We are told chicks need to be kept at 95 degrees for the first week, dropping 5 degrees every week until the temperature outside matches the temp in the brooder. This is simply not true. But you have to set up a brooder in a way that is COMPLETELY different from the ones everybody who tells you...
I have my incubator going. We're on day ten. Last night I candled and I think I saw two embryos moving. I marked the egg with "Twins?" so I'll be able to track it.
Two things, though... the egg is one of the smaller eggs in the hatch. These are Jersey Giant eggs, so they're mostly pretty...
On Friday I culled a rooster. A hatchery bred buff Orpington. He was from our first set of chicks, and he was almost 3. He had episodes of having some blue on his comb. That has started when he was only nine months old. But it was rare, and only the back couple of points. Otherwise he appeared...
jajeanpierre LindaB220 TaraBellaBirds and I were discussing nasty roosters on the thread Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE! https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/768107/processing-day-support-group-help-us-through-the-emotions-please
Roosters are culled for...
I had a difficult hatch recently. One chick had a red, slightly smaller than pencil eraser sized blob/wound protruding from her navel.
I used some Vetwrap and made a little set of overalls for her. I sprayed her bottom with Blue Kote, (actually sprayed the blukote inside a shell, then tried...
This chick hatched this morning. Her toes are a bit curled. Not anywhere near as badly as a hatchmate, whose toes were completely curled under and to the insides, which made it nearly impossible for her to walk.
This one clearly isn't that bad. But I was wondering, since I have the Vetwrap out...
I'm wondering if Polysporin is OK to use on an egg with a cracked shell. The cracked egg thread suggested Bacitracin and specified not to use Neomycin, but my local store only had Polysporin, which is a mix of Bacitracin zinc and Polymyxin B sulfate.
This evening, when I was letting our broody out for her poop, I checked her eggs very quickly and discovered that at some point in the last couple days this egg developed this crack. It may have happened today as the membranes are still very white. I candled to check for an internal pip and I...
Just to get these questions out of the way: Yes. I'm weird. And well-endowed.
OK so, on a whim I put two eggs in my bra early in the morning on December 16, 2013. I kept them there for 18 hours before taking one out to check if it was fertilized. See.. we're new-ish to this chicken keeping...
Today, after a long Dr appointment, when I got home, without thinking about whether or not it might be a good idea, I picked one of our medlars and took it to the girls to see if they'd eat it at all (I just wanted a little quality time with my girls!). I thought they'd take one bite of the...
I'm relatively new to raising chickens, and I just noticed that there's a massive heat wave predicted for the west coast of USA beginning about Friday and going on through most of next week.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/heat-to-roil-more-fire-weather/14619950
I'm up on the...
Buff Orpington. Six and a half weeks old. We bought this sweetie from My Pet Chicken, and had asked for a pullet. So, assuming s/he was a pullet we named her Babs. But now we're thinking we have a Bob here. Thoughts, anyone? S/he looks very different from our other three Buff Orpingtons, which...