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We recently adopted a 3 yo female lab who is now great friends with our 10 yo lab. Problem is she chases and sniffs to death (or whatever she does) the chickens. She thinks they are fabulous toys. Since its cold here in Ohio, we've tried to bring a chicken into the house for her to smell...

We have 12 that hatched and are now 1 wk old. One of them is noticeably unable to hold his head straight. We aren't sure if we didn't notice it at first, because we thought he just looked like he was still cramped in the shell, or if it wasn't there. Now its obvious. If we force his head...

We have 12 that hatched and are now 1 wk old. One of them is noticeably unable to hold his head straight. We aren't sure if we didn't notice it at first, because we thought he just looked like he was still cramped in the shell, or if it wasn't there. Now its obvious. If we force his head...

We had three hens who chose to sit in one of three nests (each had 10-12 eggs). Every few days we noticed that they were switching nests. After a month, no eggs hatched so we pulled all the eggs. They still seem to want to brood. Should we let them try again? We only have 1 rooster and 30+ hens...

Not sure how it happened, but many of the eggs she's keeping are covered with poop. Should I wash then, or rinse them in warm water? I just don't want the babies being born into that, and then, doesn't the momma eat the shells? Ewwww!

I have 32 hens, and at least 15 are Buff Orpingtons about 2 years old. Only 1 has gone broody (last year with some tragic results). We have a BO roo, so I expected they would be producing little BOs on their own. We collect the eggs everyday. Is that the problem? One BO likes to sleep in the...

I am taking baby chicks to my sons class, and I plan to bring a hen. Last year he was in a classroom that had its own sink so kids could wash hands between touching. Now we won't have access to a sink. Will the antisceptic gel be enough to allow then to touch the hens, then touch the babies? The...

My broody momma hatched one chick this am. This is her third time and they usually don't last the day, so we've taken this one from her. Chick seems to eat and drink well, but looks very bored and wants my constant companionship. Can chickens be raised alone or should I quickly place an order...

We were free-ranging our chickens since spring. We were getting around 18 eggs a day. Of course we had about 24 hens and 2 roosters, but have lost some to heat and hawks. Now we have 15 1 year old hens and 1 rooster. The 13 little ladies should be laying anyday (born in May). I had thought the...

Last evening we realized our broody hen had a lively chick under her. As we (finally) moved the hen from the nesting box to a dog crate so the other hens wouldn't bother babies, or babies wouldn't get out (thought I had more time)...anyway. We found also one dead chick and one dead in the shell...

Two more that I need to make sure these r girls for a 4H meat bird pen.

My boys are trying to make sets of three broilers for a 4H project. Do the birds in the photo below look like girls? The one closest, I thought for sure. But the back two I'm not sure. Close up photo of one of the back two birds. All Three: One of the questionables alone:

I had a momma hatch 1 chick a few weeks ago. We kept them separate for a few days then it seems she really wanted to stretch her legs. So we let her (and a baby) run in the coop while the other birds were kept outside. Within a week we let them all mix because it seemed momma was taking care of...

I've tried to sort by color, as you might see in the photo below. I don't care about size, although the darkest eggs seem to be the largest and the really light brown ones tend to be smaller. There are some olive-ish ones with cool brown spots in the middle. I have about 15 BO, 2 that might be...

So we planned 50 broilers, then added 17 new layers (same day, same age). At one week, we've already separated those - 67 in the brooder meant a LOT of chicken poop. We have a tractor for the broilers and a smaller brooder. We'll, low and behold, two of my previous layers are broody. We thought...

After the little guy was hatched, we moved the family to safer quarters. All the other ladies had to come inspect and offer congradulations I was doing the same thing!

We found no trace of where the little guy came from when we spotted him this morning. We had been so sure she was sitting on a dud egg. She is still sitting on another, but we'll wait to draw conclusions now. We moved her to a safer spot and all of the other ladies had to come input and...

Several of my girls are going bald because my second-in-line rooster (beautiful but not dominant) seems to be mating rather harshly. We have 18 girls about 7-8 months old and 2 roosters same age. All the chickens have stayed in the coop since december when it got cold. Coop is 10x12 with large...

This is our first winter, learning as we go. We currently have 21 pullets, 3 roos in a 10x12 coop with 10x24 run. We were free-ranging, but have been keeping them in coop to train them to use nesting boxes. They are all just starting to lay eggs (girls at least ). Not sure how long they will...

My pullets are getting close to laying and we want to be prepared. While it is still good weather, should we build a run so they are contained for awhile? We have 31 birds that sleep in a 10x12 repurposed shed. All day they free range. I know this is dangerous, but we've been lucky and like the...