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Thanks for all your help. My grandparents have spoken to the person who sold us the hens and rooster. He told them we have to trim all the feathers around the vent on both the hens and the rooster, and we have to trim all the way to the skin. I guess this is why some people suggest plucking...

Wow thanks. That's a lot of things to consider. Well the hens aren't broody anymore and they're moulting. I believe the main problem is they aren't trimmed enough at the back end, but the rooster could be infertile too. I don't believe the hens don't like the rooster. They follow him around...

Quote: Yeah it was a rushed job. I didn't want to take off more feathers than necessary. The risk of jabbing the hen with the scissors. The hens really don't like sitting there while I'm cutting around their back end either. Quote: The rooster has been mating quite regularly before the hens...

I have a flock of four bantam pekin/cochin hens and one rooster. They're a fluffy breed. A Christmas present from my grandparents from two years ago. Three of them just went through being broody and sat for two months before they kicked out all their eggs and I bathed them to get them off the...

I got a bantam cochin roo for Christmas and I never had these issues. Granted, he's the only rooster in the flock, and he did bite me for the first few weeks when I tried to pick up his girls, but now he's a sweetheart. He doesn't bit me at all and actually lets me pick him up and cuddle him...

Thanks dretd for an informative post. Usually I would like a variety of breeds but the more exotic ones are very expensive and hard to find. I wanted more chickens because I only have 3 right now (a bantam Ancona, a bantam Cochin and an Isabrown) and only 1 is laying eggs. They have a lot of...

You must have a healthy chicken if it feels that soft. Mine always feel like that just after moulting. They hate getting picked up at that time though. Yeah they're easier to pick up and cuddle if you hand raise them and/or regularly pick them up as chicks. The magpies in my yard are strange...

Quote: Awesome. Someone else I can talk to about dealing with magpies. They swoop my chickens all the time. (Maybe that issue is already covered in another thread) Quote: Thanks for the advice. It's not overly important that I have a white chicken. I'd just like to have one. We've been...

Quote: That's good to hear. I'll have to look up some breeders though because I think those ones are hard to get in my area. Quote: I looked after my sister's australorps for a while. They laid lots of eggs and became very friendly after a while. They wouldn't let me pick them up though...

Thanks. We were going to get point of lays (because we don't have time to go through chicks again) and keep the different flocks in separate runs. I wanted to gradually introduce mine to the chickens I already have, but I know there will be a big fight while they try to work out the pecking...

I'm looking to expand my flock from 3 chickens to about 6 or 7 chickens. My grandparents are also very interested in getting chickens of their own. We just need to decide on a breed. The problem I have is two of my chickens are bantams, and I was looking more for a full size egg laying breed...

Thank you for your support. It makes me feel a little better about this. Some of the fault did rest with me because I did not have all the facts before posting this information online. I have contacted my friend and she has forgiven me for it. However it did take me quite a while to get over...

Sorry I've taken so long to respond. They have a lot of space to run around in. Their run is about 10 square meters in area, and there's a vine growing that they like to hide under and dust bath. It helps that I only have four chickens (including the bully) so it seems like a lot of space for...

Just an update. I've tried separating the bullying chicken for a couple of days. I guess it didn't work because we had to put her in a cage inside the chicken run where all the other chickens could see her. But she has stayed and slept in there for the whole time, being very stressed. Today I...

Quote: I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were on this website either. Over time I'd just heard ducklings were hard to keep because my old librarian kept them and told us about how much hard work it was (although she did have a lot of them in a pond in her back yard). Then I thought about whether...

Sorry I've taken so long to reply. I tried putting a band aid on the chicken's comb to cover the colour, but she was still chased and pecked (then I took it off, because it didn't look very comfortable). Maybe I just need to separate the two until the wounds have healed. All the other...

Just when I thought they'd all get along well. I have a young ancona bantam chicken who has just started laying (well she's been laying for about a month). A broody hen of mine hatched and raised her, and she was eventually accepted into the flock. Full thread on this here -...

Thanks. She's fully grown now. Her integration into the flock went pretty smoothly. I have some pictures left over if people want to see. A week after she hatched (under the big chicken of course): Now: And a video!

I sourced these from my friend's facebook page. She took lots of photos, but some of them have her in them.

Thanks everyone. I think she has a creek or river near her place, and the duck just came up and laid the egg (which sounds strange) Quote: That's what I'm a bit worried about. Wild ducks might have different needs from domesticated ones. Quote: Thanks. That is helpful to know.