We noticed today that one of our hens was getting pretty beat up by the other girls (10 total in the flock). We removed the girl getting beat up and left her out of the run to free range by herself. I saw that she was a bit lethargic and I assumed it was from the stress of getting beat up...
I can't have goats at my house. City zoning laws require 1/2 acre, I have 1/3. I have an acquaintance at church who has at least 1 acre and live only 5 minutes away. They don't use a lot of their land and in the past have let others use their property for gardening. I am considering asking them...
My first batch of chicks, all hens for eggs, I raised indoors using the mamma heating pad method. They stayed in the house for 8 weeks. I'd like to raise meat birds, probably about 2 dozen, but I don't want to keep them in the house for 8 weeks. That's practically butcher time! And I don't have...
We went out of town for a week and came home to fine one of our chickens pecked up pretty badly on the back of her head. I want to make sure I'm not missing anything that I should be doing for her.
Here's what I've done so far: Cleaned up the wound with hydrogen peroxide and then saline...
I've got a hen who we have seen sitting in the nest box for a day and a half now. I assume she is going broody. I'm a first timer, so this would be my first broody hen. How will I know for sure that she is actually broody? If we want her to hatch some chicks how soon do I need to get fertilized...
I have a chicken who is lethargic and has diarrhea. Her crop feels bloated. She won't eat or drink. At this point I'm suspecting a sour crop. If it's not sour crop, let's get some other ideas too. I'm not smelling anything sour from her and hubby says her crop felt just like the other chickens'...
I've noticed over the past few days that one of my hens (Adele) had bloody spots on her comb. This morning I confirmed that she is being bullied. One of the other hens flew at her and full on attacked her! It was brutal! I am still in shock to see such a mean display. Poor Adele, she seemed so...
Tell me about the records you keep for your chickens. How many birds do you have? What's your reason for keeping records? What system do you use (spreadsheet, notebook, etc.)? What things do you you keep track of? Any other other info you feel is important when it comes to keeping records for...
I was walking home with kids from the bus stop and heard my chickens in an uproar. When I made it to the back yard I saw the neighbors' cat leaving our yard. I assume it wasn't able to make it into the run. The run is fenced pretty well with a buried apron and is covered in bird netting...
If...
My girls were hatched August 29th. There's 2 Australorps, 2 Easter Eggers, and 3 Barred Rocks. They've got to be close. Most of them are squatting now.
How about your August hatched girls, are they laying yet? What's their breed and hatch date?
Not a great pic, but here they all are!
Details: I have 7 hens, 3 Barred Rocks, 2 Australorps, and 2 Easter Eggers. They are 21 weeks old. One of them, I can't figure out which, gave a really mucusy poo this morning right after I let them out of the coop. None are acting different that I've been able to tell. No lethargy. While I...
They didn't know what to do about the snow! After a while they decided that it was safe to go explore.
A little while later while the kids we're out playing in the snow my 5 year old came to get me "Mom, one of the chickies jumped into the other yard!" So hubby and I ran to see what was going...
I have 7 hens that are 18 weeks old. I got their nest boxes (2 of them side by side) set up earlier this week. At first I had shredded paper in them. But then they scratched it all out and stared trying to eat it. Raked it all out yesterday and today put in pine shavings. I also dropped a...
My chickies are 8 weeks old right now. I've got a few questions.
1. At what age does each breed typically start? I've got Australorps, EEs, and Barred Rocks.
2. I know hens typically don't lay eggs over winter. My girls will mature to laying age over the winter. Do you think they will start...
My two year old was eating a sucker from his Halloween candy just outside of the chicken run. He said, "Mommy, I have a special treat for the chickies." "Oh, what is it?" "This," he said as he held out his sucker.
I thought it was just too cute! He loves our chickies!
My question is not chicken related, but about goats. I figured a lot of the same things would apply though in how to go about getting the zoning laws changed. For goats, the ordinance reads "Agricultural animal keeping, for noncommercial purposes, as follows: rabbits and similar animals...
My chicks will be three weeks old on Tuesday. They are in my laundry room where temps are pretty stable around 70-ish degrees Fahrenheit. They only go in their heating pad brooder cave occasionally during the day and sleep there at night.
Outside nighttime temps are in the high 50s. It likely...
Im wondering how much and how often I should be feeding my chicks. They are a week and a half old and I have 8 of them. They are eating fermented start & grow feed. I feed them first thing in the morning around 7:00. Around 1:00 or so their food is usually gone and I give them more. I do the...
1 week old Easter Egger, I noticed today that her beak is crossed. I know it hasn't been like this before. It just showed up today. Is there anything I can or need to do for her?