Any of you ever pastured chickens on bermuda? Not sure if that is a good grass for them or not. Certainly attracts a lot of grasshoppers, etc. Any input will be appreciated.
Do you guys keep your birds on a strict feeding regiment---same time every day. A buddy and I are keeping an egg laying flock and he was aggravating me today about keeping the birds on a strict schedule. He's raised dogs before and that's how he did with them. I've raised chickens for 35...
I have a flock of 40 laying hens that I relocated to a new part of town last Thursday. Prior to that I was gettin roughly 30 eggs per day with 15-17 being white from my 20 white leghorns. As of today (5 days since the move) I have gotten 9 eggs and only one of those were white. Ever see a...
I've got a mixed flock of brown and white egg layers. About 90% of the brown eggs will be cracked on the large end almost like they were dropped. Thinking that might be the issue, I added even more straw to the nests and actually watched one hen lay a brown egg this afternoon. As soon as...
Here's a question. I've raised chickens for years and never noticed this before. What would cause a small bllod spot in an egg white? These are from a flock with no roosters. The eggs are from 2-year-old hens. Doesn't happen often, maybe one in 50.
No matter what I do, I can't get them suckers to hatch. They develop fully then die in the shell without ever pipping---internally or otherwise. I'm done with them. On their own from here on out.
If you ever give your ducks peas as a treat, don't serve them on a paper plate. I gave some to a few young muscovies and left the plate in the pen while I went inside to take a shower. Went back to the pen to get the plate to throw away and discovered they ATE it too. Just paper so it...
....and ducks in general. I have been incubating Muscovy eggs for a friend of mine. And, in the past I have noticed the same thing with mallard and pekins. Regardless of whether I use a turner, or turn by hand, I generally get close to 100% of the eggs to develop completely but only about...
I had a pair of woodies that hatched off a brood of ducklings. Neighbors dog broke in the pen somehow and killed all but one new duckling. I have him in a brooder but he doesn't seem to have interest in eating the starter feed I give him. Any tricks I should know? I'm used to baby...
I've raised all kinds of hens in the past. According to a lot of written information, I decided on RIR's and Buff Orpingtons as my current layer flock. I have 14, seven of each breed. I bought them in May of '08 and they never even laid an egg until they were 10 months old. From March of...
I was reading an article in some magazine and it mentioned someone raising diver ducks. The one that really got my attention was hooded mergansers. Any of you ever raise them or know anyone that has? What would you feed one of them little suckers when it's a duckling?