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I was just wondering how old your oldest chicken is? Am I the only one running an avian retirement villa? My oldest hen will be 9 YEARS OLD in late March, 2018! We threw her a birthday party for her 8th birthday, guess we will again for her 9th. But anyway, wondering if any of the rest of...

My new Brinsea Maxi II Advanced Incubator just arrived Saturday. I plugged it up and ran it for 24 hours without eggs in it, to see how it would work. I have two Mini Advanced (7 egg) incubators, and have had alot of success with them. But everytime you need to add water, it means taking the...

My little Ameraucana hen - her name is Blueberry - is celebrating her 8th birthday today! We're having a party for her, and all of her flockmates are invited. We will be serving a large, fresh load of their favorite spring weeds (which they LOVE!), plus plenty of black oil sunflower...

I have a little hen who will celebrate her 8th birthday on Friday, March 24th. We have never had a chicken live this long. Her name is Blueberry. She's always been a family favorite. We want to celebrate her birthday, by throwing the chickens a big party. How do you throw a big...

I got five buff Ameraucana pullets from renouned Ameraucana breeder John Blehm back last April. They are darling little girls. Very friendly, cute as all get out. Oh, did I mention that their favorite activity is brooding and mothering? These ladies are not even a year old yet, and...

I just got 27 baby chicks yesterday in the mail. One of the little ones has splay leg (aka, "spraddle leg"). The little one is very unsteady and has difficulty walking. He/she tries to join in with group chick activities, but because he/she is slower and clumsier, this one is the last to...

OK, I've had it... My eight month old boy Andy is out there in his henhouse living it up with his 13 pullet room mates. One of his little pullets hatched three chicks last month. Now this morning, another pullet hatched two more. He is the only roo in that chicken yard. I KNOW he's the...

I got 25 Ameraucana chicks last April from John Blehm in Michigan. Some were LF wheatens, some LF buff and some LF silver Ameraucanas. I kept all of the pullets, and three of the cockerels -- one of each variety. The other cockerels I gave to a lady farmer friend a few counties over. Most...

I'm looking for two or three baby chicks -- no more than three days old when I get them -- to be born about 10 days to 2 weeks from now. Here's the problem: I have two Ameraucana broodies who are laying around all day on their nests. One of them has been laying around for five weeks...

When I had babies without a mother hen, I've always used a brooder with a heat lamp and followed the standard heating guidelines (95 deg in week 1, 90 deg in week 2, 85 deg in week 3 and so on till they can tolerate room temps). But when I have broodies to take care of the chicks, I have the...

Peep! Peep! I'm HEEEEEEEERE, Folks! I made my way from under the protective wing of my broody mother about noontime today. I am 7/8ths of an ounce, with delicate, pastel yellow down. I have four toes per leg and two wings, and I'm perfectly healthy. And I DO know how to peep...

Right now, I have silver, buff and wheaten ameraucana hens mixed together, living with a buff Ameraucana roo. So about half of the eggs that come from their nests will produce full blooded buff Ameraucanas, while the other half will be barnyard mixes. I have a bachelor pad where I have a...

I have Trudy, my little broody, in a dog cage in the spare bedroom, so that she could hatch her clutch without all the interferance and hassle of other hens messing with her. We moved her last Friday evening. Anyway, she was standing outside her nest about 40 minutes ago, and I figured no...

Broodies don't lay eggs while they are brooding, right? I have two broodies right now. Broody #1 is obeying all the "broody rules," you know, things like spending 23 and 1/2 hours on the nest each day and only eating-drinking-&-pooping once a day, spreading herself over the entire nest to...

I live near a drainage ditch and also a large field. The mice in the area have all moved into my henhouse, and night time in that henhouse has turned into a popular mouse hangout. I can't just pull up the food at night, because it is often noon or later before my wife or I can get out to...

I have two bachelors who live in their own little "cave," and have their own 4 foot by 15 foot run. Their cave is not the greatest in the world, but it is built of plywood and concrete blocks with a heavy plywood roof and a sturdy roost inside. It provides protection from wind, some...

I just had a seven month old pullet go broody on me two days ago. Meantime, I am going to a dairy farm tomorrow to pick up five four day old chicks. Will these chicks be too old to slip in with the broody tomorrow night after lights out? Do you think she's likely to adopt them?

We are long since running out of space over here and were forced to look at reducing the size of our flock. Sugar and Houdini were the oldest ladies and weren't laying much anymore. Houdini attacked Ethyl a few weeks ago and blinded her in one eye. Ethyl has not been able to live with the...

I have chickens, and they will return to their sleeping quarters at night without prompting. Will ducks do the same thing, if I let them out to free range when I'm not at home?

Up till now, I've fed my ducks wild bird starter crumbles, with an occasional treat of watermelon or diced tomatoes on a hot afternoon. Because they live in a mobile duckhouse, there is always the possibility that they (and their food) will be caught in an unexpected rainfall. Which means...