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Good to hear you are now mite free. Unfortunately this is not the case for me. Although I am happy to tell you that my hens do not have mites, their coop and fence do. Yes, I have termites and LOTS of them. They arrived recently but they must be in the millions of numbers, behind every single...

I'm having a major mite problem at the moment. At first I thought they were just on the hens and in the coop, so I've dusted the hens and cleaned the coop twice in the last week. Today though I found that the mites are also in large numbers in the gaps where pieces of wood meet on the trellis...

Thanks fisher lady. Where would any of us be without you I've just been back out and how relieved I am, but also a little worried that the chick is not, or perhaps doesn't even know how to, drink. At first I moved the chick to the water at the other side of the coop, where the natural light...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND we have a chick It is a beautiful little black Maran chick which to be totaly honest looks much healthier after a natural hatch than any of my incubated eggs looked at this age. It hatched at some point during last night - judging by the look of it it hatched probably in...

Also day 22 and although no pipping I did hear some chirping coming from one of the two eggs today. I know I should leave them alone but its soooo tempting to be nosey lol. I have heard that if eggs go cooler during the process it takes a little longer. I wonder if this is what happened as the...

BLT - they'z the chickens not you lol - go look. Congrats on events so far. It is hatch day for the two eggs under Silky but I hear and see nothing. Silky herself is still behaving the same - not over protective or anythign like I would assume from a mother soon to be.

Sorry to hear about your chick BLT. How many are left to hatch? For my own hatch update, Silky is still sitting on the eggs but although they are due tomorrow and the incubated lot started pipping at 19 days, these two have not started. Contrary to what seems to be common, Silky (its her name...

Check under the mother for a chick. I never noticed blood on any shells from my hatches though so perhaps not a great sign, especially with several days to go. My two eggs under Silky are due to hatch on Tuesday too :)

There's nawt wrong with a happy hen :) If she wants an egg I'd give her one. If keeping more hens isn't ideal you could always give them away or sell them when they are a few months old and the mother has lost interest. I got carried away with chick crumb when I got my first hatchings last...

Wow I do a lot of moanin' about living in UK but I do realise some of the benefits when all I have to freak out about are a few slugs on the brassica patch and one mouse in the corner of the chicken run hahaha.

Pfffft flipin 'eck here I am moanin' about slugs and you have 5 ft snakes lol. Can't believe it is such a common problem that there is a repellent lol. I'm interested to follow this. What COULD you do? At least with slugs if you don't want too kill them you can chuck 'em on the compost. I'm...

Do you mean as opposed to the sides? I think its to do with mass market construction. With most coops being different measurements at the front and back as the sides, to make a nest box on the side would mean making an entrance wall, a plain wall, a box wall and another plain wall of different...

Hi Newbie, as far as I know a few mites are OK with older hens but still need a good clean before the problem increases. A larger population of mites could be the reason for the chicks death because some do suck blood etc. This is by no means a certain explanation though - just a theory. If your...

One cockerel from six eggs is pretty good. We hatched some last year from an incubator and out of seven successful hatches there were four cockerels lol. This year we are just trying just two Maran eggs under our Silky. I'll be gutted if they are both cockerels because unless they are very quiet...

Thanks. Unfortunately my update is not entirely positive. After agreeing the terms and conditions with my broody spotted Sussex, everything went fine for a few weeks. She was doing so well and was very dedicated. It was funny to see her whilst she was out of the coop - running around stretching...

Hi everybody, many interesting conversations within pages of this thread. If you don't mind I'd like to quickly add my story to the collection :) After Silky's failed attempt at hatching another chick, (Silky is her name as well as breed - she's on the left of my picture with the first chick...

How did you make her broody? I always thought it was a natural thing that happens with some hens but not others - a kinda wait and see thing. I have one broody spotted sussex which I put fertile eggs under today but I have no idea why she has suddenly gone broody lol She never has been before...

I was told once that a great prevention is adding a little garlic to their water every once in a while. No idea if that works. My chickens don't really like the rabbit...and the rabbit knows and uses it to his amusement lol

I personally don't vaccinate or worm my flock. I never have done, they were never done as chicks before I got them, and the mother and father never got done either and all are fine at the moment. My flock get quite a varied diet so although the worms are there for them should they want them they...

Thanks all for the suggestions. Most bugs they do find themselves as they wander around the garden. I'm a keen gardener but things can get quite heated between myself and the girls whilst I'm trying to fork over the garden and they insist on searching that exact same spot I am trying to dig...