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Stephine, unfortunately I am in South Africa.

My advice is to experiment. Nobody is going to have the right answer for your specific situation. Try leaving the coop stationary for a week to see if it improves your problem. If it makes no noticeable difference then it's not your main issue. If it does improve, then maybe you need to...

Ah, I sure wish I could take him off your hands and put him in the pot Quote: Roosters are also a good deterrent of predators.

Hmm... not sure if I'm being helpful anymore, maybe someone else with this style coop can make a suggestion? But I would say, if your run is secure enough, you don't really need to lock the coop. As long as you can get them into the run, they'll go to the coop when they feel like it. The...

That's right! I'd recommend using pellets (as opposed to mash) to reduce the mess in the coop. If the pellets get knocked into your bedding the chickens will usually pick them up. I'll warn you right away that regular bowls are going to get pooped in. I prefer using the feeding troughs...

I had quite a bit of rat trouble last year. Follow the trap advice everyone is giving here, but also make sure you set A LOT of traps. Rats are smart, but if you set enough you'll eventually get lucky. On top of all the trap advice, make sure you're not feeding them. It'll take a long time...

I don't know much about owls, but hawks are relentless and will attack all day long. Roosters are illegal, but I wonder about geese? My geese have been great prevention against hawk attacks because they warn the chickens early if a hawk is around. Sometimes I hear the goose calling and I...

My roosters are extremely aggressive as they are bred to survive free range in Africa without runs. They defend their hens and themselves very well, and do not like strangers, but they do not show aggression to me or my family. Many people will cull an aggressive rooster, but I can't do that...

Also check her nest box for fleas or mites. Make sure the box is warm and comfy. She may have a good reason to avoid the box. In general, you need your nest boxes to be more attractive than any natural nests in your yard. If the box looks fine, you can also lock her in the coop for a day...

I occasionally have a surplus of eggs and feed them back to my chickens. So many people, (some very respectable) have warned me that I'm going train my hens to turn into egg eaters, but I've NEVER had an egg eater. So,+1 to azygous. I think you have two factors working against you. 1)...

Chickens are a lot smarter than you're giving them credit for . Moving the tractor a little shouldn't hurt anything, and I don't think water placement will trick them either. If you're feeding your chickens a big breakfast and they're scavenging free-range all day, they're not going to be...

For a small bird like a bantam you might be able to save a lot of time by just skinning instead of plucking. Unless you can do it mechanically, it might not be worth your time.

The goose definitely looks like a gander to me. Broad neck, a lack of underside feathers and he just has that gander stature. I could be wrong, and I've been wrong before, so I hope someone else chimes in. I once bonded a gander with 10 chicken hens and didn't have any problems. The bond...

My only experience is with Embden and Pilgrim, and I would say I prefer Embden, but it's not a strong opinion. Some people say 1 male to 2 female, but I think 1:1 works fine and mine seem to be happy in pairs. The difficulty you might have with integrating with your ducks is that geese...

Good advice above, but I also try to supplement with raw egg yolk to give them the best start. That's what they eat in the egg after all! You can mix it in with their crumbles. I use a ratio of about 10x crumbles per 1x yolk by volume.

Here in Africa electricity is very expensive and unreliable, so I always try to think of no-electricity solutions first. So I can't recommend any heaters, but maybe these ideas can help: So, I would take your 55 gallon drum idea and cover it with compost. The heat from the compost will warm...

There are two ways the mud could be getting in the water that I'm aware of. 1) Your coop is dusty. The dust floats into the air and deposits into the water all day long accumulating into mud. 2) Chickens scratch the mud in or poop in it. For #1 I would recommend adding a nice thick...

We don't get hurricanes here, but we do get heavy wind in August and torrential tropical rain in the summer. The most important issue with rain is to make sure the coop is not located in a flood zone. Move the coop to higher ground or perhaps dig trenches to divert the flow of known water...

I had the same situation once. The hens weren't trying to hurt the chicks so much as they were fighting each other for the nest space. Are your hens different breeds? When a hen raises chicks she does the job of integrating them into the flock for you. But if the hens won't take them...

I had a hen do this once (the gulping you describe) and she died :(. I autopsied her and found she had a small animal bone stuck in her throat that put a hole in the trachea. The other symptoms were dizziness and the tail was facing downward. But that's probably not what's happening... I...