Search results for query: *

When I read the first post to this thread, I thought the golf ball was all about a snake. I soon figured out otherwise. I'll try that to encourage them to use their nest boxes. I had a snake eating eggs, and I put golf balls in the nest, but he wouldn't eat it. He did swallow one of those...

You sent me to google to search "egg shell composition" to see just what egg shells had in them. Found the following at http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/eggshell-composition.shtml: "The main ingredient in eggshells is calcium carbonate (the same brittle white stuff...

I didn't know the egg shells contained protein too. Somehow I thought they were calcium, or mostly calcium. I'd read the DE comments on the forum and finally figured out it meant diatomaceous earth, then wondered if egg shells could serve the same purpose. I don't know. IF they would...

Does anyone out there know if crushed egg shells would work like DE for insect control? In gardening, they help control slugs the same way DE is advertised, by physically damaging the insect with the hard, sharpish surface. I give my chickens their shells, after drying and crushing, for the...

Years ago when I had my first chickens, and they'd reached adulthood, the combs on the hens starting flopping over. I was sure they had some strange disease. My sis got on line, found a chicken forum (maybe this one), and learned that a laying hen's comb flops over. Don't know if this is true...

It seems there is nothing new under the sun, but I didn't know this would work til I tried it. My week-old chick broke his ankle when the surrogate hen went crazy and grabbed him, flipping him across the pen. (She got confined away from the chicks and another hen took over the crazy hen's...

I couldn't see your pic--that site said I was "forbidden" to access it. ????? Is your hen REALLY 16 years old?

It's lonely when noone responds to your thread, I know. There are many using the forum that know much more than I, but they are probably busy, so I'll give you what I know about combining chickens. You can put chickens together after a "get-acquainted" time of several days, where they are...

When eggs are plentiful, they can be frozen for use later. Here is how: Eggs can be frozen, but not in their shells. Whites and yolks can be frozen together if they are beaten just until blended, then placed in small containers and tightly sealed. To freeze whites alone, separate them, then...

Hi again, Bigzio. Pine straw: is that needles or shredded pine or what? I have needles I could collect from under trees. I use them in my flower beds for mulch and they don't seem to deter my chickens from scratching in them, darnit. Just seems like needles would be too "pointy" to be...

What in the world is an Easter egg chicken? New one for me. Pat

It's the opera that my husband thinks is sure to keep the coyotes away! Pat

My hens often hide their eggs on the place somewhere and are sneaky as coyotes about keeping their new nest a secret. I just made new nest boxes in their house and maybe they'll take to them. As long as I leave a couple eggs in the nest, they keep using it, so I use a magic marker to know...

Eldiablo, the "radio trick" is turning on the radio with outside speakers front and back during the hours the chickens are out of their pen. We haven't had a problem since last August when we had coyotes come during mid-morn while we were gone. We hope it keeps working and the coyotes don't...

Toni, I just mentioned on another thread what I've done to keep the coyotes away, and so far, so good. Last August a coyote, probably more than one, cleaned out 4 hens and left their 2 month old chicks dead, just laying around. My rooster was gone, but showed up the next day. He had most of...

Darned dogs, anyway. Here we have coyote problems. They are so sneaky that last time they waited til we'd both left one morn around 10am, and before I returned at 11:30am, they'd killed several of my free range hens. So, for the last few months I have turned on the outside radio speakers when...

Jaynie, your offer is very touching. Thank you. I may take you up on your offer; I'll be in touch. I'll "unbury" my hen, freeze her, and take her to somewhere on Monday. My husband buried her for me before I put her in the freezer. It's been below freezing outside, so I hope her body is...

Thanks for all your input. I decided this could likely be Marek's since she was lame, had an eye problem, and appears to have a neuro problem not being able to peck at her food. I put her down this morn when she was worse than last night. She had a pronounced tremor and worse gait. Darnit...

Thanks, Bigzio. Can my hen have only one "spraddle" leg? Do you think spraddle leg is a sprain? Thank goodness the ice is gone now, and I'll be careful next time to keep them in. Could her not being able to eat be associated with a head injury from the older hen pecking at her? Pat

One of my free-range hens began limping after being out on our ice-covered yard. She worsened and wouldn't put any weight on one leg, so I confined her for two weeks and then began letting her outside in a 2x4' cage for a few hours a day. I suspected she'd sprained something on the ice and...