Help! I moved recently and built an all-new coop.This is what it looks like from the outside. The waterer was freezing so I just replaced it with my "winterized" waterer (a 5-gal bucket, painted black, with horizontal nipples). I didn't add the external nest boxes until my first hen started...
This is my current coop setup. It's not pretty, but it works for us. My waterer uses two saddle-style nipples in that segment of PVC pipe. We just moved to a new area with colder weather than our old area, and we just had our first big freeze (it was 15 degrees when I left for work) and the...
Hey everyone! I've been gone for a while - I had a flock of 13 a few years ago, some of which I got as started pullets, some were week-old chicks from a local farm's broody hen, some I hatched from eggs, and some were adults when I got them. The ones that I raised from chicks were by far the...
Hello all!
I have three chickens hatched 11/19/2011 whom I added to my flock of 12 hens in December 2011. I suspect one of them is a cockerel since I see a few saddle feathers, but they are both silkie mixes and the other is too fluffy to tell but has no visible saddle feathers and a much...
Hello all! My water system is in limbo right now (switching to a nipple waterer). During the transition, they are getting their water from a five-gallon bucket. The little ones (2-3mos) perch on the rim and have plenty of water, but when the water level dropped the laying hens ended up without...
I'm sure this has been asked many times before, but I'm trying to work out the timing of when egg laying will start to pick up again in the spring.
The details:
- No supplemental light or heat, well-ventilated coop with lots of natural light
- Feeding Southern States layer mix with some...
Hello! I went out in the coop today and discovered that, instead of the 2 eggs I've been getting lately, there were three. One looked a bit different - light pink with dark rusty reddish brown spots. I have Marans, white leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, a New Hampshire Red, a Buff Orpington and a...
So, one of my recently transplanted birds just laid an egg! It's a light pinkish brown. I'm having a hard time telling from pictures whether it is likely to be from my Dominique, by Buff Orpington or one of my Rhode Island Reds. I own all three. I suspect it was the buff, since she spends the...
Hello everyone! I've been using the deep litter method on my small coop for about 4 months. I shred newspapers and junk mail for the litter. I just built a bigger coop and expanded my flock from 3 to 12, and I just don't get enough junk mail to keep up any more! Where do others get the bedding...
Hi all! I just had a question about how everyone on here feeds their babies. Mine get their food in a dish, but it looks like some people on here hand-feed. For those that do, do you hand-feed exclusively or just treats? I want to socialize my babies and they get held and talked to a lot, but if...
Hello! I have a recently acquired hen with one flat, cloudy eye. The whole eyeball looks cloudy and sunken in, but there is definitely an eyeball present. I checked online descriptions of Marek's, and that doesn't look likely. She is a new addition to my flock, and I noticed this damaged eye...
So, I just brought home 9 new birds, and on their way into the coop one got away and has taken up residence in the neighbor's front bushes. She is a white leghorn and is very fast and slippery. I don't have a net, since my own girls are really tame. Any ideas how to catch her?
Thanks!!
Hello again!
I know I'm just pestering the board with tons of questions today... Sorry!
I just added 8 new hens to my flock from a farm a few hours away. They were laying there (except for a few who are molting). About how long will it take before they settle in and start laying for me?
Thanks!
Hello all! I have a batch of mystery chicks. The farmer that I bought them from assured me that mom is a silkie, and one of the babies looks like a silkie and is fairly small.
The others, though.... The colors look like silkie colors to me, and some have poof-ball tails, but they have hard...
Hi all! I just ran out of chick starter feed (I know, I know, I'm an idiot!), and of course the feed store is closed for Christmas. What should I be giving my babies until I can get more feed in two days? This morning they got finely chopped hard-boiled eggs (sucked down in minutes) and...
Hi all! I just have a question about feeding my month-old silkie babies. I gave them some ground-up fresh carrots (put through a garlic press) and they gobbled them down. Next they got carrots and spinach crushed to a similar consistency in the food processor and they haven't touched them. Am I...
Hi! I'm a long- time reader but first time poster on here. I just got 6 month-old silkie babies. They are doing great, eating well, drinking well, cuddling and playing. I'm a bit confused about their wing feathers, though. One has deeply shredded wing feathers, the others have hard feathers on...