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  1. swatchick

    Light and eggs

    I have a flock of relatively old (3 years) hens. I just posted about some issues we're having, but I am wondering, as I enter the world of the older egg layer (which is fine with me, BTW, because they do enormous composting and soil turning work around here -- the eggs are a bonus), can you...
  2. swatchick

    What is going on???!!!

    About two months ago, my Buff Orpington developed peritonitis (from internal laying). Around the same time, one of my Barred Rocks, and one Americauna began to show signs of egg binding -- the Barred Rock started to do the penguin walk and pant even when it wasn't warm and no one else was, and...
  3. swatchick

    Unexpected helpful tool

    I've got a roo who is a great flock protector -- too good, in fact, as he considers me a threat to the girls most of the time. He's free range, so it can be a bit of problem. The other day, he started coming at me and I picked up a length of 3' woven wire that I had curled into a circle/tube...
  4. swatchick

    Enthusiastic, unskilled rooster questions

    I have a 9 month old Buff Orpington rooster and 10 hens in a 4x10 house and two 8x10 runs (one on each long side of the house, both accessible all the time). Roo is, shall we say, very enthusiastic about his rooster duties. All ten of the girls are losing all of the feathers on their backs and...
  5. swatchick

    Cleaning a previously used wooden house

    I scored an excellent deal on a small wooden chicken house. Thoughts on the best techniques for cleaning and re-using? I don't want to introduce any problems...
  6. swatchick

    Housing on sloped land

    I built my chicken house and run on one of the very few flat spots on my land, which seemed like a brilliant idea t the time, but it turns out that it is also the wettest spot aside from the actual creeks. So, I am trying to come up with some ideas for building something more sustainable on the...
  7. swatchick

    Drinking puddle water

    So we just had a big storm blow through and, in spite of being covered, the run has a lot of puddles. I've put lots of leaves, woodchips, etc. on the ground to help keep things dry, but the girls keep scratching out holes in it and unearthing puddles, from which they seem to greatly enjoy...
  8. swatchick

    Broody from the start?

    I have a 21 week old Buff Orphington who started laying three days ago. She has produced one adorable little egg each day, the first one a night drop into the poop hammock, the second and third in the nest box. When I took the second egg from the nest box, she fussed and followed me around...
  9. swatchick

    Just in case you're not a believer in daytime raids...

    ...it happened to us today. A raccoon came out early this evening and tried to pull one of the girls through a 1" opening alongside the door to the run, separating her head from her body (it looks like she was lounging right there next to it at the time), and then half and hour after I finished...
  10. swatchick

    Straw bale, anyone?

    Have any of you built a straw bale coop? I built a temporary brooder coop with bales, and I designed (and will hopefully be building next week) a full sized coop but I'm wondering if anyone who has built one has any "I wish I'd thought of that" or "I wish I hadn't done that" advice about either...
  11. swatchick

    Who would've thought....

    ...I just put my 12 three week old chicks out into a straw bale brooder coop beside the front porch today, and I cannot believe how nervous I am about how they'll be overnight. I'm sure they'll be warm enough, and I'm pretty confident that the raccoons can't get anywhere near them, but now I'm...
  12. swatchick

    New here and in need of some emergency advice

    I have been intending to join since picking up a dozen chicks (I never get tired of saying that...) two weeks ago -- all of whom are happily peeping away in the brooder behind me, but now an urgent situation has arisen and I'm needing some advice. A member of my husband's firefighting crew was...
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