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I just got a box of chicks in today, assorted straight run. One is a black chick with a chocolate brown tint to the face, does that sound like a black sexlink pullet? I got them from Townline Hatchery, and of all the breeds they have, that's the only thing that seems to fit.

I've got an approximately 6 week old ringneck dove that I found a while back in my yard, he (she?) had fallen out of a nest and I could not find the nest to return him, so took him in and handfed him. He's made himself quite the spoiled pet, he just adores my husband and I and hangs out with us...

While I was outside taking care of my livestock earlier, I found a baby ringneck dove sitting on the ground in one of my pens. I couldn't find the nest it came from anywhere nearby, so I brought it in, and it seems very happy to hang out with me, so I'd like to keep it. I'm not sure how old it...

I've got an assortment of eggs hatching right now and three of them have had a weird problem I have never seen or heard of. The chick pips, and begins hatching, but the membrane, instead of being that normal thin film with some blood vessels in it, is thick, dark colored, and gelatinous, and...

I've got some mutt chicks hatching right now, and one has a color I have not seen before. It is a yellow chick with a gray stripe running from the top of its head down the middle of its back. Just one stripe, not the usual two stripes on "chipmunk" colored chicks. Has anyone ever seen a chick...

I see that a lot of people like to feed black oil sunflower seed to their chickens. I've never done so, as it's kind of pricey...I was wondering what the benefits of it are?

Is there a trick anyone knows for telling if eggs are fertile without cracking them? I'm in the mood to try hatching, and I can get large amounts of cheap eggs from a friend, but she only has 3 roosters with 120 hens, so she doesn't think there will be many fertile ones. I've cracked a few for...

I got some chicks last February, and they didn't start laying until January this year. (assorted breeds, mostly bantams) They were laying ok, not great...I was getting 6-9 eggs a day from 20 hens. Now they have stopped again, at first all the bantams stopped and one Orphington was still laying...

Last night I was visiting with some friends and we were talking about our chickens. My hens are 11 months old and had not laid any eggs yet, and I was saying to them that if they didn't lay by March I was going to eat them and start over.... This afternoon I found two perfect little eggs in a...

A couple of weeks ago I thinned out the excess roosters in my flock, about 20. When I had that many, the only one really ever crowing was the dominant rooster, a bantam Old English Game. He wasn't so bad, his little squeaky crow didn't carry far and he'd only let out three or four little crows a...

I've tried out a variety of breeds to see what one(s) would best meet my needs. I want to keep some chickens for eggs (I have a separate meat flock) that are good free-rangers, efficient with feed, and tolerant of the summer heat out here in the desert, as well as able to escape predators fairly...

I am having problem after problem with these stupid broilers. I am absolutely never buying them again! First they were trampling each other to death, then they were picking at each other to death and eating each other, now they are dying for no apparent reason. I'm losing an average of a bird a...

I have some 4 week old Cornish Cross that I let out to free range all day, and then confine in a horse stall at night for safety from predators. While out, they also have access to all the feed and water they want, and water when in the stall at night. Since I started letting them out, they hate...

I have a group of bantams I got as chicks in February and they have not started laying. They are Cochins, Old English Game, Brahma, and Cornish Game. (not Cornish broilers) Also, I have one New Hampshire standard sized hen the same age that is not laying. I have tried everything, increased...

Last night when I was putting my free-range Cornish Cross chicks back into the barn, I accidentally stepped on one's foot. It seemed fine, so I put it away. This afternoon we noticed (I assume it is the same one, they all look alike...) that the foot is very swollen around the ankle and the...

Does anyone have a number for me on what a 3 week old Cornish Cross ought to weigh? I know I have slowed mine down by the way I am raising them (free range, lots of excercise and not on broiler food), but I'm curious how far behind they actually are. Also, have any of yours been able to fly at...

I am building a newer, nicer chicken coop. I would like to have a light in it both to help them lay better in winter and so I can see in there in the dark if I need to check on them. The coop is 4 feet by 6 feet inside, how much light should I have in there to keep them laying? Because my house...

I have an assortment of bantams I got earlier this year, they are 33 weeks old exactly today. And I have not gotten any eggs--there was one a few weeks ago that MIGHT have come from one of them, or it might have been from one of the older Buff Orphingtons I have that have stopped laying and are...

I got some Cornish Cross chicks on Thursday. They are three days old today. All are eating and drinking as only Cornish Cross can. There's about 150 of them, I'm using a horse stall (10 by 12 or so) as a brooder. 50 are mine, the others are being picked up by different families on Sunday. Last...

Yesterday morning my order of Cornish Cross chicks arrived from Central Hatchery. I did a big group order for a few different families to split up, so the total order was 200 chicks. That's a LOT of birds! I got a lot of odd stares as I walked out of the post office with a heap of chirpy boxes...