I have a little update. I've noticed now that this hen is losing feathers. When she takes a dust bath, she leaves a bunch of feathers behind. Yesterday I found one of her wing or tail feathers. She does not "look" like she is molting - she still looks and acts very healthy. If anyone is...
Thanks. Do you think the fact that her last egg was oddly shaped is of any concern? I also forgot to mention that she sat in the nesting box many times without laying before laying that last egg. She acted like she wanted to lay, but nothing happened. Since then, I have not noticed her...
The hens split about a cup of scratch and some organic baby spinach each morning. As mentioned, they free range for about 90 minutes in the evening and eat clover, grass and bugs (although when the ground is dry, they spend most of that time taking a dust bath.)
Ventilation is great. They...
No, she could not be hiding eggs. The run and coop are not big, and we have searched them many times. We were out of town for over a week and they did not even free range during that time (which they normally do in the evening just before bed time anyway.) There is no place for her to hide them.
We have four hens: two Buff Orpingtons and two Golden Comets, all about 15 months old. About 11 weeks ago, one of the Buffs went broody. Because we were going out of town, we didn't give her any eggs for about 2 weeks. However, after that, we gave her a clutch, and she hatched them and has...
Nearly 6 weeks ago our broody hen hatched a clutch of eggs. She's been with the chicks ever since, and they've all been eating medicated starter food. Today mama hen laid an egg. I guess we need to mover her out. Are the eggs safe to eat since she's been eating starter food with the chicks...
Hi, everyone.
Sorry it's taken so long to post our progress. We decided to leave our broody hen where she was. On the morning of day 21, I checked on her and heard some peeps. I closed the door to the coop to keep the other 3 hens out (we have only 4). They roosted on the perch in the run...
Thanks. The nesting box is about 20 inches above the floor of the coop (which has a very thick layer of pine shavings). Will the chicks be all right hopping down from there?
I don't have an incubator. She's already been sitting on the eggs for 5 days, so I don't think I can test her with infertile eggs for a couple of days, can I? Wouldn't that kill the eggs that she's already been sitting on?
We have a 1-year-old Buff Orpington who is broody. On Wednesday we put a dozen fertilized eggs under her. She is very content to stay on them with almost no break. We are looking forward to seeing her care for some chicks in 3 weeks.
Unfortunately, she started brooding in the nesting box in...
We have a flock of four. Three are about 28 weeks old and are now laying. The fourth is about 20 weeks old. We successfully integrated her into the flock at 9 weeks, and they all got along fine for quite some time.
In the past 3 weeks or so the youngest has become a loner. She does not...
2 roosters that were supposed to be hens. Both 24 weeks old. One of them is very majestic and friendly - a real pleasure to look at. The other we were sure was a hen until this week when he started to crow. Now that I know what to look for, the long skinny saddle feather are also quite...
Why are the comb and wattles (not to mention the overall size) so much smaller? The comb of the smaller one is identical to combs of BR hens I've seen in photos here and elsewhere. I'll post a picture of the two of them together. The size is difference is remarkable. Is such...
In our flock of 23-week-olds (all of whom were supposed to be pullets), we have two Barred Rocks. One of them we have known for quite some time is a rooster. He differentiated quite clearly from the other BR just a couple weeks after we got them as 14-week olds. He is now significantly...
Nobody would dare peck him. He is definitely king of the roost, the only rooster, and twice the size of the next largest chicken in the flock. There has never been any fighting, nor any blood.
I noticed these black spots on our 23-week-old BR rooster's comb last week, but just assumed they were normal as no other chicken had anything like it. Then I read about fowl pox. I wasn't sure that's what it was, because I didn't see anything on his wattles or ear lobes, and none of the black...
We have two 22-week-old Golden Comets (or so we were told by the seller that is what they are). Recently one of them has started squatting when we reach out to her or touch her back. However, her comb is very pale, and her ears and wattles are also usually very pale (sometimes she gets...