My broody hen has one baby that hatched yesterday. The second one hatched sometime last night, but I'm almost certain it is dead underneath her. She also has 3 more eggs, one of which appears to have a tiny hole in it today. Do I just leave the dead chick or should I try to get it out?
On Sunday night our baby chicks disappeared. Well, 3 disappeared, the fourth was still in the pen with mama, but he was dead. Also missing were 2 of the 5 ceramic eggs I had placed in the nest boxes hoping to kill the snake that I suspected was stealing eggs. I'm still really sad about the...
Do you keep your mama hen and her chicks with your flock or separate?
I would like to keep them with the flock as I'm sure the mama will protect the babies, but I'm concerned about a few things. First of all, how do I feed everyone? The chicks will need starter feed. How do you keep the...
Okay, so we bought the nipple waterers and we made a 5-gallon bucket waterer. But how am I supposed to get them to drink from it??? I let the other water pans get empty hoping they would get thirsty and notice it. I showed it to them. I fed them oatmeal under the water and tapped on it. I...
We have an over-abundance of stray dogs here. (I live behind a store and many people leave them there and then others keep them there by feeding them....but not enough to keep them fed, just enough to keep them hanging around.) There are at least 2 mama dogs that have had a total of 3 litters...
I bought 4 hens last night from a friend. She told me they are Golden Sussex. I've searched and searched for this breed, but can't find it anywhere. Could they be Golden Sex-links? Perhaps she had her words mixed up? She did admit that she's not the "chicken person" in her household and her...
I have a flock of 6 LF hens and 3 Bantam hens to which I introduced a young rooster about a week and a half ago. They are just now starting to accept him. Now I've acquired 4 RIRs and 4 golden sussex hens. These hens are older than mine. They are full grown hens maybe 1.5 years old. My...
I've been lurking around here for several weeks now. Thought I'd officially introduce myself. My family and I are new chicken-owners, although I was raised on a farm with chickens all my childhood and youth.
We started out a few weeks ago when we inherited 8 Production Red pullets from my...
I have a chick (about 4 weeks old, maybe...not exactly sure of the age) that has a problem with her head. Her eyes have been very watery and her entire head looks like it has been wet. It is not wet, but the feathers almost look like a person with gel in his hair. She shakes her head a lot...