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  1. raro

    Creating a gate?!

    I didn't know what to call this thread, but I'm hoping to make sense anyway...I've had chickens for a half-dozen years now, and this was the first summer I had a veggie garden, too. I put hardware cloth all around a 10 foot by 10 foot square raised bed and was pretty successful at growing...
  2. raro

    Flighty bird!

    I have had chickens for about 5 years now and never had this problem before. I got a gorgeous sebright who is a bantam (not sure if all of them are, but mine is). I knew sebrights can fly more than other hens, but this is getting ridiculous! She flies right over our 6-foot fence as if it's not...
  3. raro

    Molting and broody question

    I've had chickens for about five years, and never have had a chicken do a "full" molt, just a thinning of feathers. And rarely does a chicken go broody for me. Well, now I have a beautiful, glossy black Sumatra who has been broody for about 3 weeks. Is this normal? I go out there several times...
  4. raro

    Orpington question

    So I got a hen a few months ago and was told she was a black Orpington. I'm so used to hearing buff Orpington that I hadn't even realized they came in other colors, so I was intrigued and got her. But now I'm wondering if, in fact, she is any kind of Orpington. Unfortunately, I don't have access...
  5. raro

    Plants NOT for chickens?

    Hi all, I've searched for information about plants, but usually it's about planting things that chickens would like to eat. I've just installed a large,brand new, 6 foot privacy fence around my entire backyard, so my dog and my chickens are delighted to have so much more room. The only problem...
  6. raro

    Help! Noisy hen!?

    I am hoping somebody knows why on earth my dominique hen has been acting so weird lately. A few months ago, a raccoon got her sister, and she stopped laying out of stress/grief. I get that. So now suddenly my two RIR hens have started laying, and I don't know if it's sudden jealousy or what, but...
  7. raro

    Can hens be traumatized into not laying?

    I had 6 hens who were laying, on average, 4-5 eggs a day. Then a raccoon managed to get in and slaughtered 3 of them. Obviously, they were traumatized. I went and bought 3 more hens, and since they are all relatively docile breeds (dominique, Americana, RI red, and orpingtons) they seem to get...
  8. raro

    NOT molting?

    Hi, all, I got 5 red sex-links a few years ago, was so naive that I believed the guy who sold them to me when he said they were around 20 weeks old. Well, they never did molt, not even "soft" molting, and then they began to stop laying, and now 3 of them have died, of old age, I'm sure. Anyway...
  9. raro

    This can't be eggbound, can it?!

    Hello, My red sex-link has been the most placid, sweet girl for the past several years. She has mostly stopped laying due to age. A few weeks ago I wondered about her seeming to becoming heavier when I lifted her up. Then, a few days ago, I noticed that she was REALLY heavy and couldn't fly up...
  10. raro

    Newcastle Disease? or what?!

    I have had four sex-links for about 18 months, and 2 bantam silkies for about 9 months. They have been fine, no health issues whatsoever. About 4 days ago, one silkie began to be unable to walk. Her head is often all twisted weird, she staggers around, and is unable to eat or drink. I have had...
  11. raro

    Age of hens?

    Is there any way to tell how old a hen is? My hens have one by one stopped laying, and nothing else fits. I am wondering if maybe the farmer who sold them to me lied about their age. I was a greenie and knew nothing. He said they were 20 weeks old, but...they could have been ancient, and how...
  12. raro

    My brave little dog

    My beagle, Dixie, was never planned. But my 9-year-old kept begging for a dog, and after 6 chickens and 3 cats, I finally was stupid enough, I thought, to get a dog from the pound. When she met the chickens, she got a bit too eager and one pecked her on the nose, and after that she decided her...
  13. raro

    Scarecrow sprinkler for raccoons?

    We suddenly have had a raccoon problem here. No real surprise, since although we're in the suburbs, there is a small forest "common area" behind my backyard. I usually have my chickens out under the deck where they can forage and whatnot, and sometimes I let them into the main backyard, which...
  14. raro

    Now this is just plain weird...

    I have a red sex-link hen that I've wondered about...if she's "all there." She sometimes doesn't seem to respond the way the others do, and we've wondered if she's blind, or deaf, or just...really not too bright...! Well, on occasion I've noticed a smashed egg in the bottom of the coop, which...
  15. raro

    World's cheapest chicken tractor

    I made what we jokingly called "The Cube" for my chickens out of hardware cloth and PVC pipe. But since I figured they didn't need much vertical space, I made it only about 2 feet tall. The chickens loved it, but I've hated it. It's hard to get into to fill up water, get eggs, etc. As I was...
  16. raro

    bantams and regular size?

    I have four red sex links, and we just aquired two bantam silkies. They're only 9 weeks old, so I'm keeping them apart from the older girls, although they're in the same general area in order to get them used to one another. For those of you who have larger hens and bantams, are there any...
  17. raro

    Trying (but failing) to lay

    My four one-year-old red sex links have faithfully laid one egg each day for about 9 months. Then it was 3 eggs a day. Then it was two. I started wondering if they were eating their eggs, and if so, which one was doing it. So I separated all four of them for two days, and 3 of them laid eggs...
  18. raro

    Perfectly normal hens stop laying?!

    Hi there, I have four red sex-links and they have been each laying one egg a day since I got them at 20 weeks last summer. All through the winter, I got four eggs per day. Then, a few weeks ago, I got three eggs. No problem, but for about 3 weeks straight, it's been exactly three eggs, no more...
  19. raro

    Introducing new hens

    I am sure there must be other posts here, but couldn't find them, so sorry if this has been discussed before... I had 5 golden comets, but one got attacked by a raccoon. I was thinking of getting one or two new pullets. Questions: -Is it hard to introduce a new hen into the brood? My other 4...
  20. raro

    Is this egg-bound?!

    Yesterday and today, my hens went from four to three eggs (I have four total, and they've been laying one each ever since I got them). For some reason, I decided to just pick up one at random, and I felt a huge, egg-sized lump. But everything I read about egg bound issues describes the egg as...
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