Okay group,
This year was the first year we have done meat birds... the first set of 25 were white rocks and all I can say is that after 12 weeks, they still looked like rubber chickens (these things were skinny) so now we're onto trying out some jumbo Cornish x's.. We really didn't want to go...
Group,
It took 11 hours and one other friend to build it, but it's done.. What is it? Our first Joe Salatin style mobile meat bird chicken tractor. Here are some pics:
We currently have 50 White Rocks in there, we're planning to allow them to go to 12 weeks....then it's into the...
Hello,
Our pullets are just starting to lay (about 7 eggs a day from 26 hens). They are about 23 weeks old and just started laying about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Today I found blood on one of the boxes, kind of smeared on the sides. I can't fully assess the situation because one hen is still in...
Hello all,
We've got a flock of 26, what seem to be, healthy chickens. They are eating well, drinking well, and nothing seems to be amiss. But there are feathers everywhere: in the coop, under the coop, and all around the yard where they are fenced. Is a certain amount of feather loss normal...
Hello,
I just went to close up the coop, waiting for one lady to make her way up the ramp and noticed one of my ladies on the inside had a gouge type injury on the side of her head near her ear. Not sure how this happened...do you think one of the other chickens may have done it? They've been...
Thanks everyone...I will try to enjoy chasing them more:D. It was fun to chase them with the kids because it was total chaos: chickens and kids in every direction!
Well, I brought a bowl of barley and grit outside after coming inside to regroup and went out whistling (which lowered my stress...
Folks,
Our ladies are testing our sanity! They are about 10 weeks old and have been out in a fenced area with their elevated coop. We have a ramp to let them in and out and leave it out all day. But the question is, how do we get them in at night without highly stressing them out. The other...
Thanks for the ideas, we actually move their food and water out of their coop in the morning and then back in at night. I checked on it this evening and it looks like it went down about 3/4 of a gallon.
We have a 3.5 gallon waterer and it doesn't seem to have gone down at all today. Now they are free range, if that makes a difference, however the only other water source is the dew on the grass in the morning.
Hi,
My wife posted this over in the emergency forum but it's not an emergency, so I am moving it over here.
Our flock of 26 chickens, about 10 weeks old, just went outside a few days ago. They seem to be doing well but they're not drinking much. They seem active and okay but as hot and humid...
Hi,
Our flock of 26 chickens, about 10 weeks old, just went outside a few days ago. They seem to be doing well but they're not drinking much. They seem active and okay but as hot and humid as it is, I can't understand why they're not drinking much and if this is concerning.
Thanks for...
Good News and Bad News.
Good News:
The roo has come back from being overheated,
Bad News:
It looks like he had a stroke. His is unable to move the left side of his body (wing and leg)
This is the part of farming I dislike
So now what? He can't go on like this it's just not fair to him...
He's not doing to well, we've kept him cool and have been providing him with some water via syringe, he has perked up to the point of not being limp but he still is not moving and seems to just sleep. He keeps his eyes closed almost all of the time. It's very sad and disappointing.
Group,
This is an emergency, we don't want to lose our roo. We just finished our coop last night and I put all the 9 week old girls in it along with the roo.
I had not let them out yet and it was about 90 degrees outside. The girls were laying on each other. We acted quickly to get them...