I think my hen is egg bound. I noticed this after she was penguin walking and her vent is leaking water poop. She is willing to eat but it feels like her abdomen is bloated with fluid. Is that typical when egg bound? I can’t feel an egg at all. Earlier this week she started sleeping in a...
I have some hens that are missing feathers. It is not a rooster issue. It started with one hen missing some on her back when we had a rooster. I put an apron on her and then we ended up getting rid of the rooster and the feather loss continued to get worse. I can't see any parasites on her...
I have 10 hens, 1 rooster. Roo is 8 months old, 3 hens are 1.5 year old, 5 hens are 10 mos old, 2 are 8 mos. all seem to submit to roo from what ive seen. But I noticed last night one of my older hens was bleeding from her comb and another one tonight I saw bleeding after he mated her. A 3rd...
This will be our second winter. The girls did fine last winter here in southeast Michigan but I'm always wanting to make things better so I'm wondering if we should alter our ventilation. We have shutters we can open in the warm months but that open area under the overhang is our only winter...
Today I witnessed one of my 15 week old cockerels mating a 6 month old pullet. He has never crowed as far a I know. Is this odd or do they sometimes mate prior to crowing? He actually seems really babyish still behavior wise other than this random mating.
I wasn't sure which forum to put this on, but here goes. We have a mixed flock with currently 3 hens, 5 pullets about 4 months old, 2 cockerels about 4 months and 4 chicks about 7 weeks. I think 1 chick is a boy and the others are girls, but time will tell. I can't decide which cockerel to...
We have a 8 month old Pyr we plan to use as mostly pet / farm dog, but hopefully also guardian to our chickens and later on some goats. He is definitely more attached to us humans (which is fine, we love having him as a family pet even if he never guards the livestock) but he does try to guard...
We lost a chick to a predator the other day. Here are the stats:
8x8 coop, 8x12 covered run with hardware cloth sides, 18 x 24 "pasture" with no top and 5 ft tall chicken wire sides connected by chicken door to run. The pasture is new just this past week. We have 3 hens, one who had 5 chicks...
We have 3 hens and 5 pullets aged 7 weeks and 9 weeks (some purchased, some hatched at home). We also have 2 cockerels 9 weeks old that our hen hatched. Assuming they do not get along and we can only keep one, which should we keep? will it be obvious which one is the better rooster? I don't...
My husband made a feeder, the kind the chickens have to stick their heads into. It has 2 holes. We have 3 hens right now and 7 chicks. We plan to add another feeder with 2 holes but will that be enough for 10 birds? 2 feeders each with 2 holes? They hold a ton of food but didn't know if 4...
I've noticed now that it's warmer that my run stinks like rotting nastiness. It doesn't smell like poop. We have mulch in there and I think there's rotting food under it. It's soft in spots and if I dig under the mulch I see rotting food and even some maggots. What should I do? We were...
I need some advice. I have 3 hens one of which has 3 chicks she hatched a week ago. Coop is 8x8 run 8X16, no free ranging. Mama and babies are currently in a dog cage in the coop. I was planning to use that for the 4 chicks I arrived that will come next week. But then mama went broody. I...
Our first broody hatched 2 of her 4 eggs Monday and then another one today (or late last night). When should we give up on the 4th egg and remove it? I haven't touched it or candled it. Mama is still sitting on it and I'm hoping she'll give up soon and start eating better.
For those who use deep litter do you really HAVE to clean it out yearly or bi annually?
I have an 8x8 coop. We have only 3 pullets right due to some losses and accidental cockerels earlier (started with 6 babies). I use a droppings board I clean off daily into our woods and probably 6-8...
Anyone know the average hatch rate for a broody hen? I've got my first broody sitting on 4 eggs right now. She's on Day 5 or 6 I think. I candled one egg and can see tiny veins and a dark blob. The babies will be buff Orpington silkie crosses so I'm pretty excited to see what they'll look like!
We need to rehome our 8 month old blue silkie cockerel. He was an accidental cockerel and we tried to give him a chance but he's getting too protective of his girls and my kids are scared of him. He's good with the ladies, but needs to be in a home with no kids coming in and out of the coop...
I have 3 BOs and a silkie cockerel. All will be about 9 mos when I get my new chicks. Coop is 8x8, run is 8x16. We do minimal free ranging right now. I'm getting 4 new pullet chicks in April and plan to brood them in the coop in a 4ft dog kennel with a premier heating plate (the kind that...