I too am limited on number of chickens and am not allowed a rooster. I am planning on moving in a couple of years though so am already thinking ahead for that!
Really glad the broody breaker worked for you so that you were able to keep your girl!
Glad it worked! I wish more people were interested in chicks this time of year, I would love to give her some eggs to hatch and watch nature work its wonders!
Funny how when I got chickens at the beginning of the summer I thought it was solely to get healthy eggs from healthy chickens and now I...
Much better looking setup than mine! I used some scrap 1x2s and some hardware cloth to put together a breaker box. She has been in there since 8PM last night. I will let her out into the run today (locking up the coop so she cant get in) so that she can dust bathe, stretch her legs, and assuage...
Yes, unfortunately she is the only one reliably laying thus far. My other two just started laying last weekend but have not laid another (also her eggs are different color than the two new layers)
Ok... seems like there is a lot of debate over whether broody hens lay eggs which I think has been confusing me. I think I will treat it as if she is broody, put her in a dog kennel for a few days without bedding (but with food and water) and see if that helps.
Thanks! So I see it says a few posts down (by lazy gardener) that she is not broody if she has been laying. Is there a pre broody stage where they are still laying but beginning to get ready to brood? She is so attached to the nest box that when I close one off, before I even have time to close...
I have a hen that I think has gone broody, but am not totally sure. She spent all day in the nest box for the last two days and has plucked a decent amount of chest feathers, but she has laid eggs each day. I have been kicking her out of the nest box (and have now learned i need to wear gloves...
Thanks! I thought it might be something along these lines. Even though she is at the bottom of the pecking order, she seems to stay out of the way of the boss, and the boss leaves her alone, while the one in the middle of the pecking order (I only have 3) seems to always be in the wrong spot at...
Has anyone ever had a chicken that has a permanently droopy tail? I have a pullet (who just laid for the first time this weekend :ya) whose tail feathers are always down. She got cocci when she was about 3 months old, and it seems as though her tail has not recovered after that. It certainly...
Its true, this is an easily modifiable coop. The issue is that my landlord has placed restrictions on how big it can be, so I cannot expand it at this time. For only 3 chickens, which is all that I need right now as far as egg production goes, I am meeting all the suggested square footage...
Nest isn't on the coop for that picture. But it is in the opening that can be seen at the very bottom of the picture.
Attached are pictures of the run. It is fully covered and fenced in.
Here are a couple pictures. One before the coop was completely finished. I inked on the picture where the water and feed are. The second is a shot of most of the roost. I am going to keep the water thawed with a bucket de-icer.
I am thinking since it is a perfectly square coop, I could add...
I generally go out and check on them after it has been dark for at least two hours. The one is always on the very far side of the roost with the other two cuddled into a little bar underneath the opposite side of the roost.
Interesting. When you say a divider, what do you mean? Just something separating one side of the roost from the other, or a divider separating two separate roosts?
AARF,
Thanks for the quick reply!
Yes, I have three birds total, and up until integrating the new hen, they would all sleep basically on top of each other on the roost.
The roost is only about a foot off the ground, so is an easy hop to get up there. I will see what I can do about adding a...