnourished, they're not going to be able to kill and strip an adult chicken that quickly. Without knowing anything about where the attack happened it's hard to say. If she was killed out in the open it could be virtually anything, if it...
  14. SamLockwood

    Sudden death of Guinea Fowl

    Absent a necropsy or any noticeable symptoms beforehand it's pretty much impossible to tell without more information. As others noted, it could be nutritional. It could have been heart failure, I've had a couple die young that way (all chickens in my case). It could have been heat stroke if it...
  15. SamLockwood

    Taming Guineas

    In general guinea fowl are going to be more stand-offish than chickens, especially the hens. Both chicks and keets will initially be very friendly when they first hatch, and within a week their instincts will kick in and they'll get shy. Personally, I try to handle my birds as little as...
  16. SamLockwood

    Why is a hen doing this?

    It could be the lack of space, it could be jealousy: they'll sometimes fight over anything. Sometimes one will just take a disliking to another one for no apparent reason at all.
  17. SamLockwood

    Pullets and cockerel going into the coop before the automatic door closes

    I don't use an automatic door, but usually they have a more or less set "time" they'll start getting ready to roost. I think they go by the angle of the sun and the overall light level. The chickens tend to start getting ready about an hour and a hallf before sunset, and my guinea fowl tend to...
  18. SamLockwood

    Are My Leghorns Close to Laying?

    Hens getting red to pink combs & wattles is one sign of imanent laying. Another one is they'll suddenly get interested in looking for nests. If you free range them this will often include "inappropriate" areas. They'll also start going through mood swings and personality changes shortly before...
  19. SamLockwood

    Are they eating the dirt?

    It's also why you've got to be careful about what you leave out if you free-range chickens. If it's small enough they'll try to swallow it: chunks of plastic, styrofoam, small screws, even bits of broken glass.
  20. SamLockwood

    Are they eating the dirt?

    It's normal. It's how they "chew" their food without teeth: they'll ingest small amounts of dirt, ash, grit, or sand and as everything passes through their crop the "grit" helps grind their food up.
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