A friend of mine brought me a mama duck and four littles that had been abandoned at a gas station parking lot back in November. (Apparently, an internet deal fell through and they didn't want to transport back home. They were dumping them out of a box when my friend saw and asked for them.) This...
About a week ago, I moved 45 broad breasted chicks to their outside pen. They were about a month old. Our set up next door is an older farmhouse (which we use to wash eggs, canning, and so on). Behind the farmhouse is a fenced in backyard with ducks on one side and baby goats on the other. Next...
We plan to butcher a few older chickens this week-end (about 15). Normally, my husband kills them and I finish butchering and can. This takes so much time with all of the other things I need to do, so I'm asking him and the kids to help me finish it up quickly.
I'd like to cut the breasts off...
We have a small farm and have kept chickens for a few years. We have a large enclosed coop (we call it the aviary) that houses about 40 hens. They are different ages and breeds. The youngest are about 16 months and the oldest about three years. The coop itself is about 48x24 feet and also has...
We have around 70 egg layers and are raising about 50 meat birds at the moment. Last fall, we had baby chicks in an area of our yard that was fenced until a storm took out a section of the fencing. We recaptured most of them but couldn't find the rest. A couple of weeks later, we started...
We live in Alabama and are starting to receive alerts regarding precautions with avian flu. My understanding is that avian flu is suspected in a few counties at the north end of our state. We are about five counties south of that area. We have approximately 75 egg laying chickens and expect 55...
A very bedraggled rooster appeared in our front yard this morning. He was sleeping next to our border collie, Trouble, on the front lawn. (Trouble typically sleeps inside, but stayed out all night last night - I'm hoping he's not a culprit). We happened to have a cage with hay in it on our front...
I'm looking over my flock and deciding which hens will need to go when I butcher next time. I have several birds that are not good layers who also have bald patches. The patches were caused by an over-aggressive rooster. We eliminated him about three months ago, but the feathers aren't growing...
I'm thinking about adding Muscovy Ducks to our farm. After walking around our property for a bit, my thoughts are to put them in the backyard of the farmhouse. (The farmhouse is not our residence but is used as a guest house and also where I shower after working with animals). The backyard has a...
Hi, we just received chicks in from Meyer Hatchery. Most of them look great (we purchased an assortment), but there are three brown chicks (not sure what they are) that are noticeably smaller and more lethargic than the rest. (We purchased 50 and received 2 free). One of them was stretched on...
My husband and I have both goats and chickens. To make a very long story into a short one, recently I started looking after the animals and realized we had to make a few changes. We have one large chicken yard and also have chickens in one of the goat pens (without goats). I could really use the...
We have a flock of 29 (RIR and Buffs) that are housed in a storage shed with a large, fully enclosed yard. The door has a lock on it to keep chickens in and other things out. My daughter (13 years old) usually goes through in the mornings to take food and water. She and I were on our way in this...
My husband and I currently have 29 chickens (we've had them about three months) and were looking into adding goats onto our farm. We had one fenced in area that would support 2 - 3 goats so we went looking. My husband fell in love with them and purchased six - one male, one wethered kid, 2 adult...