We bought 25 day old pullets back in the end of July, we are now down to only 16 birds. It seems that we have lost a lot of birds to predators this year. They are in a mobile coop and surrounded by an electric fence. This is our first time using the electric fence and in hindsight we...
Too Crazy! I had a very similar issue. I have 7 hens and 1 roo that are 10 months old with oyster shells freely available. A few weeks back, I actually lost 2 of my hens to hawks, I think. Then production went way down, I found a nest of eggs hiding underneath my coop. So, I thought the...
Does anyone else have photos of speckled eggs? It's so cool to have some variety when I collect eggs at the end of the day, plus that's what makes them different from store bought eggs.
I have an EE that lays eggs on my front porch, by the time I realized it there were 3 green eggs and 2 brown eggs there. But for the most part, they know to go back to the coop. With all the snow and cold weather we've had, my hens (8 months old) have been locked in quite a bit...I am hoping...
This was our first year raising chickens. We got a mixed lot of day old chicks in Mid-June, 10 cockerels and 10 pullets. We chose Plymouth barred rocks and buff orpingtons. All of the chickens were kept together and allowed to free range until butchering day. We did the deed at 22 weeks and...
Well, I think they may have laid eggs somewhere on the property, but we've had steady snow since and I never found a nest of eggs.
I do have golf balls, plastic easter eggs and a ceramic egg in their nesting boxes in hopes that it would help them understand where they are supposed to lay...
I have nine, 30-week old hens (BO, BPR, EE). My first hen started laying at the beginning of December, one egg a day every day. Then after laying about 10 eggs in the nesting box, nothing. I started to worry, had their poop analyzed at the vet for worms, nothing. A big snow storm came...
I have a 6 year old Swiss Mnt dog and 10 free ranging chickens. This is our first year with chickens and our dog may run towards them but the chickens don't pay much attention to him. Mainly the dog is inside, but he does go out unsupervised without any issues. This summer he would just lay...
You may also want to take a hard look at your diet. When I was pregnant, there was a lady in my prenatal yoga class who had fertility problems. She removed all refined sugars from her diet and got pregnant. Another friend of mine who tried and tried ended up finding that she had a benign...
I too vote for baby wearing and utilizing nap times. I used the Ergo baby carrier and my 2 year old still fits in it. It was a little pricey but well worth the money. I tried a sling style carrier from Target, but my DD looked so uncomfortable in it and it was not comfortable for my back...
I too just processed a batch of roosters, ten of them. 21 week old free range Buff Orpingtons and Barred rocks. Average weight was 4 lbs. All went well, but the plucking took forever...we ran out of propane and I think the water was a bit too cool. How old were your freedom rangers?
This is my first year with meat birds...we ordered straight runs, barred rocks and buff orpingtons. We're keeping the hens and one roo...the other 9 roos are headed for the chopping block this weekened. They are 21 weeks old and just now big enough, judging by the drumsticks and the fullness...
I had a close call with a hawk yesterday too. I wonder if it's because the leaf cover is disappearing? We live in a hollow in the woods, so our chickens have pretty good cover most of the year.
I know I was surprised when all of the chickens bawked and flew for cover. I thought, what the...
Hi All,
I'm new to the chicken world. I live about 10 miles west of Morgantown in a tiny town called Core, WV (western Monongalia County). We ordered our chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in June, split an order with some neighbors. We have 9 roosters heading to the freezer in a few weeks...