My Old English Bantam (my avatar picture) is acting very strangely. She is unsteady on her feet, and keeps throwing her head backwards and onto her wing, so she's kind of staring straight up. She is still eating and drinking on her own, although she's very wobbly. She is pretty old. Doesn't...
Hi! My double walled metal watering container is getting rusty along the trough area where the hens drink. Is this a danger to my girls? This type of waterer is expensive to replace, but it works much better than plastic here in the Texas heat. Thanks for any insights.
For the first time since the fall all four of my sweet hens laid an egg for me! One small cream, one large cream, one medium brown, and one medium green!!! They got extra free range time today!
Hello all! My New Hampshire Red has a swollen area on her chest. I would think it was just a full crop but it's only on one side. I noticed it yesterday evening. If it had just been a full crop wouldn't it have decreased in size by this morning? Any ideas what this could be? Should I be...
When I went out to clean my chickens' droppings under their roost, instead of the usual dry multi color stuff it is dark brown and I can see larvae moving in it. So . . . is this just fly larvae, or does this mean they have internal worms? It had been a week or a little more since I'd cleaned...
Lately my RIR's eggs have been having a dark area on the smaller end of the egg. It almost looks like a grease stain. Is this anything to be concerned about? The eggs seem fine when I've used them. Also, why do the eggs sometimes have dark brown speckles? Thanks for any insights.
My beautiful 24 week old BR was sitting in the nest this morning and I was thrilled. I kept checking back on her, but when she was still there mid afternoon I opened up the coop. She was dead. No sign of any problems previously. I raised her from a chick. We think she might have laid one...
One of my spring chicks has turned into a lovely cockerel, so I must rehome him because my city doesn't allow roosters. The picture is when he was about 6 weeks old. He appears to be a mixture of Ameracauna (ear muffs) and ? maybe Wyandotte. Very good natured. Takes care of his two chick...
I have three adult hens who get along great. I also have three chicks, two are five weeks old and 1 is 6 or 7 weeks old and probably a roo. I have a brooder pen set up sharing a hardware cloth wall with the adult chicken run. My chicks have been spending time in the brooder for the past week...
I'm very eager to learn if my chick is a male or female. I think she's a wyandotte mix. I think she has a rosecomb. Her legs are yellow. If you have any thoughts on the other two, I'd be glad to hear them. My opinion is that they are barred rock and EE...
Yesterday we bought a two week old chick (EE or Wellsummer, not yet sure). Today we just brought home two 1 day old chicks. They were getting along fine. When we checked on them this evening, one of the younger chicks (EE) was pecking at the eyes of the two week old! It's all red around her...
My favorite little hen is not well. Per the sticky here are her stats:
Old English Bantam
about 1 year old
don't know weight, couldn't be much
She was laying on her side with her leg out, and her leg was shaking, spasming. I watched her for a while. She would walk around, then sit down and...
I let my chickens free range in our yard while I was planting some herbs, etc. Our young kitten, who was perfectly docile with the chickens four days ago, has apparently grown into her natural predatory instincts. I deterred her a couple of times from our bantam (she didn't go after the two...
My two young pullets (RIR and NHR) had not started laying. It was the darkest, shortest days. Then the terrible weather came our way (we're in the Dallas area), so I made sure to put a light in to keep them from frostbite at least. WELL . . . my girls started laying! I'm currently getting an...
When I collected eggs just now my OEG bantam's egg had a small amount of blood on it. This has never happened before. Should I be concerned? She's a great little layer, and just started up a new cycle of laying. This is her second egg in the cycle. Thanks for any info.
I am so happy!! My two new pullets, acquired in Sept. (one RIR and one NH Red) have begun to lay!!! I actually had two eggs in one day. BTW I only have three chickens, and my great little OEG bantam hen is on her hiatus between laying cycles. Also FYI to any other newbies, there is a book...
After losing our beautiful, beloved Ameracauna (apparently eggbound), we decided that we needed to get a couple of new hens to keep our Golden Comet and OEG bantam warm in the upcoming winter. We got a Rhode Island Red and another red (I'll have to look up the name, something like west...