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We are small backyard chicken people with only 7 hens, and they just turned one year old. My daughter found, Lola, one of our black stars eating an egg a few weeks ago. She cracked it open in the nesting box and was eating it. We caught her with her beak in it. I put the ceramic eggs back in the...

We're in WI and had some wicked bad lightening storms last night. I went out this morning to find a White Rock dead under the roosting bar. She is always closest to the outside window of the coop. She did not appear sick yesterday and none of the other hens appear to be sick. All eating...

Our Easter Eggers just started laying a few weeks ago (even though we got them May 30!!). I noticed last week that one Easter Egger (lowest on the pecking order) has stopped sleeping on the roost and started sleeping in the nesting box. It was about a week after she started laying eggs. She...

I think we might be crazy "city folks", but now that we've built a nice coop and kept our 8 chickens alive for 6 months...we think we can move on to a hobby farm in the future. When we bought this house we were looking for more land than we got (0.75 acres), but internet access was an issue for...

I do knit and I've had some friend post that I should knit them sweaters. LOL They loved being out in the snow yesterday. Cold hardy breeds are made for this WI weather!

I agree with the other posters that you could use that design and then add hardware wire around the base for a run. I agree with Ridgerunner about using 4' and 8' dimensions. My husband ultimately put this together and that was his thinking too. Less cutting that way. Other things to consider...

We have foxes, coyotes, weasels, etc...you name it! We decided to go for a "box in a box" idea. We have 8 hens in an 8'X8' run area with a 4'X8' completely enclosed box with in it for nesting and roosting. So really about 96 sq ft. with extra perches for daytime perching....that's about 12 sq...

My husband informed me that I'm crazy. If it was too cold or drafty the ladies would be hiding in the nesting boxes. I guess he's right. This is our first winter with chickens. This is a picture of the outside winterized. I did add some straw bales to divide the lower part into a little...

It is for sure snow!! We have 7 inches with winter storm warning and more to come. I was just posting what the chickens might be thinking...they are only 5 months old and first snow! LOL

Young pullets thinking...what is this white stuff that blew into my coop over night??

We are having our first snow. We have about 7 inches already with more today. I checked on the girls this morning to find some snow had blown in the coop. They have a completely enclosed box on the top part of the coop where their perch and nesting box is located. There was NO snow in there...

Our hen Eggy seems to have blood coming from her ear and a little spot on the point of her comb. After realizing this is her ear, I'm wondering if she has something going on inside and she's bleeding out her ear or she caught it on something. How should I treat this? Clear away the blood and see...

We have 8 hens (2 Americanas, 2 White Rock, 2 Black Star and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes). They hatched May 30, so they are only about 18 weeks old. We are in WI and the days are really starting to get shorter. Will they probably still lay this fall/winter? Put 2 ceramic eggs in the nesting...

Great!! I did get some ceramic eggs yesterday when I got some more food. With my luck, I just bought a bag of chick starter and they will start laying early. LOL So, I added the ceramic eggs lets see what they do. The coop are is quite short and the perch will only be a few inches taller...

So our ladies are about 15 weeks old. We have 2 of each: White Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Black Stars and Americanas. We just added the nesting boxes to the coop with straw in them. Should we occasionally put ceramic eggs in there so they can see them in there? Or do they just sort of know...

We knew this fence would be temporary. Just enough to contain the girls when we were home during the day. We do plan on making that outside run more secure. Today it was funny because I think the girls finally realized that there's a weak point in the fence and the dog was going keep them...

My husband calls it the "fortress", but we'll see how predator proof it is when winter hits. We worked some long hot summer days to get it done for the girls. Home to 8 hens: 2 Silver Laced Wyndottes, 2 Black Stars, 2 Americanas and 2 White Rocks. The top coop area is a rectangle box enclosed...

I like the Garage idea but that won't work the way the garage is positioned from the coop. I think we'll end up keeping them inside the patio door in a rubbermaid tote because we have extra. I'm more likely to track dog poo in the house any way. With winter, we will really want to keep them...

Thanks for all the advice. No more bloody poop and they all seem to have more energy. I am glad we got 2 of each breed we have to compare them. I'm now sure it was one of the White Rock hens. The only difference in the hens before was that one of the White Rocks looked a little pale in the face...

I'm not sure where to post this. I was originally thinking of putting my chicken coop boots outside upside down next to the coop. I'm not sure how this will work as the weather gets colder. What we ended up doing was keeping chicken boots outside lined up on the patio attached to our house. My...