I have a lot of pretty fellas...deciding who goes and who stays is both emotional and difficult. I've already culled all of my Ancona roosters as they were getting much too aggressive and I have only one Ancona hen regardless. All of my Black Copper Marans aren't here and these pics are a...
My husband enclosed my run by digging around it 8 inches or so, and cementing in the 1" sq 14 ga wire fencing with 4 x 4's 4 or 5 ft apart and the same fencing on top of the run. The screened windowns on the coop are covered with expanded metal. We have raccoons too but all they've done so far...
I murdered my first chickens. Five beautiful Ancona roosters. They had become the gestapo of the flock and scared them all to death whenever I let them mingle. They were hilarious too though. Would line up and staulk the neighbors' dogs and cats and chase them out of the yard. But, I only...
Thank you. I don't know what I was talking about regarding the splash either, except that someone had mentioned the Ameracauna crosses could be sexed earlier, not at hatch specifically. Ah well. New thought. Welsummers can be sexed at hatch fairly reliably as the girls have eyeliner. If the...
I have a hen hatched 4-1 that looks just like her (from a blue egg). Supposedly she was a lavender Ameracauna (but I'm guessing probably a lavender EE) and the roo was either a lavender Ameradauna (EE?) or a lavender Orpington. I'm anxious to see what color her eggs are. Hopefully blue so I...
I'm brand new to this thread and I'm sorry if my question has already been addressed, but I read quite a few pages but LOL there are hundreds! I have 6 Ameracaunas (blue & black), born 4-1-12...I'm still not able to sex them 100% but I do have my thoughts on it. That's beside the point...
Thank you all. I knew something was not quite right with what the seller told me as I couldn't believe a brown 8-week old chick would somehow miraculously turn white with black on the neck & tail. And again, I apologize for cross-posting...I must have bounced over that rule when I read them.
I have what is supposed to be an 8-week old Delaware. It is brown with a bit of straw coloring and black tips. I hatched the egg from an ebay purchase. I can only find pics of new chicks and older chickens. The breeder (when questioned by me) told me the chick is supposed to be brown at this...
I know this thread can help me. I bought some Delaware eggs on ebay. Only one hatched and is now about 8 weeks old. The chick is brown with a bitof mottled straw-colored feathers and some black tips. I've tried to find a pick of an 8-week old Delaware but have had no luck. I only see brand...
I read a good one. The lady was actually attacked from behind by her roo and she turned on him, squaked her head off, did the chicken dance all around him until he was cowering and running off and he hadn't looked her in the eye for days!
I find slow movements help too. I have an Ancona rooster that pecks me every time I'm not thinking about it and make a sudden movement. I also kind of bop him on the beak and he stares at me like he can't quite figure out what I did but it stops the pecking. It's like he's dumbfounded. He's...
I have the same problem but with 18-20 of different breeds. Half of mine won't go in the coop. They huddle by the run and if I left them out would be racoon playtoys. I was crawling into the run (it's only 2 ft high) every night pushing cardboard ahead of me (I'm 60 and 50 lbs overweight..oh...
I like to add garlic, a bay leaf and carrots also to the onion and celery. Sometimes I add thyme or even a herb bouquet. If you don't like cloudy broth, you could clarify it by straining the broth and adding a beaten egg white and the shell to the hot broth. Simmer it a bit and let it sit...
I used my dogs again tonight. I don't know how long this will fool the chickens but hopefully their chicken brains will learn quickly that they're better off in the coop at night than huddling in the corner of the run. I have an automatic door also and can't use it until they learn to go to bed.
I came up with a solution to my problem. I let my Yorkies out to run around the chicken run. All the chickens were in the coop in under 3 minutes! My husband just hopes noone has a heart attack but I think a couple of nights of that and they'll know where to go to be safe at night!
The chick died but no one else in the brooder is showing any symptons. I thought chicks had to be treated for cocci when just a day old. My chicks are two weeks old now. Isn't it too late?
I have 35 or so all within 3 days of each other and now about 7 weeks old. You're right about the breed. All of my Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons have to be put to bed. The Alconas, Welsummers and most of the Marans go to bed by themselves. Some breeds are 50/50. I'm going to try to bribe them in...
Mine were slow to come out at first, by day 3 they couldn't get out fast enough. Someone suggested I use mealworms (I'd been giving these as treats and they follow me around like I'm the Pied Piper) to bribe them in and I would think this would work to bribe them out as well.
I give them mealworms during the day just so they'll associate me with a good time rather than "Scatter! Here comes the human!" but I'll try this at dusk tonight. I'm guessing it may take a few nights because right now, when I come in the coop to clean/feed, they all run outside...don't like...