Found out we had a mite issue only to realize we HAVE A SERIOUS MITE ISSUE and I don't know if I'm up for this. Our coop is in the back of our 2-car garage next to my husband's work bench. Their chicken door leads to a 10 x 4 run on the back of the house that has a 6" layer of straw that I put...
I have a girl who continues to go broody and there's a swap in my area tomorrow. Are there people who are looking for a broody? I don't want to put her through the trauma if I'll just be bringing her home hours later.
I've had the wooden pop door found here http://www.automaticchickencoopdoor.com/ for 4 years now without issue when used properly. We live in a suburban house next to a park and have a dog. We had two coon attacks over the summer-- once when the door didn't go down at all, and once when the...
My 22-week BO was grabbed by a racoon last night. The dog interrupted the attack so she did not get carried off. She was in total shock until I started handling her this morning when she seemed to perk up. We did locate what I would call a sizeable hole on her underbelly however. I see...
I believe I'm at a crossroads. One of my original three from 2011 is making life miserable for the three new 16 weekers. One of the youngers is at POL and will never be allowed near the coop and the nest boxes if I don't do something. There are daily, vicious attacks, hunting them out...
My youngin's are 10 weeks now and have been in a fenced off area in the yard with the big girls for weeks. Every now an then a big girl gets into their pen in order to eat their crumble starter and every now and then a youngin' gets out. We have enough room in the back yard for everyone so I...
We decided to jump into back yard chickens in February 2011 with three. We had noooo idea they would become such a part of our lives. We love chicken TV, snuggling with them and laughing as they jump ON the shovel after it's shoved in the dirt to ride it up and be the first to see what appears...
Three years ago we built our smalish coop inside the garage. In the mornings, my three girls exit an automatic pop door in the wall to their run out back and through that to our typical suburban back yard for free ranging all day, all year. In the summer, the garage gets super hot in the...
I have three, 2-year old layers. Lulu definitely has a mild cough/sneeze that maybe started mid week last week. She has a crooked beak and only one nostril so we didn't pay much attention. Last night however, on the roost, Rose was sounding like a horn with each inhalation and exhalation...
Hello all. I have a SLW hen, the bottom of the pecking order of my three hens, who is molting and last week started pecking me. Last year, toward the end of her first molt at around 9 months, I noticed her doing the chest bump thing all over again with her sisters. The other two weren't...
My SLW appears to be having a second molt. Of my three, she suffered the most with a molt in November, and my BPR didn't molt at all. Anyone heard of this?
So I supplemented the layer pellets with some higher protein crumbles during the molt and now my 3 girls are digging a hole to China under the hanging feeder looking for more! It's gotta be gooood stuff, as they're digging through rocks. They're going to have to eat the pellets eventually...
Our coop is in our uninsullated garage. Since last June, they've always been three abreast on the roost at bedtime, but the past two nights I've found two in a nest box on the floor! The current temp at 8pm outside is 25, in the coop it's 40. This is new behavior just the past two nights...
I've read how it's not good to start layer feed when chickens are too young to lay. I've got two girls who haven't laid an egg in weeks--since the first feather floated softly to the ground. Only one is laying and there is oyster shell available. Should I get a small bag of grower till they...
It was recommended we get 3 chickens, not 2 in case there were any personality problems. Well 2 are dominant against 1 so I have some questions. The perfect storm occurred for Pearl in that she is molting horribly, and it has snowed and there have been a couple days when everyone refused to...
I'm wondering if Pearl, my molting chicken isn't sick, but being picked on. We only have 3, but Rose is the boss. I notice some pin feathers have been removed from Pearls neck. Do chickens fight? I've always considered us lucky that the boss has only given the occasional peck to the...
My sweet 10 month old wyandotte didn't make it into the coop before the door went down last night. We found her hunkered down under the blackberry bushes at 9:30pm. This morning she didn't come down off the roost. She's in full molt mode and acting pitiful. I brought her some sunflower chips...
We just went to let our three, 24-week old chickens out of their coop and found 2 softish shelled eggs on the floor under the roost. One was softer than the other. All three girls have produce an egg per day--in their next boxes--since they started laying 3 weeks or so ago. So I go to open...