This is my 11-month old wyandotte, Anabelle. The kids were cleaning the coop this afternoon and saw blood on the floor. All the girls were in the run, acting normal. I checked the whole flock thoroughly, and no one seems to be bleeding, or have any blood on them at all, but Anabelle has this...
A week ago, I brought home two silkie pullets to add to the flock. They're quarantined inside the house, which is a delight, but watching them I have to ask: they are pretty darn twitchy. It's mostly these head twitchy head movements. Is that normal for the breed?
I know I should quarantine new birds before adding them to my flock. But other than time passing, how would I know if they're healthy and okay to integrate with my existing flock? Are there good or bad signs to be aware of?
I bought what I believed to be a blue cuckoo marans pullet. They also had Blue Stars mixed in their brooder, and I was totally guessing. She appears to have little buds on her legs and feet for feathers, which isnt typical for either breed. But shes been rather aggressive toward me (both...
Loud is not good. I already have a crazy Australorpe who thinks she's got to wake the neighborhood at dawn. We live in the 'burbs & our neighbors have been great, but I'm not looking to rock the boat.
Silkies can be sexed, though? Somewhat reliably?
I'm ordering just five baby chicks to add to our small flock. I've always wanted silkies, and I thought I'd get two (thinking it'd be better than one, in case they get picked on in the flock). But since they're hard to sex as chicks, I could end up with two roosters. Ugh! I don't really want...
Our girls often hide under the bushes. As NatJ mentioned above, something to hide under is important. We have a coopers hawk that stalks our area. He's not too bright. He can't see the hardware mesh roof of our run, but he sees our hens. He has dive-bombed the run trying to get some dinner...
We have several planters and a good-size dirt bath in our run. The plants that have survived have been a camelia, a night-blooming jasmine, a lavender, and a few other things. Everything except the lavender was planted as a 5-gallon, so they had a strong root system, plus then I planted every...
True. I actually protect the plants now with a cylinder made of chicken wire. I use 24" or 36" tall, depending on the plant, and bury the cylinder when planting so the root ball is protected. They have learned that they can squash down the part that's above ground, but the core of the plant...
They like to perch on the sides of the planters, which are 2" x 6" boards. They have a good size dirt bath too. I decorated the space with party lights and I have lots of painted chicken art too.
The first round of plants were devoured quickly (it shocked me how quickly my hens could eat a...
When we were designing a run to protect our girls from a hawk, I was desperate for ideas. Now I hope that sharing might help someone else. We already had two small coops with nesting boxes already inside an enclosure on the side of the house. We enclosed the rest of that side yard. It's not...
This is my Rosie. I crocheted chicken scarves a few years ago & recently found them while cleaning the garage. She's not a huge fan of scarves, but isn't she pretty in red? tee hee....