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Are the shells thin and weak? If they are, provide oyster shell for calcium (separately, not mixed with the food and make sure your hens are on good qaulity layer feed. I also provide my chickens with Avia 2000 (it's a poultry vitamin supplement, you can get it online at Murray McMurray) in...

For us, it's our GLW. She was near the bottom of the pecking order in the old flock. Then we got some new babies, and got rid of most of the older girls, and she emerged at the top of the new order. It was after that that she started crowing. No, it's not as loud as a roo, but its fairly...

My white leghorns and Red Star periodically went through that. They were on good quality layer pellets and had oyster shell; they had free ranging time on the evenings and weekends. The addition of Avia charge 2000 (it's a vitamen supplement, helps with absorption of the calcium) did decrease...

We live out here in Utah, and even though the weather people predicted a Blizzard that didn't happen but they were dead-on with the temperature! Our girls are huddled up in their coop with the ceramic heaters going and they're not going out at all hardly! Outside it's a chilly 12 degrees when I...

OK everyone you all have such great write-ups about this.. how about posting some pictures now please? I'm thinking about getting one for my coop now.

We, too, have raccoons (1 or more) in the yard virtually every night. They rattled the door a few times about a year and a half ago, and to my knowledge have not bothered the coop since. They raid my birdseed every night, and that's OK with me, since they leave the girls alone. Whenever there...

I know I've seen an awful lot of posts about raccoons killing chickens. We have them in our yard almost every night, unless there's really heavy snow. They eat the birdseed and leave the chickens alone. There were tracks of 2 different raccoons in the snow this morning; both visited the bird...

I also found Earthworks to be cheapest. I got a 50 lb bag about a year and a half ago, and I still have over half of it left.

I highly doubt she will ever stop. After all, look how much they like to eat styrofoam! One of mine likes my hair too, but since its always braided she never gets much of it. I would think if you have bunches of dog hair or whatever lying around, you should make sure she can't get into that...

You don't want drafts on the babies. When they are hatched, they need 95 degrees, with the temp going down 5 degrees a week until it reaches 65. After they are about a week old, you can replace the paper towels with shavings; by then they will have figured out what food is. If they are...

We use 2 sides from a large cardboard box. Our next boxes are recessed inside a 'box', and one flap of the cardboard fits perfectly over the top, while the other flap hangs down over the entrance. We put it out near dark, and take it out when we do lockdown for the night. Our chickens have...

Or, if your 'white' egg had a 'hint of wanting to be brown', could it be one of your RIR's? My RIR sometimes lays really light brown eggs.

Yes, I think those are pretty much the choices. Last year, we had the same situation - just as the pullets got close to laying age, the days were getting short. We added light, and less than 10 days later (on Halloween!) they started laying, and they kept up all winter. We didn't make sure it...

My Red Star started laying at 19 weeks; she started out with close to normal sized large eggs and quickly moved up to her regular 3 oz size - that's like 2X Jumbo. She lays every day like clockwork - except when she's having soft egg issues - probably every 2 months or so. I guess it happens...

That's because you said "Hawk!" Or perhaps more generically 'Danger from the air', or 'The sky is falling!'

Probably a normal start-up issue; it's not unusual for pullets coming into lay to have shellless eggs. But it would be a good idea to provide them with oyster shell for calcium - they need it for strong egg shells. Don't mix it with the feed - provide it separately, and they will eat what...

Masala's hackle and saddle feathers look pretty pointy - I'll bet you'll be hearing that crow.

I live in Utah, and called up both local farm supply stores asking about getting a bag of ground up limestone. Neither place had it. Any recommendations where I can get some? Thanks