Sounds like you feed your flock properly. Some people may try to avoid giving them too many veggie scraps or eggshells, but we feed ours as long of the eggs seem fine. The only potential problem could be onion-tasting eggs from onion scraps, or rock-hard eggshells from too much calcium. All...
We have a summer garden and a small winter garden with spinach and lettuces. I don’t really measure how much I feed them of layer vs. garden treats, which I’m sure a lot of people don’t like. I feel like they, to some degree, inherently know what to eat to lay good eggs. I also believe that the...
As aforementioned, young chickens definitely eat a lot, and for a good reason! However, I do believe chickens can eat too much and leave a hole in the wallet. We have a hanging feeder (which prevents scratching and wasting their food on the ground) in their barn-coop and do not provide a light...
We cover ours with welded wire, too. We also put a plastic lattice panel over it for extra shade in the hot West Texas summers. However, just welded wire keeps the bad guys out perfectly.
Very nice rooster there. If he flies over too many fences or gets himself lost frequently because of his flying tendencies, you can try to trim his wing feathers. We trim ours every so often, about an inch from the wing skin. It looks ugly at first, but will look better in about a week and he...
When we've hatched chicks via our buff Orpington, we didn't candle much. We just allowed a good 25 days or so for hatching. If space is not an issue, I'd recommend hanging onto them until well after 3 weeks. Just a personal opinion.