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  1. Steve777

    Need help with egg eating

    Sounds like I need to do some more detective work to find the one(s) doing the breaking/crushing. Still exploring other possible factors (predators, not enough protein, etc), but the evidence strongly points to it being a hen. I am curious about what type of camera you used to catch the...
  2. Steve777

    Need help with egg eating

    Thanks for the input, here are some answers to your questions: There is an occasional problem with a thin shell on an egg. I am not sure why as I am using a commercial layer feed and have oyster shell out too. However the thin shelled eggs have been around since I first got these birds, and...
  3. Steve777

    Need help with egg eating

    So I have been battling (unsuccessfully for the most part) an egg eating problem. We have 6 hens in a relatively small coop (4x8'), with open access to a good sized fenced yard (30x60'). These birds are all 1 years old or more (a couple are 2 yo from a previous flock). They had been great layers...
  4. Steve777

    Repopulating after hot mareks??

    BHT is Butylated HydroxyToluene, a fat soluble antioxidant, FDA approved for use in food. It is often used in oils and also in food containers to perserve freshness and extend shelf life. It is believed that its effectiveness on herpes is due to it combining with the virus's lipid (fat) coating...
  5. Steve777

    Repopulating after hot mareks??

    Just some thoughts on Marek's. Last summer I lost several hens, never knew what it was. Then a neighbor who also keeps chickens told me she lost several also and the vet diagnosed it as Marek's, said there was quite a bit of it going around. The symptoms matched what I saw in my flock, so I...
  6. Steve777

    Best Automatic Chicken Door Openers???

    It has been a while since anyone posted on this thread, but I thought I would ask a general follow up question or two. 1. I am curious, did anyone who uses one of the D20 type vertical lift doors have any issues with a predator just lifting the door up and getting in? I like the simplicity of...
  7. Steve777

    Predator???

    I am putting together a few recent symptoms, and coming to the conclusion that I may have a predator problem. I was hoping that folks here could give me their thoughts. Here are the symptoms: 1. Over the last few weeks, I occasionally see one of the hens with some feather missing. One was near...
  8. Steve777

    Merging Hens in from another flock

    Thanks TalkALittle. I am not too concerned about disease from the new birds. My friend runs a very good "shop", if anything far cleaner than mine. Not a guarantee that they are all healthy of course, but these new birds will become the mainstay of the flock. I would think that if anything I'd...
  9. Steve777

    Merging Hens in from another flock

    I am going to pick up 4 replacement hens today from a friend who is downsizing her flock. I have read about the "right" way to introduce new hens, but I think this situation is a bit different. Our existing flock is down to one hen, after a predator attack a few weeks ago. This one hens seems...
  10. Steve777

    What's going on with this hen

    Thanks. I will try a chemical wormer and see if that helps. The Dia earth has seem to help with the other birds (eliminating the traces of poop on their rears) when administered as needed, every 6 months or so. But perhaps this is a particularly bad infection. Need to correct one point: the...
  11. Steve777

    What's going on with this hen

    I have a ~4yr old hen with some strange conditions, possible more than one thing going on. I was hoping that someone here might have some pointers. She is a good sized hen and was second in the pecking order. About 3 weeks ago we had a predator get into the chicken pen, three hens were lost...
  12. Steve777

    What got into the chicken pen and killed 2 hens?

    Thanks. I'd planned on keeping the coop door closed for a while, should be pretty good protection (may add a second latch just to be sure). Live trap sounds like the way to go, I just don't know what size I need, not knowing if it's a coyote/fox/bobcat. Perhaps I can eliminate coyote...
  13. Steve777

    What got into the chicken pen and killed 2 hens?

    Opps, title should have read "...killed 3 hens"
  14. Steve777

    What got into the chicken pen and killed 2 hens?

    We've had this inherited flock for a bit over a year and a half, and this is the first predator loss. There is a small hen house (4x8') which sits in a old dog (30x80') run which has 6' tall chain link fence around it. We lock the door to the hen house each night. Up until today it has been...
  15. Steve777

    Hens too old or not?

    Well, sort of a update but it comes with some new questions. It was definitely a molt as feathers started appearing all over the place in the next week or so. Things seems to go better this year, warmer temps, and higher protein feed. And about 5 weeks later we started getting an egg every...
  16. Steve777

    Hens too old or not?

    We are fairly new to chickens. We inherited a flock of five 2 year old hens last summer. Last Sept-Oct they went into molt and stopped laying. Being newbies, we did not have any extra light nor did we switch to high protein feed at first, but those things were done. And the girls came back into...
  17. Steve777

    Chickens standing in the rain

    Just a story from the flood in Boulder CO in Sept of last year. Our chickens were out in the rain, "wading" through a 2" deep stream of water that formed going through their run for several days. They did not stay out in the rain all the time as they could take breaks under or in the coop. And...
  18. Steve777

    Coffee grounds and chickens

    Given that coffee is a bean, it should be fairly high in protein to start. The brewing process does not really extract that much protein, so it should be left in the grounds. As a fertilizer coffee grounds are roughly the same NPK as manure, and I'd expect that N to be coming from their protein...
  19. Steve777

    Hens appear to have stopped laying after the flood

    Thought I'd follow up on this. About a week after the original post I put a light on a timer in the coop. I also switched to a higher protein layer feed. The hens did go through a molt, not as severe as some I've seen pics of, but a bunch of feathers lost. Also added a heat lamp in the coop...
  20. Steve777

    Coop Lighting and Egglaying

    Thanks Kelsie. Good articles. So it seems that warmer (or "soft white") are better for layers. Does anyone know what incandescent wattage would yield that recommended light level in a small coop though?
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