My poor chicken (Marigold) molted recently and quickly last month during a big snowstorm. She’s only 10 months old. I don’t see any mites on her. She has a pale comb and seems stressed all the time. At dusk, she hides every day because she doesn’t want to go into the coop with the other 5. I’m...
Why would my hen molt when she’s under a year old and not only in winter but in the middle of the biggest snowstorm in decades? At first I thought the other girls were pecking her because they’ve been confined due to heavy snow, but I don’t see and blood or lesions, just massive loss of...
I have a big problem with ground squirrels in my backyard. We live backing an open space and there are hundreds, probably thousands of ground squirrels that live there and they are impossible to eradicate. They can dig their way anywhere. They have lately been eating my organic layer pellet and...
The smallish light one on the end was found in run.
This morning I found an egg in the middle of my chicken run. This is the first time I’ve gound an egg outside the nest. It was a tad smaller (which I know is normal) and lighter in color than my spotted Sussex eggs, which would be the...
I’ve got an 11 month old splash easter Egger that has yet to lay an egg. Are some hens, like some people, just infertile? Does this occur more often in splash hens? My fingers are crossed that I’ll get a pretty green or blue egg one day soon!
I have 3 chickens, about 9.5 months old now. My spotted Sussex began laying in October, then stopped at abruptly in December. My Welsummer started laying in November, and has slowed to 2 per week. My Easter Egger has yet to lay an egg. I thought they laid through their first winter and I read...
I’m concerned about Dottie, my 9 month old Spotted Sussex. She started laying in October and produced about 5 lovely, cream-colored eggs per week. She eats Bar Ale feed with some fermented feed a few mornings a week and some snacks-not too many-consisting if kale, black oil sun flower seeds...
Yesterday when I collected an egg I noticed it had some hairline cracks around an area that looked pecked, but but clear through. I refrigerated it without washing it. I was wondering if it is safe to use in a recipe today. Tia!
My Spotted Sussex, Dottie, is a relatively new egg layer.(About 1 month) She is the only one of my 3 pullets who is laying. Today I found her egg pecked with a hole and a crack. Is she going to be an egg eater?
Hello there! I got 3 pullets in June that hatched April 18. They’ll be 28 weeks old on Halloween. My Spotted Sussex, Dottie, began laying 2 weeks ago. The others, an Easter Egger and a Welsummer, still aren’t laying. Due to the advancing shorter and shorter days, should I expect them to lay at...
My girls are 251/2 weeks old. I’m wondering if it’s too late in the year to expect eggs due to shorter and shorter days. My spotted Sussex, Dottie, has been squatting for about 3 weeks. She also enters the nesting box 1 or more times daily and fits on the golf ball I have sitting there. Her comb...
Hello there! I am interested in the deep litter bedding method for the upcoming winter. My coop is pretty small-the TSC Innovation Deluxe Farmhouse coop. Can I do deep litter in the attached run? The enclosed actual coop is so small it would just be silly. The run is enclosed with hardware cloth...
Hi, I’m Joyce and I’m brand new to chickens. Today I brought my 3 8 wk old pullets home. Putting them to bed was quite a struggle. They are still very frightened of me. I had to catch each one and pop in in the coop. It took me 15 minutes and I got scratched up a bit. After I closed them in I...