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We have an electric fence around the run and coop. When I test it, it's usually between 1000-2000 volts. About a year ago, we found a dead squirrel gripping the wire. I was surprised it killed him, but I figured maybe he wasn't smart enough to move after the first pulse? Now, my house-sitter...

Crazy question. A few weeks back my neighbor told me he found a pile of egg shells in his back yard that looked like our eggs. I thought maybe my kids had left some outside after gather them and a raccoon or something carried them off—totally possible. But my kids have been more careful since...

Hi friends, one of our Silkie Bantams is acting unusually. She was in the nesting box yesterday afternoon the whole time we let the girls out to free range, and is there again today. She seemed sick—shaking and making strange noises—so I gave her a bath and tried to see if she had any blockage...

We have 8 pullets and 1 cockerel (soon to be rehomed to a family friend.) They are all about 3 months old. 6 of the 9 are silkie bantams, and there are 2 golden sex links and 1 maran (I think.) One of the sex links has a bare patch on her chest. I can take a photo when I am home later, but it...

I posted a few weeks ago about my worries about traveling. We have lost some hens while traveling, and I was looking for help fully securing my coop. I reinforced every weak spot in the attached run (the coop has an internal door to the run), built a new and more secure door to the run, buried...

hi! Chicks are about 8 weeks old and I just realized I bought them medicated feed. I had been giving them unmedicated. (I asked for unmedicated at the store and didn’t double check the bag. My mistake.) I am leaving town for almost 2 weeks in the morning and I really don’t want to have to go...

We have a seriously adorable little cockerel and I'm afraid we have to rehome him. My kids are devastated* but our neighbors are just not ok with a rooster. We live in a suburb, and if you live in tampa you know how confusing the zoning laws are. Basically, if a neighbor complains we have to get...

We have 9 chicks, about 7-8 weeks old. (We got two batches.) They spend the day in a large run—22ft by 8 ft. They seem happy, making dust baths and eating weeds and bugs, very active and adorable. This afternoon I noticed that one sex link had a slightly bare patch on her chest. Later, my...

I think this is a silkie bantam, but I am not certain. (Husband took the kids to get chicks and didn’t remember to note the breeds. ‍♀️) My son picked out two that looked nearly identical, from the same breed. Only one of the two now has this (comb, I think! I’m sorry, I’m really still...

Finishing up a project of reinforcing an inherited run/coop and I realized I hadn't thought about this closure. It is not super easy for ME to open, but I know raccoons are wily so I wanted to be sure. You have to slide the metal up and then you can push the hook out of the eye. Is this...

Hi! We have 9 chicks all about 6-8 weeks old. We had been letting them be in the run outside during the day and bringing them into the garage at night, but we moved them outside permanently 4 days ago. They love it out there, but they are still not going up the ladder to the coop/roosting area...

I need to know if I'm crazy, or if this is a real possibility. Are predators more likely to attack when nobody's home? (How could they even tell at night?) A few years ago, we lost some hens to predators. Probably a raccoon, but could be possum or any number of Florida predators. We were...

Hi! I have 5 chickens, about 11 weeks old. 2 of the 5 are Black Dominiques. They look almost exactly the same, but one has a different bump on the top part of her face/beak area. They both have bumpy skin there, but one has what looks like a single horn sort of thing. Ugh. This would be easier...

Hi! I'm new here, and this might be a silly question, but here goes. We have 5 chicks, almost 3 months old, and we're in central Florida. We have a large run area, roughly 15 ft. by 40 ft, and we're building a coop for them to sleep in. It's a simple A-Frame with a solid floor that sits about 3...