I couldn't find 24% feed at either local farm store. Is there any reason I can't mix 18% Non-Medicated chick feed with 30% Gamebird? If I mix it 50/50 it should get me pretty close to 24%. Ok or no?
I had a disasterous quail hatch. Two Coturnix hatched, one died after hatch. I'm hoping one more will hatch but I'm not holding out hope. Two more pipped but died before zipping. What can I do for this lonely little quail? I've been trying to find some other quail chicks but I'm not having...
My DH was supposed to put a broody Buff Orpington in a wire bottom cage in the run to break her. It's just too hot & humid right now to even think about letting her sit. He put her inside the building with the almost 5 week old chicks....:smack She was in the wire bottom cage tid-bitting for...
I'm new to Old English Game bantams, my chicks are about 4 1/2 weeks right now. When do the cockerels usually start showing their combs? Or, when can you typically tell by coloring?
I read on a post where someone talked about rotating egg placement inside even a forced air incubator because of temperature differences. I lost the thread and can't remember who it was now. I'm talking about relocation of position within the incubator, not the act of turning the eggs. Does...
I've been trying dry incubation, the eggs are on Day 16 right now. The humidity has been between 30-35% during incubation. What's the best way to get the humidity where it needs to be for lockdown without going to high? I'm still new to incubating so if you have any other lockdown tips you...
We have some pullets that have been laying for a few months, I check them for fertility when I crack them just out of curiousity. One of the Production Reds has consistently laid an egg without a blastodisc at all. All the others have nice, clear, blastoderms. I can't really find any...
A friend of mine has a 16 week old bird, he showed me a picture of him and I know he is sick by looking at him. He was hunched down, his comb was pale, the base of his comb closest to his beak looks completely colorless. What really worries me is his eye though, his pupil looks irregular and...
My FIL wants to get a couple bantam hens for this guy. I've just been calling him mixed, is that correct? He was a rescue, but I think he's 12-18 months. Would Dutch bantam hens probably be the closest to get for him? He does fine with my large fowl, but my FIL just really loves bantams lol.
My three year old has Epilepsy and a Rathke's Cleft Cyst on his Pituitary Gland. He has to have an MRI every 6 months to monitor his conditions, but since he's only three they sedate him for it. The nurses brought him back to me laughing after his MRI because he was telling them all about his...
I'm going to try my luck at incubating and hatching eggs. I looked through the articles and reviews but I still have a few questions:
1) What do you look for in an incubator? I'm getting a little overwhelmed with all the different options. I think the most I would ever try to hatch at once...
I have 2 Black Australorp pullets, 1 Black Australrop mixed pullet, and 1 Black Australorp I think is a late blooming cockerel. The pullets are 11 weeks, and he is 10 weeks. He actually has less comb than the girls and it's still pale, but he's built like the two cockerels I re-homed. I have a...
When you're brooding chicks do you prefer the heating plate or a lamp with an infrared bulb? Can you tell me why? We used the lamp with the infrared bulb for the last, but the next round I'm going have about 26 chicks instead of 8.
I bought a Black Australorp pullet from a local breeder. I knew she had some color bleeding when I bought her, but she's just for eggs so I don't really care. She's 10 weeks now and she's mostly black with some brown but doesn't quite have the sheen the other Australorp pullets have. In the...
I bought 6 Black Australorps from a local breeder, 3 of them turned out to be cockerels so I re-homed two of them on 5/26. My remaining 3 plus 2 Barred Rock pullets are still really healthy and happy. Last Thursday morning the new owner found one of them dead first thing in the morning, no...
My husband is giving me the green light to get some chicks for breeding. I don't want to start huge, we just want to do it as a trial. We have plenty of space for a separate coop and run, and I really want to breed some Olive Eggers and Ameraucanas to sell. I'm thinking of ordering: 1 Black...
One of our pullets started walking with a limp. I don't see any injuries, and she doesn't seem to be in pain. Otherwise she seems really healthy, she's eating and drinking fine, and the other hens aren't bothering her. I think she may have injured herself getting on/off the roost. My husband...
We're still pretty new to chickens! We got our girls about 2 months ago. We started with 2 Jersey Giants, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 5 RIRs, and 2 mystery white pullets. My husband rescued a bantam rooster from a guy he works. Something killed all of his other chickens and he decided he wasn't...