Hi
Of my 6 Rhode Island Reds, one is laying bumpy, rough sandpaper feeling eggs.
I do not give the girls any calcium or dia. earth; just Purina Layena and Scratch. They do "eat" the sand/dirt in the mornings when I dump the old water onto the ground-it's funny watching them "eat" the water...
Update: I followed up from my DHs report (first post) and viewed the corpse. It has a large rip a bit to the left of her back end, from the vent down and her intestines are gone. Now its looking more like raccoon or something.
Well, thank goodness DH does not want to become a detective like...
Went out to find one chicken lying dead, her vent enlarged after just laying an egg (which was lying next to her!) and no other wounds.
Can chickens expire from egg laying?
No blood, no other obvious damage to her body, the other chickens did not peck her, I cannot imagine what happened.
Any...
Well, alfalfa is out until end July, beginning August. The only alfalfa I can buy is 140 pound bales of last year's cut. Wouldn't even fit into my car! Plus it sounds "old".
Any ideas out there?
What's going on with my chix?
From reading posts here, I expected the hens to slack off laying over the winter (if you can call south florida winter instead of just a really pleasant summer).
And they did slack off some.
I'm down to three hens now (thanks to the dog next door) and they were laying 3 eggs a day, then 2 eggs...
OK, what breed of chick is that super cute one moving around in there? Cute, cute, cute, cute, CUTE!
OMG I have so much work to do and I can't get away from this chick cam!!!!
Oh, I saw a big HAND come into the bater!
Now the egg in front of the camera has some action, too, as well as the one on the left!
Wow! I'm thrilled to be a part of this!
I have the same problem. They are like a living carpet of birds, eating everything up! I also have blue jays and mockingbirds filling in when the mourning doves and blackbirds leave.
Yipes!
Dog got my hen last week; she survived after we sewed her back up, and she has a will to live. That's the good news.
She is eating well, drinking, standing, shuffling (her back skin was torn back in a large flap; we sewed it up, and noticed no other injuries, but I guess the shuffling is from...
Thanks for all your advice.
She is sitting comfortably in her separate cage, keeping an eye on the other hens, drinking water and eating a mush of water and layena.
I have used the blue kote to help healing. She of course got it all over her beak.
What can I put on her skin to keep it...
RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME the neighbor's dog ran up to my hens and chased one, grabbing it and running off with her in his mouth.
I sit out with the hens for 45 minutes each night, so they can get some greens and enjoy "free ranging" in my yard. My neighbors unfortunately don't understand the need...
I am just barely over the killing of 3 of my producing RIR hens by the dog next door.
Yesterday it rained all day, the yards were flooded and it was like nighttime from 5 pm on. You'd think I would have taken action then, but I was not paying attention.
I went out at the usual time, when the...
I have one hen who sleeps in the nests; she doesn't even try to get on the perch.
Remarkably, I don't think she is the last in the pecking order.
I have 5 "top bananas" I call the Heathers. They are so mean, like old-fashioned nasty school-marms.
The other birds just literally bow down and...
I'm LOL about this topic!
I have a HEN who for the first time yesterday tried to CROW! She got two notes out before she quit.
Plus she sometimes grabs other hens by the neck and stands on them!
No, for sure she is a hen...but she's the Boss Heather (I have 4 very bossy hens, I call them the...
Thanks so much for all the insights!
After I posted, while the meat was still in the soup pot, I tasted again and it finally got "unchewy".
I have no more roos at this time, and I'll know better next time, thanks to all of you!
Crock pot? Check!
Pressure cooker? Check!
Soup pot? Check!
I'm...
We processed our 18-week old Polish roo on Saturday - and after plucking, cleaning, etc. we kept the meat in brine for about 35 hours.
Tonight, I split the carcass, put it in a roasing plan laid out flat on top of some potatoes, onions and celery, and baked for about 1 hour.
Here's the...
OMG!!
Today two hens were making VERY strange noises - like the old cartoons ("bok bok bok BAWK") and they both kept going back into the house even though we're letting it dry after a good washing - nothing in there - no bedding, etc.
I went back out a few times, and just now came back with...