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  1. switters

    Buff orpington getting attacked by rest of the flock!

    Over the past ten days our flock has been attacking one of the Buff Orpingtons. They've pecked her neck behind her comb almost completely raw. She now spends most of her time in the run perched up high (while the others are out in the backyard), since that's the only place she's safe...
  2. switters

    Can't break our broody hen

    One of our Buff Orpingtons went broody about ten days ago. For the last five days we've had her in a milk crate elevated on sawhorses so there's plenty of airflow under her. During the day, we take her out and let her free-range in the backyard for a couple of hours (she can't access the nest...
  3. switters

    Broody hen getting beat up on by the rest of the flock

    Two questions here: 1) One of our hens has gone broody. She's sitting on eggs, or even just in the nest if we take the eggs, most of the day (and I assume night, since when I opened the coop door this morning at 6:00 she was sitting in the nest). Not entirely sure what to do about this. 2)...
  4. switters

    Will our chickens always be this LOUD?

    Our 6-month old pullets just started laying. And they are telling EVERYONE in the neighborhood about it! Starting at about 5:00 AM they make a huge ruckus. I can hear it in the front of our house about 300 feet away, so I'm quite sure our neighbors behind us and on both sides can hear them...
  5. switters

    How to get chickens to use the nesting boxes?

    Our chickens laid their first eggs today. Hooray! We have nine pullets that just turned 6 months literally today, and we found 5 eggs this morning. Problem is, we found them at the base of a tree in the yard, in the bushes, and in their run. We have two nesting boxes in the coop but...
  6. switters

    Is rhubarb poisonous ? Because our chickens just ate a lot of it!

    We are novice chicken people. Our pullets are almost 6 months old. They free-range in a part of our backyard garden that is currently fallow. From what we read, our understanding was that chickens wouldn't eat things that are poisonous to them. It was also our understanding that rhubarb is...
  7. switters

    Need some help with nesting boxes

    Our chickens are getting close to laying age (about 5.5 months), so we're making sure our nesting boxes are in proper order. We realize they may not start laying until Spring, but want to make sure everything is okay in case they do start soon. Here is our current set-up: Question: the...
  8. switters

    Floor covering for the coop

    Up until now we've been using aspen shavings on the floor in the coop. They've worked well. We clean out the shavings 2x/month and put them in our compost pile, which adds nitrogen to the soil. However, the shavings are expensive and we want to find a more economical option. We've considered...
  9. switters

    Question about lights and timers in winter

    Our girls are about five months old now. We live in Northern California. Right now it gets light at about 7:00 and dark at about 5:30. I've read that hens need 14 hours of light per day for optimal laying. I've also read that hens that come to maturity in the winter won't start laying until...
  10. switters

    Chicken feeding question

    We've got 9 gals (4 months old) in our backyard flock, all laying varieties (Australorp, Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn, Black Star, White Rock, 2 Barred Rocks and 2 Buff Orpingtons). They get out into our garden/yard maybe 3-4 hours a day. We are feeding them an organic layer mash as well as...
  11. switters

    Should feeder/waterer be in the coop or run?

    We just finished building our coop. All recycled materials except for the nails and the hardware cloth. We have a hanging waterer and feeder. I'm wondering whether it's best to put them inside the coop itself, or in the run?
  12. switters

    When is it safe to turn off the heat lamps?

    My chicks are almost 5 weeks old. They have most of their feathers. Their brooder is in our basement, and we're in Northern California. Nights have been in the mid-50s lately. They have been spending most days outside in a portable tractor and seem totally fine with that. We've raised the...
  13. switters

    How to keep bedding out of the waterer?

    We have one of these waterers in our brooder: The problem is that our 2-week old chicks poop in it and fill it up with their bedding (aspen shavings) about every 2 hours - to the point where they can no longer drink out of it. I've tried elevating it a little bit, by putting it on top of a...
  14. switters

    Sick chick! Labored breathing with beak open...

    One of our chicks (buff orpington) has become ill. She's just laying down, not moving much, and her breathing is very labored with her beak open. Here's a video . Any ideas? Is there anything I can do?
  15. switters

    How often do you handle your baby chicks?

    How often do you handle your baby chicks? I've read that we should handle them "regularly" if we want them to become accustomed to human contact. But what exactly does "regularly" mean? Once a day? Several times a day? When we put our hands down in the brooder to pick up our chicks, they...
  16. switters

    Does Blue Kote EVER come off?

    I had to put blue kote on one of my chicks that had a wound. It is not stopping her from picking at herself, nor is it stopping other chicks from picking at her. In fact, it seems to be drawing more attention from the other chicks (perhaps because of the color?) Is there any way to get it off...
  17. switters

    HELP! What's wrong with our chick? Open wound under her wing...

    (Sorry for the double post - I put this in the Raising Baby Chicks forum before I noticed this one) We noticed tonight that our white leghorn chick (5 days old) has what appears to be an open wound under her left wing. She is pecking at it relentlessly and there is some dried blood around it...
  18. switters

    HELP! What's wrong with our chick? Open wound under her wing...

    EDIT: moved to the Emergencies forum here .
  19. switters

    (PLEASE HELP!) Raising chicks with a surrogate mother hen?

    We just got 9 beautiful little chickies yesterday. They arrived healthy and happy from MyPetChicken. A friend of ours who has been raising chickens for 10+ years suggested that we put one of his Silkie hens in the brooder with the chicks. He said that this calms them considerably and that...
  20. switters

    Keeping chicks warm

    We just got our babies today. So cute! Here's a video - sorry about the quality. My question is how high up off the floor of the brooder should the heat lamps be? They are 250 watt infrared bulbs. We built a brooder with 2 foot high walls and a top. I tried putting the lamps on top of...
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