I don't add light for egg production, but on a couple extremely cold nights I've added a red bulb for heat. It's important to change their water several times a day if it starts to freeze.
One thing I learned not to do is to top off a partially frozen plastic container. That's a good way to...
Oh, the poor little thing. That had to hurt.
It's most likely a double yolker or even a rare triple. Any pullet or hen can lay a weird egg every once in a while, especially at the beginning or end of the season. Pullets seem to be especially prone to it because their bodies are still...
Well, if you're living in Calgary, which is where I grew up, you're most likely out of luck.
You will have far better luck putting a massive cell phone or TV tower in your yard. Unlike gardens, cell towers are not restricted by law. As long as you have a contract with whoever's going to...
Hi!
I've been a member in the more distant past, based out of Albuquerque, NM. The mods very kindly found and reactivated my account for me.
Cheers,
Squeaky
While playing on the monkey bars as a child, I looked upward at a passing magpie only to be caught by a fly-by pooping. Right in the eye.
My mother and brother thought it was very funny, but anything in the eye is no joke and bird turd contains some strong chemicals that really sting. The...
Have you considered a Craig's List ad? Many people are looking for humane homes for surplus roos.
You could also hatch your own but of course there are no guarantees for the sexing.
Buying from a hatchery is also an option.
I discovered this by accident. You know the Master Cleanse Diet lemonade drink? It didn't work for me as a weight loss strategy but it turns out to be a very effective gnat killer especially when concentrated.
Mix 2 parts lemon juice to 1 part maple syrup. Put the resulting sticky...
They may learn to eat ants if you have one ant-eating bird. No bird can stand to see another member of the flock eating something new, without giving it a try.
I've got several ant-eating chickens but (sigh!) they won't go after flies. They do keep the ants away from their coop and run. Mine...
I got a pair of ceramic eggs at Hobby Lobby and remember they were surprisingly cheap.
They were pretty realistic looking, too. One of my tenants gathered one of them up with the regular eggs, boiled it, couldn't figure out why it was floating, and tried to eat it. Poor thing: he hasn't...
Let them chill out and relax for a week, maybe two.
Adult hens and older pullets always seem to stop laying for a while when they're under stress. A move is one source of stress. So is a major change in the flock or ongoing storms or bad weather. Fear and egg laying don't seem to go...
Hi,
Rocky would have been a year old in June. She seems very young to have had a heart attack, and she's never been plump. However, today there was a big storm with lightning and thunder, and that may have freaked her out or knocked her off her perch. Or it's imaginable that she picked up a...
I just found Rocky, dead, next to the broody hen in the nest the broody's taken over. I know broodies aren't known for playing nice, but is this a sign of foul (fowl?) play? Can a broody actually murder an adult chicken?
Rocky, a hen, was the second bird and outranked the broody. I don't...
Wow, that's a lot of eggs!
I have only five hens and can't imagine counting. With my girls, it was more like "one, two, three, four, OH MY GOODNESS THEY'RE OUT OF CONTROL!!!"
Either that, or I'm like the rabbits in "Watership Down" and can't count past five.
Have you had any Full Egg Days...
I knew a normal person once in high school.
She had brown hair, brown eyes, was of exactly average height and weight, her IQ had been tested and was within a few points of 100, and she earned average grades unless she worked really hard for higher ones. She came from a 2-child, one-pet family...
There's a product called "Goof-Off" that's great for removing paint. I can't vouch for its efficacy on Blu-Kote though. I just bought some Blu-Kote to slather on some dominance-pecking chickens if they get cheeky. I appreciate the heads up about the gloves.
Hmm. Today they're sleeping in their food; when they grow up they'll try to eat their bedding.
There's no understanding it. I guess you'd have to be a chicken to get the logic.