I will try that. Here is a closer picture. She has lost virtually all feathers on her body, with just wings, head and tail remaining. It is worrisome, and I still don't see any pests..
9 girls in an enclosed run (maybe 10x15') + coop. They have plenty of space to walk around and and roost on tree. I feed them commercial layer pellets + non-meat scraps from the kitchen.
Hello,
I have two California hens that look like this, with large feather-less areas around their butts. They appear to be acting normally, and I don't see any pests on them. At first, I thought it was molting, but it's been several weeks now. This flock is 9-months old. Never seen this before...
My new flock arrived in the mail yesterday (yay!) Three were DOA and a very ill chick died this morning (boo!) It was a postal service problem. A very tough night....tragic and sad, but it happens. The hatchery is sending a replacement shipment, but not for two weeks, which means I'll be a...
History...one of my 3 birds (not pictured) was pasted up and leghargic and getting pecked at. I separated her from the flock for 3-4 days and she's now recovered and reintroduced to the flock. Now all birds have these kinds of sores. At first, I thought they were wounds from the pecking, but...
So I built a temporary coop and picket up the Wyandotte and immediately discovered that her butt (crop?) was pasted with poop. I washed with water and wiped down and it seems clean now. I gave her food and water in the temp coop, but she's still very lethargic and isn't eating and drinking...
My golden wyandotte has been extremely lethargic today--cowering in the corner of the coop or the run. Very uncharacteristic behavior. She's nearly 3 years old. I've been watching her with concern. As she moved out of the coop to the run, another chicken (a Welsummer) pecked her hard on top of...
Our first backyard flock of 4, all 2 years old. Australorpe found dead yesterday morning in the same location where she always sleeps. We hadn't noticed any signs of trouble before she died. No signs of trauma, injury or coat damage. A mild California fall, so can't be weather related. Has been...
My first flock of chicks is doing very well, at about eight weeks now. I had them on chick starter, but my local feed store didn't have a specialty grower or developer food, so I mail ordered some organic developer which was fine, but absurdly expensive with shipping costs.
My local feed store...
Nice job.
We're in a similar situation...just bough the Toys 'R' Us Savannah playhouse on clearance.
I am interested in more detail on the run design if you can. Do you know what kind of connectors your husband used on the 2x4s? From the pictures, it looks like there's some steel peeking...
Thanks Arlee,
This is pretty much what we're planning to do.
Buy the barn for convenience (we're in SoCal, so won't have to pay for shipping);
Raise it up on stilts and put in a floor;
Create our own larger run with fencing.
We considered playhouse or doghouse conversions, but it seems that...
We're getting ready to take the plunge and are leaning toward the Chick-n-Barn for a flock of 3-4 backyard birds.
Does anyone have experience with this pre-fab coop? In particular, we're concerned about cleaning. The roof is on hinges but doesn't completely lift off. Will this make our lives...
I think we're ready to take the chicken plunge. We're total newbs but have learned an enormous amount from trolling this forum and reading a couple of books. We live in an urban (but legal!) environment in Southern California and are raising chickens primarily for 1) fun; 2) to help teach our...