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I appreciate all your input. Star was vaccinated for Marek's disease as a day-old chick. That suggestion led me down the rabbit hole of "avian leukosis" -- scary stuff. I wish these things were easier to diagnose.

Thanks for this info! I've tried tiny bits of cheese, scrambled egg, little bits of deli meat, yogurt, broccoli, and this morning bacon and cabbage. Yesterday morning mealworms interested her, but not today. She did swallow little bits of cabbage, but it seems like at this rate she'll wither...

[Beware: poop photo below] Star has always been our most enthusiastic eater, but now she has no appetite. Star hasn’t laid eggs since last September, but otherwise seemed healthy until a couple weeks ago. The vet is stumped; her poop sample had no parasites. Our two other hens (different...

Thank you all for your input! Rocky is still subdued today, but no fresh blood, so that's good. This afternoon I hand-fed her an entire scrambled egg, which she enjoyed. I think she was attacked by our Buff Orpington. My husband pointed out that it coincided with us repairing their normal...

Do you think our hen looks sick, or do these look more like wounds from being picked on? Our 18-month old Barred Rock started molting in October. Her feathers seem mostly in now, but she's still acting sluggish, and isn't laying. Yesterday we noticed (black scabs?) on her comb, and today we...

Red Star ~ 22.5 weeks Buff Orpington ~ 27.5 weeks Barred Rock ~ 30.5 weeks

Thoughts on run size: Our first run was 5 x 10 and I felt it was too small for our 3 hens 24/7. It was adequate when we let them out in the evenings for supervised range time, but we couldn’t do that when days got shorter, so we ended up attaching an 8 x 16 run to the original. If I was...

We use trays under the roost filled with 1/4 to 1/2 inch of PDZ granules. We scoop out the poop daily (schedules permitting). We use a 15x30 boot tray and a 16x12 food tray, which catch maybe 80% of the poop. 18" wide trays would be better.

My favorite purchase of the year: a livestock fan from Valley Vet. On hot days (all this week!) our chickens hang out directly under the fan. It's set on a timer from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

We used polycarb and are very happy with it. We used SunTuf on our 5 x 10 coop/run (finished 7/17), and Tuftex on the 8 x 16 attached run (finished 12/17). Opaque over the coop, and translucent smoky/gray elsewhere. It's easy to work with: we were able to trim it using a pair of cheap...

Last summer we used shade cloth, and also set up a box fan outside the run. On brutal days, the chickens pretty much stayed parked in front of the fan. I also kept a gallon jug of the chicken electrolyte drink mixture in the fridge, and would give them cool drinks of it on hot hot days.

I totally agree with aart. Disturbing our Buff Orpington and blocking the nest box didn’t stop her from brooding – she just patiently returned to the nest, or plopped down in a corner of the coop if the nest was blocked. We let her continue to brood, hoping she’d snap out of it. After...

We used 4' hardware cloth to make a 1'x1' tunnel -- our hens can pass each other in it. We have a Buff Orpington, a Barred Rock, and a Red Star (sex link). Here's a video of their first few minutes, figuring it out (). One thing we learned -- these tunnels absolutely would not bend or curve ...

Our build took 10 weeks last summer from start to finish, working only on weekends ~ about 15 days total. Not counting exotic items like the automatic door opener and wheel kit, we probably spent $850 to $900: Lumber, $250 Paint, $70 Roofing panels / screws / closure strips, $165 Hardware...

We have 3 year-old (almost) laying hens. We love giving them treats, but don’t want to make them unhealthy (too fat). I’ve read here that treats should make up 10% or less of a chicken’s diet. Our bag of feed states that each bird eats on average ¼ pound of feed per day. Assuming that’s about ¾...

Our 8x16 run wasn't anchored and blew over in a freak windstorm last month. Amazingly, no damage to chickens or run. We (ahem, my husband) pushed it upright and it was as good as new. We anchored it ASAP with a shed anchor kit from Amazon (auger anchors and steel cable).

I’ve been feeding NCO to my hens, but all the left-over yellow peas (that they avoid) have convinced me to switch to a crumble to make sure they have a balanced diet. Right now they’re eating only the “good” parts of the NCO feed, which means they’re losing out on some protein.

Our openings are 10"x12" (covered by 12"x14" cookie sheets), but our birds may be smaller than yours. We have three 10-month old hens: a Buff Orpington, a Plymouth Barred Rock, and a Red Star. We also created a 12"x12" chunnel that leads to a bigger run -- they can pass each other in it. We use...

Our security apron is 2' wide fencing that's attached with fencing staples to the base of the run. It's not buried, just lays on top of the ground. Buried skirting might have anchored it. . .

I ordered a shed anchor kit on Amazon today, with auger anchors. It should get here Monday. The wind was quieter today, thank goodness, and should be even quieter tomorrow. Wiring the run to t-posts probably would have worked, too -- we were just clueless newbies. :) It wasn't attached to...