I have had chickens for almost 20 years without a single problem with mites (or lice), and now my hens are really struggling with them. I have about 30 layers. I think it is mites, but I have never seen them, though I have looked. Since I don’t see anything on them, I’ve been figuring the...
I have 25 eight-week old pullets. This morning I noticed that one of the barred rocks has a broken beak. The top half of her beak is broken off quite far back. The underlying tissue is completely intact with no bleeding. It looks painful, but she is acting normally and seems perky enough. I...
I've been thinking of putting down sand in my chicken yard, but I'm wondering how it works when it gets very hot. Does the sand hold the heat (like on a beach on a really hot sunny day) making the chickens hotter? We live in Iowa, so we don't have blistering Arizona type hot, but it gets...
I've always used America's Choice brand "Eco-flake" for my brooder pen, but I didn't see any when I was at the farm store last week. There were bags of America's Choice "Mini-Flake," and I figured that sounded like it would do. When I opened it up, however I failed to see the "flake." "Mini"...
Help! I had chickens in the past, but have been without a flock for a few years. I just bought 30 chicks, a variety of layers, to start a new flock. They arrived four days ago, and all was well until this morning when I found one dead and one looking listless. The listless one perked up with...