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  1. mamabigbird

    saying goodbye to Ester.

    Ester would have turned six in June. A good age for a chicken, but an exceptional age for a sex link hen. She was my sweetest, best loved hen. (Don't tell the others, although I expect they knew). Ester was one of six, day-old chicks, that I hand raised. There is now only one survivor, Ol' Brown...
  2. mamabigbird

    5 year old black star sex-link hen laid an egg.

    If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. Ester and Brown Betty are the last survivors of six chicks I got 5 years ago, as day old babies. I found Ester in the nest box this morning sitting on a huge clutch of eggs. When I finished gathering the eggs I went back to check on...
  3. mamabigbird

    Rats, rats, RATS!!!

    We have had a bumper crop of rats this summer and now that it is getting colder they want to move indoors. My chickens free-range all day so their coop/run is open for visitors. I first noticed fleas in the nest boxes. I would pick a warm egg up and see the fleas crawling where the egg had...
  4. mamabigbird

    my little dog caused hen's death.

    My little chihuahua/terrier cross never actually chased my hens but would run through the free range flock on our way through to the woods where we walk. The hens would scatter squawking but Scruffy never seemed to chase them. I read on a thread here a while back that if startled or panicked...
  5. mamabigbird

    Young broody hen?

    Mad Hattie (RR/Polish/EE cross) is only ten months old and acting broody. Her mother Matilda,( Polish/EE cross) has been a perma-broody and I'm thinking Hattie might of inherited her lust for babies. She is on the nest more than she is off and emits a blood-curdling scream if you go near her on...
  6. mamabigbird

    14 weeks and first egg!

    Victoria was hatched May 21st. This morning she laid her first lil' fart egg. Her evil twin Hattie, on the other hand, has been a real pain lately and actually ran away from home and refused to come back to the coop last night. She was back this morning so I'm keeping them all in their pen until...
  7. mamabigbird

    yeehaw. I'm a chicken wrangler.

    I have two teen-ager pullets that were hatched and raised by my perma-broody hen Matilda. They are three months old and have been integrated with the flock since they were about 8 weeks old. Mama hen watched over them well and protected them from the others. Lately mama has been leaving them on...
  8. mamabigbird

    Peat Moss for coop bedding?

    I have been using compressed pine shavings for a few years but the stuff just doesn't break down where I dump it, And the hens dig through it and scatter it all over the property. My BIL bought a whole lot of bales of peat moss and isn't going to use them all so has half a dozen bales left. He...
  9. mamabigbird

    Victor and/or Victoria ?

    My hen Matilda hatched out 2 chicks on May 24th. (Canadas' Victoria Day) I'm actually hoping the Polish/cross is a boy.(Victor?) He's got a cute little top knot. The other is a mystery.(Victoria?) The rooster daddy is a Rhode Island Red. The eggs were laid by unknown breeds of hens and hatched...
  10. mamabigbird

    Baby chicks are on the roost with mama.

    Matilda hatched her two babies on May 24th in her broody pen (attached to main pen for visual assimilation) About a week ago I started opening the gap between the two pens and let them start mingling, yet every night mama took her chookies back to the broody pen/hut. Today I moved her hut into...
  11. mamabigbird

    OMG. Baby chick escaped.

    I have a nursery pen,( with hen and two chicks), which is a subdivided section of the big run. There are 18 laying hens in the big one. I have been trying to figure out when and how to integrate them,(What me worry? lol) When I went out a few minutes ago to let the big girls out to free range I...
  12. mamabigbird

    My new Polish girl

    OMG ... I've always loved those ridiculous hairdos ... now I have my own bobble-head hen. I knew she reminded me of someone, and then it came to me! Edith Prickley, a character played by Andrea Martin on a 70's comedy called SCTV. So her new name is Miss Prickley.
  13. mamabigbird

    The price of freedom.

    I went to lock up and count 17 butts last evening ...16. Count again ...16. Okay who's missing? I had hoped that there was a straggler that just didn't want to go to bed yet. Well, sadly I found a huge pile of grey feathers, and then another pile of feathers and finally, the remains of...
  14. mamabigbird

    my hen is broody ,,, again.

    Matilda, my EE hen is broody again. I don't know how old she is, but I've had her for about 2 1/2 years. She had raised several batches of babies at her previous home and was a good momma. I even adopted one of her grown-up offspring. She has been broody 3 times since we got her but with no...
  15. mamabigbird

    OMG ... biggest egg yet! (pics)

    We have a hen that has been laying really large eggs, but today ... it barely fit in my hand. I included one of our normal eggs for comparison.
  16. mamabigbird

    They're paying off ... ka ching!

    After 3 years and some bad chicken math, they are finally paying for their feed, bedding, treats, powders etc. I've been selling eggs to family, friends and at the driveway gate. We've got 19 hens (the bad chicken math ... thought 5 would be good) and are getting about 12-13 eggs a day. Went...
  17. mamabigbird

    What to feed a broody if I let her just do it.

    My EE "Matilda" has started laying again after more than 6 months in retirement. She is about 5 or more years old and has gone broody every year since I've had her. Her previous owner said she was a really good mom and raised a few batches. We don't own a rooster but can get fertile eggs. If...
  18. mamabigbird

    Egg eater problem

    Hi. I looked up other posts about egg eaters but didn't see a situation quite like mine. I have 3 young EE pullets that started laying about a month ago. Two lay blue eggs and one lays an olive egg. I haven't figured out who lays what. Every morning for at least 2 weeks now there has been a...
  19. mamabigbird

    Showing off eggs

    Now that I figured out how to upload pics ... here are some of my girls handy works. I think one of my new EE hens is laying olive eggs. Hope it shows up in the one pic of a blue and olive together.
  20. mamabigbird

    eroded feathers, soft eggs.

    I have a problem with one of my RSL hens. She is 1 1/2 years old. Her 5 siblings/same age are all fine and healthy. So are the other hens in the flock.(19 in total) After their last molt, a few months back, her feathers came in really thin and scruffy. It mainly seems to affect the larger wing...
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