Very informative, thank you! Since she's eating the same as all the others, I was assuming a personal problem in the calcium absorption or reproductive tract. Thanks again.
I have a 6 year old hen, laid normal eggs until last year, then began laying a roundish egg with a very thin shell. I didn't think much about it but this year it's getting worse, it's almost round with one side flatter than the other, and it has brown spots on the outside and brown "floaters" in...
My last update on this was the thought of the young rooster really being aggressively chasing the youngsters, in lay or not and how they would flee/fly/run from him. After another few years of looking back and learning I'm pretty sure this was the only reason that young hen flew to the top of...
No previous injuries or wounds, no. I've never seen her picking feathers, just normal preening. But I think maybe I have photos of her in previous years where it looks like her feathers are like a cowlick right there, but not like straight hair. This just came in with new feathers after her molt...
This Buckeye hen is 3 1/2 years old. She's been a normal hen, laying etc. Last year she grew small spurs, and had a normal laying this past spring/summer. Went into molt late summer and now seems fully feathered except she has the hair-type bunches of feathers on her breast. They look like a...
I've still not seen an actual photo or video of a raven killing a chicken. I'm seeing these stories, but no proof. As I said before (pg 3 on this thread) - they aren't in the family of hawks and owls, they don't have beaks to carry a full grown chicken 100 yards and they don't use talons to kill...
No critters can get in the fenced area where the coop is that is skunk/possum size or larger. It is chainlink with hot wire from 3" above the dirt to the top level of the 6' fence. We did this to keep a bobcat from climbing over and that cat hasn't been back in over a year. We have pack rats and...
Is this what an egg looks like when it's been eaten by a chicken, a rat or a snake or something else? I've had chickens for 6 years now and never saw this. I would think if a chicken was going to eat an egg they would not go at the end like that since the egg would be on its side, but maybe I'm...
I haven't read through the 7 pages of comments, but just reading this I thought I'd give my opinion. First chickens ever from a straight run from a hatchery, luckily, close to 50/50 males/females. Chose the best looking cockerel to keep for breeding the hens. He turned into a nightmare. Tried...
No not really that big. The photo was taken a couple of months after they started growing. A little bigger than that now. Also I'm pretty sure she's not laying now. No signs of rooster mounting her and haven't seen her on the nest in a while.
My 3 year old Buckeye hen, Becky, grew spurs this summer. She is still laying and we also have a rooster and she's not a dominant hen, although not at the bottom of the order either. I know this can happen, are some breeds more prone to it than others? Flock of 7 hens and one rooster.
You might try this number to inquire if a permit is needed. It's for the NM Avian Protection Permits, not a Fish & Game number - there's a different number for different areas of NM, so I got the one for your area. If you're near Roswell, go visit in person so they can't put you on hold, LOL. If...
I put it in a cat carrier with the food and water and a feather duster. It's totally OK with being held and when I wrap my t-shirt over it, it makes those soft peeping content sounds. I found a feather duster and it went right under it in the cat crate.
This is so bizarre I'm baffled. I went to get eggs this afternoon and there was a chick running around outside the chicken pen! I thought I was hallucinating! It almost ran to me, and I was thinking someone was pulling a bad joke on me planting a feedstore chick outside my pen. I've put it in a...
I never changed anything about the water trough and it has never happened again. I did put the blame on the young rooster as he was harassing the pullets for favors and they weren't in lay. I saw several of them go running from him, half flying, and I "think" that's what may have happened. It's...