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Has anyone had a hen that just seemed to favor creating nests in the yard instead of laying eggs inside the coop? I've been battling this for 2 years and I think I've successfully traced it to just one hen, a quiet and unassuming blue Wyandotte. So far I've eliminated probably 15 different...

I have a dozen chicks and one of them seems to have a bad respiratory infection (acting sick, eyes swollen shut). I isolated her and cleaned the enclosure, but I'm guessing they've all been exposed. Is it still possible to obtain poultry antibiotics over the counter in the USA? I remember...

I noticed one of my chicks was acting sick—drooping head, wobbly, slow, not running around, and not opening its eyes. Its face and eyelids are swollen and when it does open its eyes one of them just looks like a black mess and the other I can barely see. Its crop also appears enlarged but I’m...

I picked up about a dozen day old feed store chicks on May 28th so they’re about 10 days old now. About 5 of them got pasty butt in the first few days and 4 of the 5 are doing ok now. One of them has been getting pasty butt constantly since day one and I have to clean her vent 2-3 times a day...

I have a broody hen that has been sitting on a dozen eggs for about 2 weeks, and another hen that went broody about a week ago. The eggs are due to hatch next Monday or Tuesday, and I will have to relocate the second broody to a crate if I let her incubate. Is it too late to steal some eggs from...

One of my very tame chickens did the egg squat when a dog came after her and the dog did a number on her, but didn't try to eat her--just played with her and nipped her. The chicken finally realized what was happening and got away under a fence, and now it's 24 hours later and she is still...

I have a Buff Orpington that hatched last spring and only started laying a few months ago. She was acting a little broody starting with her first egg, and now she is full broody and my broody buster is only set up for daytime use...I'm also a bit concerned about leaving her out in the weather...

I have 4 nesting boxes for 10 hens, and one of the hens just won't lay in the boxes. The other 9 hens figured it out just fine on their own (I've had closer to 20 that figured it out, but only have 10 hens now), and this one has been laying for about 3 weeks and still won't use the boxes. It...

I have an automatic coop door that failed me during a massive storm last night, and lost my sweetest hen to a raccoon. She was guarding a clutch of eggs at ground level near the door, and I'm pretty sure she growled and tried to scare off the raccoon when it came in. She was the best momma hen...

Has anyone had issues with automatic coop doors failing, either not closing at night or opening when they shouldn't? I've had one for 2-3 years now that uses a light sensor, and last night a really heavy storm blew in. I don't know if the rain/wind/lightning did something (we had 50mph gusts...

I live in a high desert and this summer has been brutal. It's been in the 100's during the day for a few months now, and it seems like all my hens are going at least a little bit broody. I have a serial broody that won't break, which isn't terribly unusual for her, but even my RIR and sex links...

One of my quietest hens (a tiny Welsummer) hatched and raised 6 chicks that are now about 4-5 weeks old. She started laying eggs again and decided she was done being a mom, but has been clucking incessantly for about 4-5 days now. She is also often by herself in the yard, and is at/near the...

I have two momma hens with chicks that are about 4-5 weeks old. They have been in a big cage with a wire divider so they could see but not touch each other. Today I let them both out at the same time for the first time, and the two hens got in a big fight when one got too close to a chick that...

Question: Are 4-5 days of setting long enough for a determined broody to transition to mom mode? Backstory: I bought 15 eggs a few weeks ago to slip under a young broody (9 month old Welsummer, her first time being broody), and 15 ended up being too many for her. She's a small hen, and she...

I'm about to order eggs to slip under my broody buff orpington and can't decide what breed to get. I want something quiet that is a good egg layer. Something pretty or sought-after so I can sell the extra hens and roosters more easily would be nice too. What about blue splash orpingtons or...

A local restaurant started giving away 5 gallon buckets and I snagged a few to use as nesting boxes. When I put dummy eggs in it to get them interested I noticed that they would roll to the center and get buried in shavings, so I had the idea of screwing a piece of 2x4 lengthwise down the center...

Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know about a little incubator hack I discovered this weekend. I had some extra eggs from an order that wouldn't fit under my broody hen, so I scrounged around my electronics drawers and came up with a simple but effective solution. I had an old electric...

I got a box of Australorp eggs in the mail today to slip under my broody, and the seller was nice and included a few extra. Only now I have 15 eggs and one broody hen! She's a Welsummer, but a bit small for her breed. I gave her all 15 to see what she would do. I came back a few minutes later...

Do hens that go broody one season typically keep going broody as they age, or do they become more mellow? I have a 2-3 year old Buff Orpington that was incredibly broody last summer (impossible to break) and ended up hatching some eggs and being a terrific mother. So far this year she isn't...

I have a spring in my backyard that flows into a small pond, and my chickens have a strong preference for drinking from the spring instead of their water bucket. The other day I noticed some nasty-looking worms in the spring, right where the chickens like to drink from. Could these be parasites...