LOL! Actually, my gals divide pretty evenly. I usually find 3 eggs in box #1, 2 eggs in box # 2, and 3 eggs in box #3.
I can tell from the color that the two laying in the middle box (#2) are the same every time - they must like it.
Hens start laying between 17 weeks and 26 weeks depending on alot of factors such as:
* breed
* size (full size vs bantam)
* diet
I have 8 full size gals that I got 22 weeks ago - they are:
* 3 Buff Orpingtons *** DEFINITELY LAYING *** (Yay Peep, Kevin and Kevin Jr!)
* 1 Easter Egger ***...
We used a red heat light and kept the light on at night for the first month.
After the first month, I gave them a shaded area so they could hide from the light if they wanted to catch some sleep, or come into the light if they needed some warmth. That worked well for us.
I made sure that...
No problem! You may also want to join the thread for your state in the "I'm Here, where are you?" forum....
I think this is your area: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/102796/mississippi
Good luck with your chicken adventure! Stay in touch.
God bless you for looking to help a rescue.
Try your local Humane Society - they can probably help you out. Check this article out - it has some information about rescues:
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/chickens/tips/adopting_chickens.html
Another good one with tips on how to buy a...
I love the Livestock Guard Dogs! All types. I have Labradors which do a decent job. Nothing gets by them except maybe a chipmunk or two... (I think one of them would eat the chickens if he had a shot at it, but they are in a caged run ).
There's a great article on ventilation here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-coop-ventilation-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop
On my coop, I made tons of vents. Some vents have vent covers (just a piece of wood with hinges and a barrel bolt) so they can be open in the...
I have to confess I have not read all 53 pages, but I did read enought to know what is going on.
I am lucky to have neighbors who are very nice. I also work very hard to keep it that way. When my son and his friends broke a window playing ball, I not only offered to pay for it, I replaced it...
Also sorry to hear about Goldie.
Great idea with the multiple separate feeders. We have one in the run and one in the coop, so last one out of the coop gets to eat their fill as much as first one in the run. I've already been thinking of adding an additional feeder in the run. I also give...
Could you get a picture of them?
I am a noob at this, but with most of the medical problems, if the odd things are symetric (same bump on both sides) it is probably nothing to worry about. Bad things tend to be asymetric (different from side to side).
I like the combination locks because:
(a) I can change the numbers so they are all the same, making it easy to remember the number.
(b) No keys to loose (because we commonly misplace things at my house)
(c) If I think somone has compromised the lock combination, I can change them.
(d) If I...
I have one caribiner and one combination lock on my nesting box (one on either side)... It is a cheap little combination lock with 3 number tumblers, but it is a good deterrent to those "human" predators.
Quote:
Oh I am so sorry to hear you have a bumblefoot problem.
You will probably find better answers in the "Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures" forum (https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures), but I did find that Wikipedia has some good...
I am a total noob at this, but here are 2 good URLs on fixing broken wings:
Here's a link to Robs article on fixing wing or leg:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-treat-a-chickens-broken-leg-or-wing.html
And this one to help you understand the skeletal structure of the wing...
I have heard that adding a bit of food-grade DE (Diatomaceous Earth) to the sand will take care of eliminating most of the creepy-crawlies. I haven't even gotten my sand yet though!
Does anyone have a fancy dropping board holder?
I want to put dropping boards in my small coop, and I need an easy way that I can access them to clean them. Because the door is kind of small (30x30 is not that small, but I'm a big guy) I am looking for a design that I can get the boards out...
When my girls were young (under 8 weeks) I used a plastic ice-cube tray that I screwed into a 2' peice of 2"x4" pine (for weight).
The girls couldn't tip the thing over because of the weitght, and the separations in the tray made it difficult for them to "kick" the food out. They still ate like...