I'm looking for suggestions on how to find a new home for my two five year old hens. They are still both laying, but not consistently and at this point they are more pets than anything. A neighbor offered to have some local Montagnards come and humanely slaughter them for the stew pot but I'm...
I have put out a call for a wire bottomed cage to friends in order to break my broody hen, but in the meantime, I wanted to know if being broody for 4 weeks is normal? I don't have a rooster, so no fertilized eggs. Is my hen just stubborn, or is this length of time normal. She's still laying...
I live in the city and don't have a feed store nearby, so my question is, what can I feed my chickens during their molt as I read somewhere that they need more protein to grow in new feathers. I have a Whole Foods nearby where I can get grains etc if I can feed them something like that. Thanks
One of my hens (a red sex link) has almost no tail feathers left and the soft downy feathers near her vent are almost all gone. My SLW is plucking them right off her - I've seen her do it! I am not able to separate the girls and am trying to come up with a way to make the RSL's feathers less...
I have three hens. They are 1 1/2 years old. I know they're all girls because they all lay. This morning I was in the kitchen and heard loud crowing. The crowing went on for a good 1/2 hour. Why would a hen crow? This is not good as I'm in a subdivision and although the neighbors agreed to me...
My 1 year old red sex link has lost feathers around her vent. It looks awful! Could this be a result of the other hens plucking out her feathers or something else? Thanks.
My 1 year old red sex link has some feather loss in her tail and around her vent area. Is this a result of the other chickens pulling out her feathers, or a disease? I had a hard time getting a photo of the area, she wouldn't keep still! What should I do, if anything. It has been extreamly wet...
I've had my chickens for a year now, and last summer I was amazed at how they didn't really smell bad. I do clean the coop each week, and use a cultivator in the run to keep the earth turned over. Last year I also used a tarp when it rained to keep the run dry.
Last week we had torrential...
I'm just curious as to why one of my hens lays eggs with silky smooth shells, and the other hen lays eggs with a slightly rougher texture. They look similar, just feel very different. Both are eating the same diet, both have access to oyster shell. Any ideas?
I was thinking about planting a garden patch just for the chickens this spring - a place where I won't care if they eat the plants (my veggie patch will be in a safe chicken proof place!) Any suggestions from previous experience about what your chickens ate (or stole) out of your gardens?
It finally happened. The chicken cataloges started coming and I found DH at the kitchen table looking at all the varieties of chickens. "This is a nice looking chicken" he would say. "Wow, this one lays colored eggs", and finally "we probably have room for more chickens don't you think?"
I guess all my complaining on this message board worked! My SLW finally laid her first egg yesterday at 31 weeks old. Penguin, you don't have to be trained as a guard dog now!
First of all - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
My BO always lays in the nesting box, but yesterday she was in there sounding like she was doing nest box renovation - tap-tapping on the side with her beak. She has never done that before. She left the nest just as I was leaving the house, so I figured I'd get...
My SLW is 31 weeks and narry an egg. Do you think she's just waiting until spring? My Red Sexlink (same age) quit when the nights got dark earlier and my BO (also same age) started after the nights got darker earlier and is producing 5 eggs a week.
Just curious.
I thought it might be fun to create a chicken Christmas song challenge. Let's see what we can come up with. I'll startyou off...
Sung to the tune of 'All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth'.
All I want for Christmas is a bigger coop
A bigger coop
A bigger coop.
All I want for...
OK, so I knew from reading posts here it was probable that at some point, my 23 week old Red Sex Link would lay a shell-less egg, but boy do I wish I had thought to bring a flashlight to the coop yesterday afternoon. Joy was in the nesting box at 4 pm when I left to run errands, and so I...
I'm writing a childrens story and have to describe a single comb on a sex-link. It's geared towards 6-9 year olds. Any suggestions on two or three word descriptions of the comb? Thanks.
We started keeping chickens this year, and just for fun I thought our family should watch Chicken Run on family movie night. I'd forgotton how hilarious it was. Even more hilarious because I could see some of my chickens in the on screen characters. My BO is most definately Babs!!! I just know...