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I’m just not sure where to post this. I found this in my nest box today: Next to a large egg for size comparison: Of course I had to dissect it. There were two distinct layers covering it: This is what was inside: In almost 40 years of chicken keeping, I have never seen anything like this.

This year I raised McMurray’s Big Red Broilers as my meat birds. I got a dozen cockerels. They are now about 10 weeks old. We will be processing them soon. I had considered keeping one back as my flock rooster, but I don’t think that would be a kindness to the bird. They sit down a lot, and...

We usually free range our chickens. Today, however, as we were going to let them out before we headed out for a couple of hours, we noticed a pile of poop in our driveway. Still wet and fresh looking, so we left them locked up. I did let them out when we got home, but then DH decided he wanted...

Pictured below is this year’s McMurray “bonus chick”. From the pictures I found on their website, I think this may be a Blue Andalusian cockerel. Can anyone confirm? I had been planning on keeping a Red Broiler cockerel for my flock rooster, but this guy is gorgeous! If he’s nice, I may keep him...

Hello, Fellow Minnesota Chicken Keepers! I am looking to buy a couple of chicks, 1-3 weeks old to keep a lonely little orphaned chick company. My broody hatched out 2 chicks on June 22. One is them disappeared this past weekend, and now the broody is gone. Her remaining chick was wandering...

So, I'm not looking for advice. I have a 16'x12'x6' covered run, made with 2x4" welded wire. It has been effective for years, keeping larger critters out of the run and coop. But I know that a mink could squeeze right through that. We don't get them often, but every now and then one finds its...

This afternoon when I went out to pick eggs, I noticed that my rooster was kind of sitting on his haunches. I though that was odd, so I walked closer to take a better look. When he got up to move away from me, I noticed that he was holding himself oddly. Kind of hunched up, neck extended and...

So, after noticing a sudden decrease in eggs collected, DH said the other day, "I think they're laying someplace else." (They had been laying in the machine shed behind the stairs that go up to a storage loft.) So today I decided to let them out a bit later than usual and follow the ones bolting...

How many people still keep their flocks the old fashioned way? Keeping them outside in coops, (with or without runs), free ranging, feeding them kitchen scraps, etc? My chickens are housed outside from the day I get them if bought or shipped, and within a week if I hatch them here. I have...

I have 5 Red Ranger pullets. They are about a month past processing, and a couple of them are laying eggs. I noticed tonight that one of them had rattly respirations. She will be butchered, as I don't keep chickens that aren't in good health. My question is, with the respiratory thing going on...

They’re so cute! Especially when one is a double-yolker.

I've had it. For the last 30-plus years of chicken raising, used the big metal tube feeders that you hang up. I know they create a lot of waste, but this week I decided enough is enough. I have 30 six-week old chicks and put 40 lbs. of feed in the feeder on Monday. By Tuesday evening, the feeder...

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of this chick and the general consensus based on the little bit of feathering I could show was that it's an Asia Blue. Here it is a few weeks later and more fully feathered out. I'm not familiar with the breed, so I'm wondering if those of you who are, still...

This guy is about 4 weeks old. He’s from Hoover Hatchery’s dual purpose combo special. Before feathering out, his head and neck were reddish brown. Sorry for the poor pics, but it’s really hot in the coop and I didn’t want to move too much and make them run away. It’s hard to see, but it looks...

Came across this article today: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2018/05/12/salmonella-outbreak-eggs-and-rose-acre-farms-what-you-need-to-know/#10a52c1b6347 I firmly believe home grown eggs are healthier and cleaner than store-bought ones.

Today, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I am chickenless. I started the spring with 25 adults, 11 babies from 3 hatchings, and had more broodies besides. We were gone for about 6 weeks this summer - had someone living at our place, my mom came daily to check on the chickens and...

Tonight's kill was a big stray tom cat. I saw it running through some tall grass and at first thought it was a woodchuck. Ruger (AKA "Booger") caught its scent, flushed it out, and the next thing I knew had it in his mouth flinging it around. He did let go of it, and I went over to investigate...

Old Faithful has gone broody for the first time this spring. She's my only green egg layer and has been exposed to my EE cross rooster. Over the weekend I had contemplated ordering chicks from the feed store to slip under her sometime around her hatch date, but found out today that I need to...

I had a ceramic egg in one of my two nest boxes in the coop, just to give them the idea that *just maybe* all eight of them don't have to lay in the same nest. It was there for weeks. And now it's gone. DH picks the eggs while I'm at work and puts them directly into cartons. He knew it was...

I decided today that since I'm home and was going to be working in and around the coops, that I would let both flocks out to free range just to see if they could keep their distance from one another and range peacefully. They didn't. Both flocks consist of one rooster and nine hens each. It...