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Hi there, I love my 8 chickens, but as we've just made the move from Brooklyn, NY out to the country, we are eager to expand our flock. I have a big order in at My Pet Chicken, but my son, my husband and I have all been talking about starting a self-sustaining flock of a dedicated breed and...

Three of our five hens have no feathers around their heads. The other two are completely fine. The afflicted ones are fine on the rest of their bodies. I don't see any mites. And.. here's the hard part: I've treated them with DE many times, and twice with Ivomec. Nothing gets better. Any...

I got this call yesterday from the parent coordinator at my kids' school. She said the secretary's daughter (19 years) had rescued a chicken from a slaughterhouse here in Brooklyn. She brought it to the school, hoping her mom would help her find a home for it. I'm the "chicken lady" in our...

There is a tiny possibility that a teacher at my kids' school would be interested in keeping a few chickens. What is the sweetest breed, the most friendly, that would be good with children? The teacher I'm angling for is an animal-lover. She would only even consider the idea when I said the...

So I got my first five chickens last year, and like many other backyard chicken keepers, I'm revving up to expand my flock! I've been looking at many of the breed threads on BYC, and following links to various breeders. I'm wondering, what is the advantage of going with a breeder rather than...

One of my chickens got plucked by a hawk! I figured out it was happening because two of our hens were at our backdoor, frantically clucking to come in. When I looked outside I saw a huge hawk -- we think a red-tailed-- hunched over one of our hens, and an enormous pile of feathers! (We live in...

We are getting ready to start a flock of dual purpose birds. I'd like to keep them for a couple years for eggs, and then use them as stewing birds. I know they'll be tough, but if you cook them for a long time in the stew pot, I'm thinking they'll be okay. Also, we'd get a straight run and...

I thought our favorite hen was egg bound. The last day and a half she's been hanging out in the nest boxes, but without producing an egg. I was all set to give her a bath and keep her in the house and keep an eye on her. I set up a little dog pen in the kitchen and filled the sink with warm...

I'm writing an article for my food coop's newsletter about keeping chickens in a city backyard. The editor asked me how chickens can lay eggs without a rooster around. She wants a real scientific explanation. Anybody know?

Last night we left our 5-week chicks outside in the coop for their first night out. The temp was going to be in the mid-60's, and it seemed sad to bring them into their tiny brooder. I checked on them before bed and they were in a cuddly pile together inside a nest box. In the morning they...

Among the five Brahma chicks we ordered from My Pet Chicken was one scruffy oddball. My son named her Scrambles. MPC said as far as they knew we'd gotten all Brahmas, but agreed that she was clearly not a Brahma. From this first picture below, they guessed possilby EE. Any EE-experts out there...

One of our lovely brahma chicks, 10 days old, appears to be constipated. Her vent is slightly distended and pulsing. It started last night. I noticed she was standing still, wings hanging low, and her vent red and pulsing, as if she were pushing. She also appeared to have some dried poo below...