My pretty girl, an Ameraucana EE is the first to start laying in my flock. The first five eggs were small..30, 29, 33, 38, 33, and then late yesterday..55 grams! They are 20 weeks old today. That’s a pretty amazing weight gain, and she’s not a big bird. Anyone else weigh their first eggs? I’m...
I’d like to pass on a wonderful blog post on how to assess your chickens’ health checklist, and an excerpt about the number one cause of death of backyard chickens..
Excerpt:
How To Treat An Egg Bound Chicken
Your chicken is almost certainly not egg-bound- true egg binding is rare
When a...
My downstairs neighbors were into oregano oil in the late nineties, they absolutely swore by its disease prevention and alleged curative powers.. I got some specifically marketed as a poultry supplement for my disease prevention, amelioration, or supplementation regimen. Does anyone use it...
Well, after several arguments with members re the Ameraucana I received, I received feedback from McMurray..unfortunately it ended up diverted to a different box, so, it’s a bit late..
Umm..my girls are verging on point of lay, 19 weeks, we’ve had a tremendously hot dry summer, last night we went from 90 to now 58 in ten minutes, rain, wind whole 9 yards. Raining this morning. So dark auto door wasn’t opening. After bringing their food earlier, I let them out..I’m assuming...
Thought I’d post a great article. I have researched this extensively after learning that in some other countries, the big chemical companies color the poultry food with compounds they patented that are not good for the chickens..at least in our backyards, we can feed organic delights that also...
Go to the emergencies section. Read about all the horrible things that happen, and see people that are utterly unprepared. Ok, now, you don’t be that way. Get some spray sterile saline cans, get some Vetericyn, get some self adhering wrap and sterile gauze and bandages, disposable sterile...
18 week old, 15 strong flock kept in large run. Fed all organic starter crumble, dark leafy greens, bsf larvae, watermelon, tomato, nutrition is great. Problem..they’re getting ready to lay, it’s been a super hot summer, today one of my Speckled Sussex was in the coop, I looked closer, looks...
Here’s a fairly recent study (2020) about astaxanthin..interesting..I had planned on natural things like organic paprika and chilis, dark leafy greens, colorful veg and fruits for pretty, dark yolks..perhaps there are sources for this as a feed supplement...
I’ve cared for my babies for 18 weeks today. I guess I didn’t realize it, but, I’ve always worn my jeans and black tennis shoes to go out to the coop.
So, I got some new sloggers shoes in the mail to replace my worn, tied type tennis shoes..they fit fine, camo pattern. Tonight, I went out to...
I am fascinated by this bird..we identify most birds by their outward appearance, their phenotype, and associate certain things with that. The Whiting True Blue however can look radically different from bird to bird, but always carries the gene for producing a blue egg. I ordered four from...
This is one of my Whiting True Blues..I haven’t really named my girls, I’m not sure why. My last real pets were two Aby Somali purebred cats, and I was so devastated when they passed, I never got another pet, until this last April when I decided on chicks. I might name her Farrah, a generic 70’s...
Maybe an equipment or supplies thread or category would be good, if I’m not seeing it. Running outside constantly to play with, feed, clean, garden, etc..does anyone have any good slip on shoe recommendations? Especially the kind you don’t even have to bend over for? It’d be nice to have a...
I freaked out when hail came through. Despite the leaf damage, my two different giant pumpkin varieties are still going strong. A little fish emulsion, humic/fulvic acids, organic rose food, some other odds and ends, they’re still getting larger and super green.
Growers Ally Fungicide, made from citric acid, zero residual and same day harvest, OMRI listed! Here’s an update on the giant pumpkin progress after the hail..( if I select a smaller picture size, they post upside down….)
Wondering if oyster shells are tested for heavy metals..I’m going to offer my girls some pure calcium instead, there are several sources out there..oysters likely have high levels given where they live both naturally and farmed..I found some calcium from Coyote Creek..
I built a brooder complete with hardware cloth windows out of spare cardboard and plain old Elmers glue! Design it, use cans or water jugs as weights, and glue your seams. Cut out picture frames of cardboard to put over the edges of hardware cloth, or chicken wire would suffice for chicks, and...
Thought I’d post my coop now that I have my new iPad up and running. When I decided to get chickens, I shopped on Thumbtack site, found a local professional carpenter who was looking to do an interesting side job. I was so lucky..he was a super guy, I helped where I could, he was very fast and...