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I wouldn't mess with it. If you pull any of it off it may get really dry skin and make it harder to hatch. I only mess with them if they appear to be drying out with exposed inner skin adhering to their down. Then I'll put a drop of water on one finger and touch the dry skin so it can come...

Looks like a rooster to me too.

I like the grape arbor idea.

Ok first off, peace with neighbors is a biggie. Things can escalate into uncomfortable situations. It's always better to work with them than to fight them. How many chickens do you have? Locking them at night should be enough to prevent predators and the wire will keep hawks or eagles from...

I use a big plastic tub from Walmart. On one end I use a C clamp and clamp a flat board to that end. That's where I put my heat lamp. In summer a regular light bulb works. In winter you need the heat bulb. I also have a dowel that I run between the arms of the clamp and over the edges of...

The way to rotate hens so you get eggs year round is to start raising replacements every spring - March works for me. Then when the year old hens moult, the new hens start to lay. The old ones are processed for food when the young hens are laying well. Doing it that way you have eggs year...

Good choices. Barred Rocks and Red Stars are good producers.

Typically I offer water. New chicks - I dip their beaks into the water briefly and they swallow a little of it. Then I let them alone. They will go and drink if they are thirsty. I do it to several birds and they teach the others. Small game birds need a high protein food. I use gamebird...

I love barred rocks because they lay when it is hot, they lay when it is cold. I mix it up a bit by throwing in a few Easter Eggers for colored eggs for the grandkids and some production reds or other high production hybrid. If you want broody you can get some of the old time kind of...

Mine are free range and they eat grass seeds insects, greens, scratch in cow or horse poo for undigested seeds, yummy. If they can eat maggots out of a dead carcass they can get botulism and die. You will know when that has happened because they have a limber neck after death. It is rare...

I have a large plastic tub about 4 + feet long and about 2 + feet deep. I put a short piece of 1"X6" wood over the top at one end and use a C clamp to keep it in place on the plastic. The heat lamp is attached on the wood and a small dowel runs through the clamp handle to make sure it doesn't...

It is always best to try and find a friendly solution to avoid long term conflict where you live. I would definitely go to the neighbor and tell him what the animal did. Tell him in an email if you don't want to stand in his yard and tell him. If you buy just a few posts at a time could you...

How old are they? Once I put my older feathered birds into a pen the learn the routine quickly. The longest ever was a week the shortest was one time showing them the roost and locking them up. I have a large yard and a wooden house on legs about 4'x8' with nest boxes at one end and the...

You might be able to enlist the help of the Fish and Wildlife Department. They might relocated the bear?

I plead ignorance too. I do appraisal work and renovate housing. I've never seen styrofoam over the edge of a concrete slab that I know of. Taking wood to the ground can cause rotting from water but covering it with vinyl...

I have a Lyon Turn X It is easy to use, has a clear top so you can watch them hatch and the chick can stay in the incubator without getting its feet caught to dry off. And it recovers quickly if you open it to remove a chick. The temperature is very steady. It's my favorite. It is possible...

My favorites are Barred Rocks and Americanas or Easter Eggers. I also like the hybrids like Red Comet or ISA Brown, Jet Star. The Barred Rocks lay when it's cold. They lay when it is hot unlike many other breeds. I live in Mississippi and it gets hot here and it can get cold for spells too...

I've raised a variety of animals for many decades. Some animals have loose screws just like people. I've seen dogs that were fear biters, ones that have rage syndrome where they just snap into a frenzy one second then snap back the next like Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Some roosters are sweet by...

I've had them learn in one day. I've had some that take a week to learn. These last ones I got learned in a day. Usually for me it is about 3 days so I was pleased. It depends on how smart the chickens are. I'm breeding barred rocks, Americanas and ISA Browns. The stupidest chicken I ever...

Chickens are food here. I don't "handle" them at all. Any that are aggressive are in the soup pot. Some animals are fearful, or mean, or dangerous just because that is their nature no matter how they have been raised. It doesn't automatically mean they were abused or neglected. Sometimes...