Anyone keep Muscovy ducks with their chickens? I've heard they are great for fly control, and lay fairly well, too. I've heard they don't require a water source as much as other duck breeds, anyone have any advice? Will a baby wading pool be sufficient within the run?
I think that was the issue, they were fine together with one younger chick, then two more hatched and they went crazy! The wound was pretty serious, a literal HOLE and just kept bleeding and bleeding. We separated them for the day, put them back together and they had at it again. It seems...
We have two chicks that are 2 weeks old, and three that are a few days old. The elders took to the littles quickly.
This morning, the two older ones starting fighting like crazy, one drew blood on the other, gouged a hole in the neck!
We separated immediately for the day. Tried to put the...
This is Broody's first time, and we had 4 eggs under her (large Cochin), the first just hatched assumingly in the middle of the night, and she smashed it to death.
We also have 2 additional eggs in an incubator, and both are fertile, but only at 5 days, the eggs under her are at 18 and 17...
Our chicks are 9 weeks old, and the past 2+ weeks have been living in their "coop within a run" transition home. Which is a coop from TSI within the adult chickens' 40' X 50' run. So they've all been able to meet and interact with each other somewhat.
When is a good time to let them out to...
Thank you! We tried an egg filled with mustard and apparently they don't mind mustard!
I'm going to try golf balls and the fake eggs. It's difficult to check on them every hour to collect. I've noticed that one is laying a soft shell egg at night when she roosts ... and I don't know how to...
How do I stop the flock from eating eggs??
We thought initially that several of the hens had all but stopped laying ... not true, I've caught them several times now eating eggs!
We have one rooster, and 6 hens and apparently they're all loving fresh eggs suddenly now!
They have oyster shells in...
We've had a hen laying super soft shell eggs while she roosts and now the others are eating them.
HELP!
So, I saw the rest of the flock eating at one of the shells again, and then this was in the nesting house ... could be from same egg?
How do I stop this?
Great advice, and thank you so much! Tomorrow we move the littles!!! That is, to the garage, with heat lamp only in a tiny corner of the pen. Open doors on nice days, and move to big coop next weekend. My question is, if they are in their "mini-coop", that's within the big run, not...
Thanks so much! Very helpful! It's still pretty cold here, 6" of snow today, and although that's pretty unusual, our weather in this part of the country is extremely unpredictable! That being said, I'd like to try the huddle box if necessary, but if I put them in our little mini-coop (which...
Thanks so much! We have one of those chicken houses you can buy at Tractor Supply that is set up within the main chicken run, which is approx. 50' x 35'. so in this mini-house, could we put the littles in there and let them go freely inside the house if they choose, without heat? And what is...
We currently have 4 chicks in a 5'x2' trough in a room in the house.
3 weeks old
we wanted to move the entire brooder out into the garage and put a heat lamp above them.
how long until they can be transitioned to an enclosed coop/house within our chicken run to start introducing to the adults...
I just clean the poop out of them each day. Nothing else has changed, one of the newer layers, dark cornish, started it. She layed on the floor once and now everyone seems to be following suit