You do not need to put food or water within easy reach. She stored up excess fat, that is what she will mostly live on. She will lose some body weight while incubating the eggs but that is just fat put there to be used when broody.
Do not lock her in during the day. She needs to be able...
It sounds like your husband's goal is egg production more than anything else. I'm not sure what your strongest goals are but egg production and a mixed flock seem part of them. I don't know how many you plan to add either. It sounds like your current ones are still pretty young, haven't been...
Not what I expected. I have not seen that specific behavior with my flock but that doesn't mean much. My guess is that they are undergoing a change in pecking order with the pullets just starting to lay so the older ones are jealously guarding their positions. You might see some squabbling...
I would not trust bantams but full-sized fowl chicks will be OK at 3 weeks. Should be at 2 weeks but I can't remember exactly what age mine were unable to get through. Make sure they can't go under it.
Then it sounds like he is dominant white which means it will not work. You will not be able to see the spot if it is there.
I don't know how to explain the grey. Since you only hatched a few eggs maybe he is not pure for the black genes and that chick will be blue.
I'm not familiar with that specific waterer or how to fill it. That type of waterer requires a vacuum to not leak. There should be one or more small holes in the base that they drink out of that are typically covered with water. When they drink enough the water level goes below that hole so...
It sounds like you are doing what you can and I wish you success. But unfortunately when you deal with living animals you sometimes have to deal with dead animals. That is the circle of life. I've had dogs put down because they got so old they had no quality of life left. I've put down a...
One way to catch a chicken that does not want to be caught is to wait until it is dark and they've settled down for the night. Use as little light as possible. If that area is lit up at night by street lights or security lights that does not work very well. Maybe use a fish net to catch them...
How old are the different chickens? That could be very instructive.
To me, this sounds like the male is still a cockerel and the EE and Wyandotte are dominant hens. The Australorp accept his dominance and willingly mate him. The other two don't and interrupt him when he tries to mate. I...
Certainly could.
Is this the type of yellow you are talking about? It means he has the Silver gene which turns saddle and hackle feathers yellow. If so, he is not dirty, that is a natural color.
Image taken from Feathersite.
Many of us have mixed age flocks and never feed Layer. Just offer a low calcium feed that fulfills nutritional needs and offer oyster shell on the side. That way you do not need to worry about harming chickens like chicks, roosters, broody hens, or molting hens by forcing them to eat more...
Short answer - Maybe
Long and drawn out answer - Maybe. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Each chicken has its own personality. Some can get along better with others where some can't. This includes the males. It is possible males will fight to the death to be flock master. It...
Yeah, that's a hard one at 2 months. I see some things female but some also male. The posture is male but body shape more female. The legs are a bit heavy but not that heavy. The comb could be either, even at 8 or 9 weeks, but the bright red wattles makes me think probably a male.
Does it...
Can you post a couple of photos of the pre-teen in question. One closeup showing the comb and wattles and another still reasonably close but showing the legs and posture. At 2 months we might be able to settle the question as to whether it is a male or female. That might help in your...
The dehydrated part would not bother me. There was something going around on social media a few years back about throwing rice at weddings. Supposedly songbirds that ate the dried rice would die from the rice swelling up on their crop. Totally false. The risk is from people slipping on the...
I'm totally different from you in that I do not have individual chickens. I have a flock with constantly changing members so I do not feel comfortable responding to your question. I remove chickens for cause a lot. That has to be your personal decision. I do not envy you.
Why do so many of...