I have one rooster, 8 hens, and 2 male guineas. Yesterday I caught them all ganged up on one hen and pecking her severely. It seemed as if they were trying to kill her. She's in the hospital crate and I think she will be OK. She is the low chicken in the pecking order, but it makes no sense...
My Brittany Spaniel is proud of her ability to get in and out of the pop door. I raise Buff Orpingtons and some Guineas. I started out with a 12"W x 16'H guillotine-type door. She hardly had to duck her head to get in. I put a piece of cattle panel over the door so the opening is 6"W x 12"H...
4 week old chick came up with this growth on it's eyelid. Anyone have ideas as to what it could be and how to treat? It is not eye worm or an infection that i can tell. I thought it had gotten pecked on they eye and cleaned it off pretty well before I thought to take a pic. I didn't know...
Does anyone know what would cause chickens to lay addled eggs? You know, where the yolk and white are mixed in a fresh laid egg? Is it due to age, heat, something wrong with the hen? My flock is a mixed age group of Buff Orpingtons. Some of the girls are 4+ years, some are this years hatch...
Y'all, I'm trying to run a sustainable flock of 20+ Buff Orpingtons. By this I mean a flock that is healthy w/o a lot of medications, that are good foragers, and can raise their own babies. I don't have enough resources to have separate breeding clans, so i do bring in an unrelated replacement...
Yesterday Hubs commented that one of my hens skips instead of running. So I started watching who was doing what. I saw the skipping, but she seemed fine; i just thought, "More chicken weirdness." Then I found the same hen roosting in the nest box instead of on the roost. Went to move her to...
I have been offered a 5 year-old India Blue peacock and his pen. The farmer who has him has been gradually selling off his chickens, guineas and peafowl. This is his last remaining bird. He looks in good health, but he is missing a swatch of feathers under his neck. I couldn't get my hands on...
Tonight was my first time candling eggs. We're on day 8. I have Buff Orpingtons / brown eggs. I had put 12 eggs under a broody hen. Tonight there were only 11. Where did that other one go? I even lifted mama from the nest and patted it down and felt around the nest in case it had rolled...
I am trying to establish a sustainable flock of Buff Orpingtons for meat and eggs. Last spring i obtained 30 chicks, straight run, from a local private hatcher, the only one i could find within an hour of my farm. He had several roos and about 25 hens in the same pen, so I don't know how...
It finally happened. Speeding car + slow moving hen = a puzzle. This happened yesterday, Wednesday. She was sitting off the side of the road like she was dustbathing when i found her shortly after the accident. Took her inside and examined her. No bruising or bleeding on her body or wings...
I am trying to build a sustainable flock, but would like to let my oldest and best hen live out the full number of her days. However, this spring she started having bouts of what I think is vent gleet. Two other chickens came down with it shortly after her. I treated all three of them with...
We are on day 14 of my first broody's 2nd attempt to hatch eggs. She left the first nest at day 10, but didn't break her broodyness. So I set her up with some fertile eggs from the fridge. Went to check on her today after I had put treats out for the others & she jumped off the nest to get...
Just today I told my husband I've had it with our Rooster. He was supposed to be a she, but hubby said to keep him 'cause he likes the crowing. He's a grey silky and my girls are a Wyanadotte, 2 EEs, a BO, Light Brahma, & a Barred Rock. He breeds them like crazy & I was hoping SOMEONE would go...
Just noticed a scab on my Della's foot. It was the size of a green pea. It was already half off. I thought, "Oh, no, bumble foot!" So I got out my gear and started soaking her foot. I'll admit I didn't soak that long because as I was massaging the foot, I could feel the scab getting looser...
Augh! Neighbor's dog got one of my hens. Silver Laced Wyandotte, about a year old, good health otherwise. No blood or puncture wounds that I could find, just a lot of feathers missing on each side under her wings. But she's limping on one leg. After the dog dropped her I put her in the coop...
Well, it's official, my Silkie, Storm, is a Roo. Heard a pitiful little crow Saturday and sure enough it was him. Crow is so soft I originally thought one of the hens was being weird. We thought we heard crowing weeks ago, but not since. Storm was out all day Saturday and we were home and...
Moved the brooder into the coop 2 days ago, and yes, it made it a little crowded in there, but come on! The year old hens pay it never no mind, but the 8 week pullets are scared to death of the thing, and they've only been out of it for about 4 weeks! I have an old milk crate hung on the top...
Sister, my EE who had her vent half ripped off and then stitched back on last winter, has been laying about every other day. About a week a go I noticed her shells were getting thinner and thinner. Then she laid a soft-shelled egg. It seemed to be just the odd egg, and she's back to laying...
I have a 2 week old Delaware that is not growing & had what I thought was pasty-butt. Kept washing her bum, last week I trimmed her feathers thinking that was the problem. Been keeping an eye on her and noticed that her butt was going from trimmed to bald. Her vent is not clogged, but she's...
OK, don't think I'm silly, but we have no grass in our back yard (DEEP shade) but plenty of it on the easement behind the back fence. It's so lush now I wish I could eat it. I'd like to give the girls a chance at it but am not sure how. The easement is for a drainage canal, only about an inch...