When peeling and slicing a hard boiled egg, I found a soup bean inside the yolk! One of my hens must have found a rogue bean under the bean trellis. Clearly, it was indigestible as it was intact...but why was it in the yolk and not in the poop? Never saw such a thing in my life!
Is anyone saving the million plus per acre cicada explosion for their girls? Can you freeze this protein source as they emerge for mid-winter chicken snacks? OR do you freeze to kill, then dry?
Help! One of my girls was attacked and killed by a fox a month ago. She was not the alpha hen, but the rest of the grande dames seem to be in mourning. This all happened just as I integrated three new girls into the bunch. No one has laid an egg since the fox attack. Is this grief? Is this...
One of my new chickens (hatched in April) just laid an egg. It is very small (1/4 the size of a normal egg). At first, I thought it was a bird's egg (fallen from a nest)...but it is far too big for that. And yet, my chickens are too young to start laying.
I am integrating the new girls with my...
Sometimes when I move near one of my hens, she freezes in a squat and spreads her wings at the "elbow". I freeze too. Am I moving too quickly? Is this a fear response?
They do this also when they are separated from the rest of the flock and come to me for search and rescue. They will "assume...
A few questions for the group! I've read the thread about keeping the eggs on the counter for weeks and having them stay sound. What if, you find an egg somewhere in the coop where it shouldn't be? It's summer and hot. And I have no idea how long that egg has been there. The egg is warm to the...
My flock is just beginning to lay. This morning, I found a completely smashed egg in a nesting box. The egg was flattened and spread about. It was not "pecked" apart. My understanding is that eggs are very strong. They shouldn't crush like this. Any ideas as to how or why this happened? (Thanks!)
My chickens have been singing their egg songs. I run to the coop to inspect...and nada, zippo, nuttin'. What's going on? Do they practice before they start laying?
And, here's an interesting bit...when one chicken goes all operetta, the others cluck as backup! The ruckus silences the whole...
My flock has freedom to roam over our property during the day. Naturally, they have a coop and a run as well, but they are outside of this from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are just now at the egg-laying stage. Will they return to their nesting boxes to lay? Should I change up the routine, keep them...