I had an interesting year with my chick order this spring - received wrong breed, didn't receive another breed I ordered, etc - but so far their sexting ratio seems above average. Out of 14 that shipped, all survived and I'm not seeing any roos EXCEPT for this (maybe) creamy-colored 8-week old...
In the past, our neighbor has raised their and our meat birds together and then we processed with them. This year, I finally got around to putting together a meat bird coop/tractor and am so happy to be raising my own.
When we've processed before at 8 weeks, the CX were beyond ready -...
Edited to add: Hey everyone I really appreciate the advice and concerns. Please know that while I'm taking everyone's comments seriously, we've hiked and lived and gardened and raised chickens and bees and other animals (and kids) in black bear country for a long time. We run across and deal...
Alrighty so my newest chicks have started feathering in nicely, but my Cuckoo Marans that I ordered are coming in solid black. What?!? Reached out to Valley Hatchery and sho'nuf, they accidently sent me their "French Black Marans" instead. They quickly offered a refund which is fine, but now...
This has been a rough year for many hatcheries for a number of reasons, so I wanted to share our good experience with Valley Hatchery. I also mentioned our experience with Valley in a reply to another post, but I'll repeat some of it here so it will be easier to find in search and may help...
Since our hens get snowed in quite frequently in the winter and when this happens will often hang out on the roosts during the day also, I'm considering adding a poop tray under our roosts. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that the ladies will have a blast also roosting on the side of the...
Since December, we've lost pretty much all of our flock to either Marek's or Leukosis based on a necropsy report, so I'm working on a major cleanout and disinfecting of our coop, feeders, brooders, etc. After everything is cleaned out and hosed down, I plan to scrub everything down with a...
We live in the mountains of NC where it can be cold, wet, and windy. I'm married to an architect who grew up with his contractor father, so we have a Ft Knox coop with a fully protected run via a metal roof and hardware cloth walls. I've always used straw in our coop and run and used the deep...
Have followed BYC for a decade or more but finally decided to join. I'm posting to say hi and share a bit via the questions below..
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
Grew up around them on my grandparents farm and in our very rural community. Finally got my own...