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I had one older hen suffering with a respiratory problem. I made sure my coop wasn't damp, changed out the shavings in their nesting boxes, put unfiltered apple cider vinegar in their drinking water (my cure for most issues) and bought/ treated them at night with VetRx (bought at Tractor...

Love my Plymouth Rock hens (aka barred rocks)! I started with one...plus 3 RIR. Got all 4 from a friend who was moving. The RIR's have all passed on... but my "old lady" Plymouth Rock is at least 6-8 years old now (& still laying eggs!). The breed is hardy, cold tolerant, friendly, they're...

Thanks for communicating with me. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

My coop is rather small- perfect for overnight, but the birds are happiest when they can roam their fenced paddock during the day. Unfortunately I cannot keep watch all the time. Have you ever clipped wings?

Today I've just purchased two 12-13 week old Plymouth Rock hens, to add to my small flock. They are exploring, flying around, perching on fence boards and getting out of their enclosure. Yikes... been chasing chickens all day it feels like! I'm thinking of clipping the left primary flight...

I have 4 hens (3 RIR and 1 a plymouth rock). They are molting. I haven't gotten an egg in about 3-4 weeks. We got these 4 girls from a friend, who was moving from the country to the city. They are probably 4-6 years of age. We've had them for about 2 years now and never gone this long...

We removed the cross bar separating the coop from the nesting boxes, trimmed the new roll-away tray a bit on the sides to fit and then my husband secured the back side of the trays to a block of wood (to angle it more downward). It did make the coop area itself a little smaller and the hens had...

Wow... didn't know any of that. Thanks for the information. Love this forum.

Similar concern on this end. I have 4 hens (3 RIR's and 1 Plymouth Rock). My "girls" are mature: 3+ years old. I too have noticed their brown eggs getting lighter this summer (+ egg production is down). Getting about 1 egg a day for the past few weeks, when usually it was 2-3. Hmmm, is this...

Our douglas fir coop, is a darker wood... and I wasn't thinking of changing the color. Just wanting to "treat" the wood (seal & weather/ water proof it)... probably both inside and outside. If we do this yearly, it should prolong the life of the coop. Just as you would a wood-sided shed or...

When I 1st got my mature chickens, my husband and I ran around like a comedy routine in the early evening rounding up the girls to put in their new coop. Very anxiety producing for both humans and birds! I read their instinct is to roost at dusk and seek out their coop themselves. I also read...

Well.... still not exactly the way I'd like it . My Plymouth Rock won't lay in the new set-up at all. Instead she lays in a corner of the coop and one of the other hens (a RIR) immediately breaks and eats the egg if I don't get to it 1st. Grrr. I think she's too big (or thinks she is) to...

We have a wooden chicken coop (douglas fir timber) and want to do an annual clean/ treat/ waterproof. We plan to do a light power wash and then "treat" the wood. I'm looking for a quick drying, non-toxic product. What do you recommend? This is our first year with chickens and we bought our...

Thank you~ appreciate your common-sense advice. Yesterday, I left my girls alone during their nesting hours. Had put a few shavings in the boxes (reminiscent of their previous nesting boxes), and things had much improved. 3 out of 4 layed in the proper place! My hen laying soft-shelled eggs...

Ok, so we did modify the 2 trays to fit our nesting boxes. At first I thought it was a success. Most were laying in the new set-up and the eggs rolled into the covered box preventing breakage. My Plymouth Rock however started laying in a corner of the coop. However, still working on this...

No, not new layers. They are most definitely stressed with the modified nests... and several are now laying in the coop (which they didn't do before). Leaving their "known" bedding (pine shavings) in the nests and slowly reducing it is an excellent idea! Thanks for the support and advice.

I too am struggling with that problem... have 4 mature egg-laying hens that were given to me by a friend. I've tried lots of things that sometimes seem to help: giving them a little milk, putting several plastic eggs in their boxes as decoys (like the golf ball idea), checking & collecting...

Today one of my 4 hens layed a shell-less (or soft-shelled?) egg. It was brown, perfectly formed and held together. In trying to find a solution to their egg breaking/ eating... I ordered a product called a roll-away tray that we've recently modified to fit my existing coop & nest boxes. My...

Here is my coop: AND... here is the product I ordered (Roll-out tray w/ flap + "optional pad"): http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/roll-out-tray-with-flap-for-chickbox.html I'd have to modify the tray to fit the coop/ nesting boxes. Don't want to mess w/ it, if it looks like it won't...

Here is the product I ordered (+ the "optional" plastic roll-out nest pad): http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/roll-out-tray-with-flap-for-chickbox.html Below is my coop (which is awesome for my 4 hens). Currently I have shavings in the 2 nest boxes, which would need to be removed and this nest...