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Here it is, early December, and on November 30, my 2 Narragansett hens started laying eggs. I'd been seeing the Tom, copulate the hens, for a couple of weeks prior, and thought that seemed oddly early. Last season, earlier this year, (my first), the girls started laying in mid February, and...

Last year, one of the mistakes I think I made, was to keep my guineas cooped every night, and fed them commercial feed, too long. They were probably 50% of full size, or maybe even a little larger, when they were put out, to free range, full time. This year, realizing that I needed more than I...

I was recently given a sweet duck and goose pair. They are buds, and hang out together. Maybe because they are in an entirely new environment, but, also, they seem the get along well. The lady who gave them to me, said that they were "Drop-Off rescue birds". In that someone had dropped them off...

One of my caponized Orpington's (fully mature) recently developed a sinus infection. He's miserable. I know how to do, and have previously, performed, the sinus cavity surgery. The issue is that it requires treating with Tylan, and that means a lengthy time where he is not able to be processed...

Pretty much, our first hatch, in a home made cooler-incubator. We had one Black Jersey Giant that hatched, and has a large red organ, exposed from its abdomen. It looks like stomach, except that it is much redder than the stomach's of other chickens I have been inside of.. Is there any chance...

I have an old Farm Master redwood cabinet incubator, on which I am doing a resto-mod. The 5 drawers, inside are 18"x28", each. Plenty of room to set in something like a GQF1611 egg turner, but with LOTS more room. I can't quite fit 2 in each drawer, but was hoping someone made a turner, similar...

I read in a book, that Narragansett toms, are unable to successfully mate,mbefore they reach 1 year of age. Another local breeder said, that's not necessarily true, that if they perform and complete the act of copulation, then they are capable of reproducing. Last Memorial Day, we got several...

Recently, I had to thin out my turkeys, too many Toms, for my hens. One of the Toms was given to a friend, who has done me several favors. This morning, he wrote me a message, asking if I knew what might be wrong with Pancho. I have no clue. So, I turn to the folks, who seem to have the best...

I'm not certain if this was a commercially made cabinet incubator, that has had some "Redneck Engineering" performed upon it, or if it was a fairly well made, home made cabinet incubator. But, I'm just not familiar with all of the parts, and don't know where to start. I got it home, as a gift...

Before moving to the country, and deciding to raise our own flock of birds, both for eggs and meat, my wife and I noticed that when we had bought "organic free range eggs", at a small farmer's market in SoCal, the eggs had yolks that were far more golden, in color, and creamier and richer in...

A while back I was given two roosters, that were both supposed to be Jersey Giants. Figuring that I'd keep them both, a while, to see which one wound up the dominant one, then either trade the other, or send him to freezer camp. A few weeks ago, began noticing some coloring in the hackles of one...

I recently hatched out 44 offspring, that are all either Aracauna, Australorp, or crossed with Australorp cockerel. Most of my hens are dark, feathered, and the Aracaunas are pretty easy to identify, by the puffy cheeks. The rest, should be offspring of our laying flock, which are Australorps...

Aside, from the obvious answer, of being when they are old enough to do that, which roosters and hens do, best, when should I be able to take info gleaned from you folks, and reliably determine gender, on some of my babies? I have 12 of 20 chicks ordered, who have survived a predator getting...

I want to be humane about things, but, I also am not certain that loss of one eye is grounds for merciful killing. To me it looks pretty bad, but, I am inexperienced. I found some signs of some respiratory infection, in a few of the pullets in this batch, on Tuesday, this week. So, I've been...

My young Rose Comb RIR, is the youngest, and least dominant, of my three cockerels. I've only had him about 16 days, and he's been in the coop with >16 hens, and 2 other roosters. The Australorp, is truly king of the coop. The small leghorn tries to be a tough guy, but, he's less than half the...

Okay, we started with one brown leghorn hen. Her eggs are VERY consistent in size, shape and shade of white. Then, we got two Australorp hens, and, they, too, produce very consistently sized, shaped and colored eggs. So, I was under the impression, that each layer, had kind of a "signature look"...

One of my layers, has an infection, where she was wounded, on top of her foot. If I remember right, she had gotten it scraped on something. Anyway, once I saw that the problem has not cleared up, and had actually developed a second pustule, on the foot, I contacted the breeder, who first treated...

We have 21 reasonably mature chickens, in our coop. Three roosters, one frizzle (pullet) and one Polish (pullet). The remaining 16 range in age from 5-1/2, to 14 months of age. We had been getting a consistent average of 8+ eggs a day, out of them, ranging in size from the small side of medium...

My new Dominique. My "Little Rooster, who thinks he can" small white leghorn. He thinks he's a tough guy, until he's face to face with the Australorp rooster, and then he runs. This photo, and the next, I can't figure out if this one is a breed, (the light beige hen) or mix-breed? Am told...

Alright. I feel like I've asked too many newbie questions, already, but I still have questions. I guess I'll ask here, and hope I'm not sounding like an idiot. I am totally new to raising chickens, guineas and turkeys. We started, because we love eggs for breakfast, AND need bug control. We are...