Dear Friends,
My yahoo account was hacked. I have a new e-mail address. It is <email address removed> Can you please note this so I can receive PMs? I'd be very grateful.
Thank you,
Alethea
Edited by Staff
We have to move our chickens because, even though they're happy in their wood-store-turned-coop, we are going to take down the building because the forest service says it's too close to the residential building.In the long run, it is good because the current coop, while comfortable, leaks and...
From time to time the chickens dig their nests to the bottom of the box, exposing to the wood. I've been tossing in a little extra straw and not giving it a second thought. Recently an egg had a small crack on the end. I figured it had hit wood, scrambled it and gave it to the chickens. Today...
We've felt pretty good about the lengths we've gone to to keep raccoons and foxes out of the chickens' yard. We'd put up six feet of strong wire fencing. Then we attached two or three feet of chicken wire on the inside, threaded it under the fence and out the other side, staked it down and...
Our coop is a converted wood store, surrounded on two sides by another wood bay and an outdoor workshop. It is spacious for our small flock and they are happy there. Our Oregon winter has caught up with us and there are a couple of leaks. They don't form puddles or drip, just seep in a couple...
Flora has frostbite on her beautiful (largest in the flock) comb. Greta has a little spot, too. I'd been told not to worry about the cold here (Oregon) and that frostbite occurs due to lack of ventillation in the coop. Our coop is very airy. It is a converted wood store, about 60sq. ft. for...
Ruthie, one of our barred rocks, hasn't laid at 28 weeks. She seems happy, healthy. She is large and loud. She tends to be a bit goopy under her vent. Might she have incompletely formed eggs? Is there such a thing? Might there be another reason she doesn't lay? Her broodmates, Flora and Greta...
Flora, Greta and Ruthie are broodmates. Flora began laying at 21 weeks, perfect for a barred rock. Greta followed suit at 23 weeks. It is now 28 weeks and Ruthie hasn't begun laying. Her comb and wattle are pretty small, too. She is healthy, large and loud, but hasn't started laying. Is she ok...
This is a non-chicken item, but I want you to know my computer was badly infected by viruses. I don't know where they came from or whom I might have passed them on to. I am on BYC often. You might want to check your computers for viruses.
I haven't been able to figure out how to quote previous posts to refer to when I post something, answer a question, etc. Can someone please help me with this? I'd be most grateful.
Our barred rock pullets have just started laying. They are using the nest box (good chickens). How long do we leave the plastic egg in now that they know where to lay?
The chickens' yard abuts an outdoor workshop which has plastic sheeting which protects from wind but lets light in. The chickens have been pecking the plastic. We're eventually going to reinforce it lest any predators notice the holes and decide to enlarge them. In the short run, will the...
We have racoons here and the occasional fox, and think the chickens are safe. There have been no signs of digging, etc. Yesterday I discovered a dead animal on the road. It is somewhat decomposed so I haven't been able to identify it, but it has thick brown fur, is a little smaller than a full...
Our pullets are seventeen weeks old now, not yet laying, but we are getting ready. I've started saving eggshells, rinsing, baking and crushing them, to give as a calcium supplement. The question is, how do I give it to them? The options seem to be in their grit plate? in their food? in their...
I haven't heard anything, one way or the other, about nuts. It never occured to give them to our girls because we have plenty of leftovers and fruit/vegetable scraps they can have for their 4:00 snack. I knocked over a jar of roasted pecans and they fell to the dirty floor and I scooped them up...
We haven't let our pullets out to free range (they have a spacious yard by some standards, so they've been ok) because a flock of wild turkeys was living here for a while and we didn't want them to be injured by the turkeys or catch anything from them. The turkeys are gone now and the question...