I'am having a similar experience with out Easter Eggers. We stopped getting any eggs back in September when their molt began and have not had a single egg since.
The girls are all just over a year old and seem very happy and healthy (they are out frolicking in the yard as we speak). I expected...
Thank you everyone! I am in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland to be exact) The run is 100% secure w/ welded wire top (even under the roof), sides, and extending 2 feet under ground around the perimeter. The run then gets sealed up with clear plastic tarps secured by wood furring strips. the only...
Like most chicken keepers we use smaller containers to keep scratch at hand (after all we use very little) We recently had a fun mess with our organic feeds when we opened our scratch grains bin to find an infestation of thousands of black bugs that look sort of like tiny horned beetles. They...
they sell really inexpensive bucket heaters on amazon. We use buckets with nipples so there is nothing to freeze in an outside cup and had zero issues. Also doesnt use much power to keep the water from freezing, just need to make sure the bucket doesn't empty cause it will run till it burns out...
My chickens are about 18 or 19 months now. The first winter they were trained to stay in the coop and go in at night. During the summer they were allowed to sleep out in the run which has some nice high perches for them and they seemed to love it.
My run is completely protected from the wind...
I agree I built a swing because so many said their chickens enjoyed it...my chickens tried it out a few times, but once they discovered it moved they did not like it! Also on others suggestions i bough hemp rope to hang for them and the never used it till I hung it higher than the highest perch...
We are 3 days shy of 8 weeks now...here is the suspected rooster comb as well as a picture of his/her wings there are two distinct red spots on each wing (I vaguely remember seeing in a forum somewhere that this is a sign of a cockrel). His/her comb is much redder then the other two.
Here we have selfies of
1. Matilda
2. Gretchen
3. Gertrude
on their 5 week birthday! (TODAY!)
So far we have discovered one of them is causing a bit of shyness in the rest of the flock...they scatter when we come near them because of little matilda...they other two come running right back...
Someone should start a debate thread on straw alone!! As a new chicken owner I have heard the two debated and people making both sound like they make sense. some say it better insolates cause its hollow others say it actually draws the heat away from there body to warm the hollow pocket in the...
Great advice! I do just barely have room for one more at the moment but this is my first year with chickens, If all goes well this winter I will likely add a larger coop to my run and at least double (possibly triple) my flock. I know this is a major pain (introducing young pullets to adult...
We have three easter egger chicks, which from my research seem to be the hardest to sex when they are young.
Since about 3 days old I suspected one of them may be a rooster. IMPOSSIBLE to tell i know but she was always larger, started to feather faster and when her sisters started to feather and...
Couldn't figure out how to edit my last post again. The chicks did great all the way up till 48 degrees...once it dropped below that they started to pile on top each other in the coop and were moved back to the brooder for nights for a while. will try temps below 48 again in a few weeks. They...
Our chicks are 4.5 weeks old and have been spending nights in the coop with no heat lamp all week. Temps only fell to the high 60's at night tho and they have literally never shown signs of being cold. I was concerned tho because tomorrow night it is supposed to slowly drop all day to 48 at...
Yes, we have a 1.5ft apron off the run to prevent diggers it will eventually just be buried but right now it is covered with pavers until the pavers go into use elsewhere. I definitely plan to cover the sides with plastic in winter. But I am curious why the woven wire would be necessary in...
Thanks everyone, I used the advice here plus some i found in other areas of the forum on coop design and came up with some modifications i believe will definitely hold the snow.
I have attached pictures below.
Bonus pictures of our 3-week old Easter Eggers as they were out enjoying the 70-74...