I forgot to bring in the eggs from the coop yesterday and it got down to 22 degrees last night. I'm pretty sure they froze. Are they still good? Should I eat them sooner than later?
For those of you debating whether or not to use a light (during the winter months) to increase egg production, it is possible to get eggs without a light. My black australorp has been laying every other day since she recovered from her molt. Today is the shortest day of the year and we're...
My Production Red seems to be going through a second molt. She lost some feathers and stopped laying about a month ago. Then she grew all her feathers back and started laying again. Now she has started dropping feathers again and stopped laying. She seems healthy and there are no signs of...
About a week ago, my hens decided to stay in and around the coop instead of wandering the yard. The only significant change that I see is that all the trees have lost their leaves and there's less cover for them to hide under. They seem healthy, maybe just a little lethargic. We do have lots...
My two hens made it through their molt and one has started laying again. Our little RIR is back to laying and hopefully her partner in crime, our Black Australorp, will start up again soon. They've had to make some adjustments with our recent move and a new coop, but I think they're finally...
My two hens just finished their fall molt and I want to give them a little protein boost as they reform their feathers. Is this a good idea? Any suggestions for what kind of treat?
We just moved to Missouri and the squirrel population here is abundant. It didn't take them long to find the feeder in the chicken coop and start devouring the food. I've started bringing it in during the day, but now I'm worried that the chickens won't be getting enough food. The chickens...
We finally got our chicken coop from My Amish Goods. It arrived 7 weeks late, but it is beautiful and the chickens like it. It's very well built and should last us forever. Now we just have to move it to the back of the yard...
Don't buy a chicken coop from My Amish Goods. We did and they said it would be here on or around August 22. Today is October 6 and it's still not here. They missed the mark by over 6 weeks.
My wife and I just moved to St. Louis and we can't find a good chicken store. I know there's gotta be one so I'm asking the BYC community if they know of one. We need to buy feed, straw, and all things chicken related. We bought a bag of feed from one store and it was totally infested with...
My four birds playing in the leaf pile. Just reached our one year anniversary of having chickens. We love them so much and they are a wonderful addition to our little urban farm.
I am still in my first year of keeping chickens and I am wondering if I need to treat my hens for worms. I have a small flock, just four birds, and they all seem healthy, but egg production has definitely dropped over the past month. They are around 10 months old and have not been treated for...
My EE has been losing feathers for a little while now and I'm wondering if this is normal. She is about 9 months old and stopped laying eggs around the same time the feathers started falling off. Everything else looks normal and healthy. Just curious.
Our Buff Orp went broody and is now spending much of her day in the nesting box. We don't have a roo so she is not sitting on eggs. Yesterday when I pulled her out of the box to check her out I noticed she now has lice around her butt. I think the lice are a direct result of her sitting in...
We have very clayey soil and we've had a wet spring. Sometimes I notice that my girls' toenails are caked with clay/dirt from all the scratching and digging they do. Can/Should I rinse their little toes in some warm water to loosen the clay? I don't want their nails to get some sort of...
So my RIR is now the most boisterous when it comes time to lay her egg. It's usually a two or three minute "song" with some serious vocal power. Anybody else have a RIR that likes to announce the magical gift of the egg?
Two of my hens have started pecking little holes in their eggs after they lay them. At first I thought it was accidental, but it's been a couple days in a row now. They're not eating the eggs. Just pecking little holes. Any suggestions??
We have our first broody hen and I am wondering if there's anything we can do to help the process along. It's our Buff Orp and she is about 6 months old. She started acting "funny" about a week ago and today she didn't leave the nesting box after she laid. Any suggestions or is this something...