I put out rat poison down inside some rat tunnels, under the ground, then covered up the tunnel entrances with large stones. I thought that would do the trick to keep the poison underground and away from areas where chickens might roam and come across it. Unfortunately I think something went...
My head Momma is my oldest gal. She is boss of the flock but she's an older chicken, now just over 6 years old. My understanding is chickens generally live 8-10 years. ANyhow, her wattles and comb have gotten quite pale, a light pink color instead of their normal bright red, as of the last 2...
My Barred Rock is quite docile and friendly. She's not quite as friendly/tame as the Brahmas (I've never found any chickens to be as tame as the Brahmas, Light and Buff Brahmas) but is nearly so. I've handfed her from a chick and she is sweet.
My hens generally squat when I reach out to pet them, or even just to pick them up. Then they are much more tolerant of petting than the holdout hens who don't squat but protest being petted. The squatters seem to like being petted.
So here's an update on the whining chickens problem:
I did a few days of experimenting on letting them free range MORE often, and found that this did not solve the whining issue -- it stayed the same or made it worse. As soon as they were put back in the pen after free ranging, they began to...
Ha! Thanks for reminding me of that. Yes, you're right -- I have actually poured a bucket of dirt into their run on some days, and they do love it. I just hadn't thought of using that to entertain them.
The thing I need to undo in them, is the demand cycle I seem to have gotten into. At...
I do have tree branches in the run...
I am a little worried about letting them out to forage unsupervised, since I found that the bantam Mille Fleurs are able to fly pretty high, and I found one sitting on top of the 6 ft fence,...she could have gone into an adjacent yard and disappeared. I...
They actually have a pretty big pen -- about 280 sq ft for 13 chickens. It seems to be the treats they like the most. I find it convenient to give them my leftovers and kitchen remnants, but I also don't want to encourage them to start the chorus of whining and loud begging every time I go...
I have been having a problem with "whining' chickens for a while now. From time to time I like to give treats to my flock, such as greens, or bread, cooked rice, or really anything other than their standard feed. I also like to let them out to forage in the backyard once in a while. But the...
I had this same question and searched on Google and found this thread. My pullets are 8 weeks old and still chirping. I was going to wait until they had stopped chirping to put them in with my adults, my existing flock, but if it is going to be another 4 weeks, I don't want to wait that long...
I have a question for those of you who are experienced with chicks. I have some bantam chicks that I bought "straight run", eg unsexed, so it is not known if they are male or female: two silkies, and 5 mille fleur d'uccles. In these two groups, I have noticed that one of the silkie chicks is...
I spent a week moving him every night into a pet carrier in the back of my truck. There he wouldn't crow, or not very much. THen I would put him back during the daytime in a larger cage in the backyard, but by himself. I could get more hens, so that he has some, but it doesn't look like I...
THis particular male, call him Phil, was for over a year in a cage side by side with that of another male, call him Greg. During this first year I didn't notice this habit of Phil crowing at night.
Phil and Greg each had their harem of 1-4 females. So Phil was always able to see Greg and...
I have a male quail who started crowing a lot, both early in the morning (before the sun rose, when it was still dark, around 6am) and now, also in the middle of the night! Today I woke and heard him crowing at 3am. I was wondering if he was trying to find other females -- I have 3 quail cages...
Sadly, she died over the night...last night.
She did have a bad smell around her mouth -- would that be sour crop?
I didn't see her poop --
I am not familiar with egg binding symptoms.
She is 1.5 years old, and the other deaths were about 8 months ago, and then one about 2 years ago, and one about 3 years ago. So no recent other deaths. I have not seen what her poop looks like. I did not recently add any new birds...all the birds she is with have been with her since she was...
I have a chicken who is sick, and I am very concerned because other chickens who have acted like her and been sick in the same way have all died. She has become very quiet and inactive, standing still, not resisting being touched or picked up (in her normal state she would not readily accept...
Thanks, that is very helpful to know about the drakes being a danger to chickens, and about Muscovy ducks being quiet. It sounds like that would be the perfect breed to get if I did want to get 2 ducks.