My silkie is very lethargic, can't lift up her head, and can't walk straight. The area below her tail is encrusted with green fecal matter. She's emitting tiny clucking noises, much lower than her regular voice. I've tried to tempt her with snacks, but doesn't want to eat. Can anyone tell me...
The west coast has the world's worst air quality and I have no idea how long this will last. As advised, I cooped up my chickens and had done so for three straight days. Suffice it to say that they hated it. 2 of them stopped eating, 2 others stopped drinking, and the fifth wasn't doing either...
To my dismay, a hawk was proudly having a solid chicken breakfast today. I decided to let the hawk finish eating before I went out there to bury my chicken. What's the point to shooing the hawk away at that point? After a while, I went out to check the carnage only to discover a pile of bloody...
I live in So Cal and my area is currently dealing with a wide outbreak of New Castle disease. We've been told that to ensure flock health we must keep our chickens in an enclosed run. My girls have grown up free range. One of the enclosed runs is 6X6 and will be for 3 large hens. The other is...
For some time now, I've noticed that something is wrong with my silkies. They hadn't laid in a while and thought that they might be egg bound. So, I bathe them in Epson salt (twice) and gave them extra calcium. One of them perked up, but didn't lay. The other has continued to get worse. She...
Hello,
Recently, I noticed that the chick's feeder wasn't going empty as fast at it used to. I've not changed their food... but perhaps I am giving them too many snacks. I try to go every other day w/o snacks and what they get is very small. A couple of cubes of watermelon, and a handful of...
I'm sure that it happened gradually, but it wasn't until this weekend that I noticed that Janet and La Toya don't let Rebbie out of the coop. In the afternoons I hadn't noticed anything, but this morning there was a quick squabble in the run. I looked up and saw Rebbie running into the coop...
I've read so much about taking the chicks out of the brooder and have found conflicting information. My situation is as follows. I raised my 3 chicks in the coop--well insulated and draft free, using a Brinsea heater, which is on at night. Currently, the weather ranges from a high in the high...
I've read plenty of post on the "bare butt" thread to know that there are a variety of reasons why a chicken could have an exposed butt. The same "why" question was repeated, but there were few "because"s. As far as Bernice is concerned, she laid the biggest egg I've ever seen, now has a bare...
I've noticed a few changes in both appearance and behavior in one of my chickens. Firstly, she's stopped attacking me, which sounds like a win, but I know there is something wrong. Both of the chickens are constipated, but one (Henri) seems more affected than the other (Berni). It's not hot out...
As incredible as it may seem, my area of town ran out of chick starter crumble. I called all the pet stores around me and none of them carried the brand that I originally fed the chicks. I even called the distributor. I tried switching the girls to mash, but they refused to eat it. In fact there...
I need help transitioning my girls to eat outside. They're been fed inside the coop since I got them (6 months ago). But I've had enough with the food everywhere. I don't want to change everything all at once. How do I go about "weening" them so they can only feed in the run?
Bernice and Henrietta (RIR 9 weeks old) tentatively leave the coop to be out in the run. They go out into the run whenever I'm there and so I try to go out as often as I can. Do chickens prefer to be indoors?
My six week old chicks have been moved from the brooder and into the coop, but have not been out in the yard. Will they be adversely affected if I keep them cooped up for 2 months?
As the title implies, I am new at raising chickens and in these 3 weeks I've had plenty of moments where "Murphy's Law" applies. If my stress is any indication of how stressed the chicks are, I'm worried for them. Many mistakes can be made in 21 days. My concern is that I'm stressing my girls...
The scenario is as follows: I have two RIR 3 week old chicks--Bernice and Henrietta. When I first got them, Henrietta was slightly bigger than Bernice. The sizes, however, have switched, noticeably so. Bernice has more heft to her. I'm not sure why this is the case. As I have observed them and...
I'm soon going to get my chicks so, I have been doing lots of research in preparation--which is how I found this site and have spent quite a lot of time on. I have found this site to be extremely helpful and appreciate all the work you do.