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Them eating the grass in a tractor is one issue. They will eat it down fairly fast and also tromp on it, flattening it. If you move the tractor before they destroy the roots it will come back. Your lawn will look spotty, a rich green spot where the tractor was once it recovers and kind of...

A breeze on them is bad when the weather is cold. When the weather is hot a breeze is a good thing.

Bingo. You figured it out. I don't trust any thermometer until it has been calibrated. Some, like medical thermometers, have been calibrated but I've seen close to ten degrees Fahrenheit difference in thermometers on display at the hardware store. It took me about three hatches to get my...

Hawks seem to be a chicken's worst fear. Try to not come at them from above. Come in from the side if you can. A fish net comes in very handy when trying to catch older chickens if you can't wait until they are sleeping and pick them off of the roost at night. A fish net is too big for...

Yes, a cross between two standard breeds, not a commercial egg-laying hybrid. That creates a lot of confusion on this forum. Many people think a Red Sex Link has to be a commercial hybrid but obviously they don't have to be. Good luck with her as a broody.

We've obviously had different experiences. I hatched and raised chicks and poults together without problems. But some people do. I agree, they usually don't, but I give mine lots of room. If they are shoehorned into a small area any bad behavior can be even worse. That said, I had a...

I typically have three or four broody hens hatch each year. I let mine hatch in the coop with the flock without isolating them. My nests are either 2 feet or 4 feet above the coop floor. Some broody hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching and the hen brings them off of the...

What are your overnight lows? At five weeks I would not worry about any temperatures above freezing. Your coop should be bigger than the brooder so they should have plenty of room. Just turn them loose in there. If they have never been in the dark they may get upset when it gets dark but...

I'm not a health professional but I would not use them. But check with your county health department to see what they recommend.

The lows are what is important. At five weeks I would not worry about lows in the fifties, I do not think supplemental heat is necessary even if it has not totally feathered out. A lot of it depends on how you feel. If you are more comfortable with the heat plate out there go ahead. You are...

Welcome! Glad you decided to become active on the forum. :thumbsup This is an old thread. I have no idea what temperatures you are dealing with. There is a good chance the heat plate is not required but if you can safely put one in there it will not hurt anything.

Many times that works. Sometimes it doesn't. Puberty is probably going to be the deciding time. That is when the hormones are raging the worst. They will venture that far and further. They might and might not fight, you never know. Many people keep roosters in bachelor pads. They seem to...

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined! A single strand of hot wire like you often have for cattle or horses will not stop many predators. Even two or three single strands are not going to do you much good. Part of the reason is that they can avoid it. Another part is that thick fur acts as...

:thumbsup Basically what they said. Any rooster can possibly hurt any hen. Some of that is the rooster's technique. Some is how much the hen cooperates with him. That is based on his personality and her personality. The more size difference the more the possibility of her getting hurt. As...

The most important thing to me is that you need to define your goals. You've mostly done that. One important piece to me is how do you plan to cook them? Are you planning on eating only the cockerels? Cockerels mature at different rates than pullets. As they go through puberty the...

For three hours you don't really need to feed or water him. He should be fine. As long as it doesn't make a mess in your vehicle the wet mash won't hurt anything. He might eat some. If you wish, you could stop halfway and see if he will drink water. But I'd empty the water before you...

In common terminology, a packrat. Sounds like you want to live trap them so you can relocate them. I don't know how far you would have to relocate them to stop them from coming back. With squirrels is can be about 7 miles. Can you contact a wildlife relocation near you and see about...

If it has been three weeks then it might be a good idea to check her vent for Aart's butt check. That should be long enough for the vent to dry up. My guess is that she is hiding a nest on you somewhere, probably in the coop or run since they don't free range every day. They can be really...

Instead of a roller I used a thin flat piece of wood balanced so that the wood fell into the bucket when the mouse walked out too far to get the peanut butter. Think of a flat surface that the mice could get to, a 2x4 on the inside of the shed wall they were using as a path. Set the bucket...

This is a version of an Adirondack mouse trap. It is an old idea. You put something on top of a bucket so the mouse falls in. You put enough water in it that the mouse cannot reach the bottom and get leverage to jump out so it drowns. You put bait to attract the mouse, peanut butter is...