I'm new to chickens as well. We raised them when I was younger but I did little more than feed or water them and collect eggs. I don't have any right now but I just put in an order for 8 pullets and 2 roos. Live in Michigan and want a cold hearty breed so ended up ordering some Black...
Crack it open and if you don't have a partial chick growing you should be good. I've been hearing they good for up to two weeks if they're not washed. Float test in cold water seems to do the trick. If it floats it's no good.
Is the 5 hour drive a round trip or does a round trip mean that's a 10 hour drive? Either way that seems rather expensive. In the end you're going to do what you think is best. I would wait til spring to hatch some out yourselves.
I was being slow about digging a post and came across an easy collection method. I had dug a 3-4' hole and left it overnight. Woke up and had 10-15 crickets trapped at the bottom. Place a bucket on a string at the bottom of the hole and you'd have an easy treat for your flock.
Taken from wiki it suggests stretches. I'm not sure how you'd go about doing that with a chick. Also suggests the cause could be an ear infection. Have they had their shots?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torticollis
"Initially, the condition is treated with physical therapies, such as...
Jersey Giants were on my list when I was trying to narrow down my first breed. I think I dropped these guys because they were flighty and loud. I have a low ceiling run that would likely not suit a flighty breed.
I was leaning towards Orps but ended up choosing the Black Australorps in favor of their color. Seems they are derived from Black Orps anyhow. It was next to impossible finding anything but Buffs in my area.
Here's a quick "blueprint" of the insides. http://imgur.com/tkMsB
Green - run space
Orange - living space
Red - misc storage space/possible brooder location
Yellow - run ramps
Gray - entrance space
Door will open inwards to prevent possibility of being snowed shut.
31 cents isn't enough incentive for me to risk another fuel pump. I try not to let the tank hit below 50% anymore. Times gas prices are up I have a 5 gallon container to tide me over.
I'm sure a good a rooster can fend off a cat or dog but starting out with so few chickens I can't afford to lose one. That's part of the reason I ordered two roosters. I want one to fall back on if anything should happen to the first. Original the plan was to get 5 or 6 chickens already at...
I'm not sure what your coop dimensions are but the lid thing works for me because it's a narrow 3'x3'x10' run. I can make the entire top side a lid. With something wider I'm not sure this solution would be as viable.
I haven't seen it suggested yet but it's something I'm planning to do with my own run. To reduce the amount of materials I need to build a fully enclosed run I decided to make it 3' tall. I'm not going to be crawling through it so I plan to make a lid. It'll allow me access without having to...