I fed a small handful of long beans (chopped up) at a time to my chickens, the birds were fine after had eaten them.
To be safe, it's best to boil the beans before serving them to the chickens, and the total amount of long beans served not exceed 1/3 of their feed.
Can you take more pictures, it is hard to see from that one single photo.
Also, it's probably more appropriate to post this under
Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures
sub-forum.
I have 4 roosters, only 1 attacks and he likes to sneaky attack on me from behind.
The other three are fine. The head rooster has never attacked me, he is a sweet little boy, likes to follow me around.
Interestingly, the one that attacks me is the lowest on the pecking order. A lot of the...
Giving your birds a lot of more spaces and things to do will generally alleviate pecking order problems.
Once I had to confine my 5 hens in a 5 square meters coop for a few days, it's heart-wrenching watching some of the low ranking birds pecked and forced into a corner.
Nowadays I free range...
For mites and lice, you should check her belly/vent area, that's where mites/lice like to multiply.
Has it been a hot summer, how's coop's ventilation? My big structured Australorp rooster lost some feathers last summer, when early afternoon temperature frequently reached above 32C/90F .
For mites and lice, you can check their belly/vent area, if there is an infestation, usually there are mite/lice eggs and live insects.
For protein, if feed with higher protein level is hard to obtain, mealworm, fishmeal, meat scraps will do the job. Some people give their hens cooked eggs. I...
Are you sure this is not from over-mating?
My hens had problem with mites a couple of months ago, but the feather loss was more around the vent area, where mites like to multiply.
Good to hear that they are all healed now.
I didn't keep mine in quarantine after he has fully recovered - it's a highly contagious disease, if the others were to get it, they would have got it by the time that the last one has fully recovered.
If you are talking about him:
Unfortunately, I don't know his exact breed as I bought him as an egg, given to my broody hen and he was the only one that hatched. He has 5 toes on each foot, some of the other eggs were supposed to be pure silky, so I assume that he is some kind of silky mix...
Two roosters in my flock are over two years old, the other two are slightly over 1 year.
They sometimes show intention to fight - the wing dance, staring into each others eyes & hackle feather raised, but these hardly ever results in a real fight.
There was one major fighting episode in the...
Thank you @N F C @Doodlemom63 @BYC Project Manager @BackyardinWales
He indeed is the head rooster at the moment.
With that said, I think all the roosters are fairly good looking in their own ways:
Except for this Barred rock ...
He liked to play with my boots, of course my boots won...
@janiedoe @alinas2010 Thank you.
I am not sure his exact breed, but I suspect a mix of various breeds - I bought him as an egg that was given to my broody hen.
He has always been a cutie, even in his young days, and a favourite amongst my pullets/hens.
When he was a day old:
When he was 2...
Lovely chicks you have there :jumpy
I have had my current bachelor flock for more than 2 years, it is a small flock, and relatively peaceful.
Each bachelor flock will have its own dynamics, but giving your rooster flock a lot of space will likely to reduce the amount of fighting in them.
May I ask where is the aggressive Barred Rock in the pecking order amongst the original 5 hens?
Sometimes it is hard for us humans to see, but body language or eye contact can convey meanings amongst birds. I think your Barred Rock knows that the Isa Brown is a 'he' and tries to show that she...
Is she the only one left or was she very close to her sister? Chickens are social animals, maybe she just need another close companion and you are just always there.
With wallabies, if free ranging, then sure.
We free ranging our birds on the farm, there are wallabies/kangaroos in the area. I don't think that I have lost even one bird to wallabies/kangaroos.