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  1. RenoHuskerDu

    Can mama hens handle extended brooding?

    Thanks, random internet person. I imagine that your children are well cared for too. But I value relationships, and have one with our chicken expert. She says the hen will stop brooding herself if she's tired of it. Now we see that she is helping herself to food and water in her new...
  2. RenoHuskerDu

    Can mama hens handle extended brooding?

    I got expert advice from our local chicken farm. We're moving mama hen and some more eggs into a big dog cage, snakeproofing that, and putting the bottom of her travel cage in there as a big nest. In the big dog cage she'll have food and water at will. If she comes off the eggs, then we'll...
  3. RenoHuskerDu

    Can mama hens handle extended brooding?

    Need help. Lost 8 more eggs to another snake, human error this time, cage left unlatched all night. Can we safely put 8 more eggs under the same hen? She's been brooding for 20 days already.
  4. RenoHuskerDu

    Growing red cow peas to feed our hens, anybody done that?

    Feed prices keep going up, and too much soy is in the commercial brands. So we're growing our own feed. We planted a field with black oil sunflowers. Next come red cow peas. We have about 200 sqft of garden space getting ready to plant them. Has anybody grown red cow peas for chicken feed...
  5. RenoHuskerDu

    How far will chickens free range away from their coop?

    Thanks for all the helpful comments. We do have an electric fence and hiding areas. We have hawks, to which we have lost a few birds. We also have 4 Heeler mixes that hate birds, rats, coons, coyotes and pretty much any critter out here.
  6. RenoHuskerDu

    How far will chickens free range away from their coop?

    If I open up a second pasture to them via a gate, will they can wander and cluck another 50 yards into it? That would be about 75 yards total away from their coop. If y'all think that's too far, let me know.
  7. RenoHuskerDu

    Bruiser just joined the flock

    Today wasn't Bruiser's best day. The other birds and he didn't really mix. Somebody pecked away some of his tail feathers. He wandered around mostly alone in the cold rain and got all wet. He also spent a fair amount of time being examined closely by our heelers. They couldn't really process a...
  8. RenoHuskerDu

    Bruiser just joined the flock

    He's quite handsome. I hope they don't fight and scuff each other up.
  9. RenoHuskerDu

    Bruiser just joined the flock

    He's a big young New Hampshire rooster, about 30% bigger than our old rooster. They have seen each other thru the fence for 4 days now. The first day the old rooster was aggressive. But then he stopped on day 2. So after 3 days of calm, we just slipped Bruiser in the main coop tonight. We...
  10. RenoHuskerDu

    Hopalong Cassie broke her knee. What to do?

    She was an inspiration to chickens everywhere. At least to ours. Her recovery from a broken leg was amazing. Nobody here thought she could.
  11. RenoHuskerDu

    Pecky the evil chicken pecks eggs

    They all free range and have free access to Bryant layer pellets in two feeders, but it's 16% protein and 3-4% Calcium. Only Pecky is as she is. We think it's partially that Plymouth Rock breed. We got a few New Hampshire hens recently and they are very docile. One even squats to let us pick...
  12. RenoHuskerDu

    Hopalong Cassie broke her knee. What to do?

    Hopalong Cassie is dead. Long live Hopalong Cassie. She lived another year after we nursed her back to health. I don't know how my wife did it, but her leg was fine after a couple of months in a splint and cage. She never laid eggs again though, afawk. And one sad day last week, we heard her...
  13. RenoHuskerDu

    Pecky the evil chicken pecks eggs

    Pecky is a Plymouth Rock. She is loud and evil. She pecks any hand that comes near. She even pecks eggs. We find eggs all pecked up. Pecky is mad at the world. We use a stick now to push Pecky away so we can check for eggs. She pecks at the stick furiously and screams even louder. We can hear...
  14. RenoHuskerDu

    We just jumped breeds

    It is difficult. But if they get old and diseased they will suffer from that for a long time. We use the humane cone kill method you can find discussed elsewhere.
  15. RenoHuskerDu

    We just jumped breeds

    We're getting eggs already! Big, solid, brown speckled from one hen and a small one from another. These are some BIG hens. We banded their legs today. They're twice as big as our Comets.
  16. RenoHuskerDu

    We just jumped breeds

    We've been running a 20-strong eclectic, accidental admixture of Comets, Sagittas, Marans, Plymouth Rocks, Easter Eggers, a RIR, and gifted mutts. We just went to our friendly local chicken lady and bought us six new young birds, all the same breed, tah dah. 5 beautiful hens and a handsome...
  17. RenoHuskerDu

    Chickens lack discipline about water

    Aaaaaaarnold is the meme well that never runs dry ...
  18. RenoHuskerDu

    Chickens lack discipline about water

    Sure, this post? Looks like you got good advice. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-candling-day-3.1421478/
  19. RenoHuskerDu

    Bobcat nabbed our new Leghorn rooster, here's what bobcats sound like

    Q: Why is a wild cat like a bowling ball? A: If you're starving, you might eat it.
  20. RenoHuskerDu

    Chickens lack discipline about water

    I keep their water trough clean. Just cleaned it last night. Full of sparkly clean water. A few go there, but... Where do many go to drink when I let them out??? To the old water I poured into a tree irrigation trough. Aaaaaaargh!
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