When I went to lock the chickens up tonight I found Henry rooster collapsed - his head and long neck had been pulled through the wires of his enclosed and covered yard. All the feathers were gone from his head and neck, which was broken. He was bloodied but not eaten! Who would have done that...
I have 3 hens and a rooster in a large coop. The hens started a deep nest in an area I can't reach easily. I kept raking the eggs out, then thought maybe they want to go broody so I should leave them. It's been 5 days, and the nest is full of eggs, but nobody sits on the eggs. The nights...
I have 6 hens and 2 roosters in 3 different coops. In one are 3 hens and a roo, and no one has been laying for months. They are +2 1/2 years old, active, eating and drinking well. Two RR hens have pinkish combs that fall over (one paler than the other and looking raggedy with white feathers...
I have 4 hens and a rooster who have been together almost 2 years. Last fall one hen started squawking most of the day, and the others chased and pecked her so she couldn't eat or drink. So I put her in a coop by herself and she is now feathered and looks good except for a pink comb that...
My Abby chicken is 18 months and has been going through molt. At last she was looking like her beautiful self - but her comb turned pink and flopped to one side...then yesterday she seemed to have a large lump on her breast. When I felt it today, it was about the size of a jumbo egg. What...
Went out late morning to give my two one year old hens treats. One, the BR, was laying dead in a little heap. She had been ostensibly fine a few hours earlier when my husband opened the coop door to their run. In the nest there was a fragile egg shell broken open with the egg still in it...
I made 2 saddles for my girls whose backs are getting beaten up. They were triangles made out of a pot holder with ties at the top and bottom. I then proceeded to hold each squawking, flapping hen and tie them around their tails and under their chests. Today, both saddles were off, so I...
I have a surprise rooster and three hens about 8 months old. The roo is a New Hampshire Red, and the hens are a New Hampshire Red, a Barred Rock, and a Rhode Island Red. The BR hen got larger and developed a comb first, and then the NHR grew larger and had a comb. The RIR has stayed pretty small...
I stupidly let my dogs stay out while putting the chickens in for the night. They had been good about leaving them alone, and thinking this was a peaceable kingdom, let down my guard. One dog went after a chicken and bit it's back about 3 inches from its tail. The gash is L shaped, the organs...