When can you mix old and new chickens? I have 3 two year old barred rocks and seven 11 week old hens (two roos). I have the 3 old hens in a separate "temporary" coop but want to put them all in the big coop.
For the second time in two years some of the "hens" I got turned out to be roosters. Out of 7 I have 5 hens. I do NOT want to keep a rooster again so I was planning on "repurposing" them but wanted to wait until they were mostly full grown. They are Australorps and are already 11 weeks old. The...
I had a just-turned 2 year-old Buff Orpington die on me during the night. No signs of stress, she put her self to bed last night just fine. When I went to open the pull door she was laying on the bottom stone cold dead! There were no signs of entry, the other 3 chickens emerged just fine. Looked...
I have 6 hens that all have bare spots at the base of their tails (Our rooster has been a bit to "randy" lately ).
I bought some chicken saddles for them (appropriate sizes at that) and they don't care for them at the moment. I'm curious to see if anyone else has used chicken saddles and has...
My chickens have feathers missing at the base of the tail for our overly friendly rooster. Do I need to cover them up with a chicken saddle to protect them from cold temperatures? And to protect them from the roo?
First:I have 6 hens and one Rooster in a fenced run/coop. They are all at least 26 weeks old.
My father-in-law said he noticed some of the birds pecking and eating some feathers off each other. I have yet to see this myself but several of my hens have bare spots on them, all of them where the...
The coop I have has a run area and a sheltered indoor area as shown below
You can see some open areas in the top (just under the roof) but I have sealed them off with sheetrock foam. We have had nights go down to 27 or so and I haven't noticed any frostbite. But when I got home from work...
I have 2 BO's, 3 BRs and 1 EE and a Rooster BO. The BR's have used the nest boxes (in the coop) to lay their eggs for a few weeks. Yesterday I went out and found 4 eggs on the floor of the run in the sand! They were from the BO's and the EE. Today I found another blue egg in the run AND one...
So my hens are about 18-19 weeks and I assume they will start laying any time now. At night they go to bed and all roost together in the coop. Easy peasy...
The rooster is also 19 weeks but when he goes to sleep he "roosts" in the nest boxes. I have no idea why but he simply won't use the...
So after posting pics in Gender forum, it looks like I have a roo....which I can't keep.
When will they usually start crowing?
When does his comb get bigger?
So I have several inches of sand in my run and I was wondering what you do for maintenance?
Do you scoop out the poop once in a while (like kitty litter)?
Do you water it down?
Or just leave it?
My chicks are 6 weeks and the nest boxes are already a part of the coop. Should I go ahead and add straw to them or is it better to wait until they are closer to 18 weeks? I have heard you put golf balls or something like that into the boxes to help them "decide" where to lay the eggs.....
So I have offered treats to the 6 week olds and the tried and true treats (tomatoes, blueberries, bread) they turn their beaks up at it. They like it when my kids push blades of grass through the fence and will eat watermelon but not the other treats?! Will they get less picky as they mature?
So when I open the coop in the evening the chicks (6 weeks old) all gather on the ramp... no one actually goes inside. I have heard of putting treats inside and/or a light. Granted they have only been outside 3 nights but I was hoping to avoid the "catch and place" phase and move to the "we put...
So I moved my seven 6 week olds out into their new coop this evening. Of course it has started to rain and thunder but I am assuming they will be fine. Does anyone put food and water both in the coop and outside in the run?
The coop portion is completely separate from the run apart from the...
I have four 5 week olds and three 4 week olds and I am getting ready to finish the coop. They are currently on starter/grower and chick grit but they will soon be moved (hopefully by Friday) to a coop/run with sand. Will they be able to get enough grit that is the right size or will I still need...
So I took my 3.5 and 2.5 week olds outside today to play for a bit. The ran around a little but mostly stayed in my shadow and didn't wander far (except for the two who ran off into the briars). When I brought them back inside, they were all panting like crazy....they were out for maybe 10...