I have an 8 month old Silver Laced Wyandotte. She has been broody for 2 days now. I've removed her from her nest and blocked off entrance to her coop but wondered if it's too early to try and break her of her broodiness? Does her body need a certain amount of days to let her hormones takes it's...
Oh my gosh, I made a mash out of their pellet/crumble mix and warm water with a little apple cider vinegar added. They are scarfing it down. Maybe this is the solution. I'll have to watch them closely now so they don't get too fat. Thanks for all the input. :)
I haven't weighed them, but the vet told me the hen I took in to check for worms was too thin because of her breast bone not having much meat around it. She is my Delaware. I picked up one of the reds the other day and she seems to be the same.
They were 4 months old the first time I tried to change them to pellets. They are a year old now. I do have oyster shell available to them too. And that's why I was surprised my vet wanted me to switch to pellets. The ingredients are the same as the crumble. Now I'm really confused. :)
I have a variety of hens, Delaware, Rhode Island Reds and Welsummer. But maybe that is a good idea to give them grower finisher with oyster shells supplement for the extra calcium. I will lay off the treats for a good long while.
Even though you can't tell by looking at them, my girls are too thin. I can feel their sharp breastbones when I pick them up.
I had to take Delilah into my vet for possible worm issues and brought up that all 5 of my girls were very thin. My suspected worm issues did not turn out to be the...
Okay, tell me again adult chickens don't need heat lamps in their coops for warmth. (Not trying to supply light for winter laying)
Our outside temps have been in the low 20s and even though their coop is insulated it still gets down to 27 or so in there. We can get temps below zero where we...
All very good points. It didn't occur to me she might be ill. My thought was she had been injured by the rooster and the others went at her because of the open wound. But that may not be the case.
I also don't have a very good setup to keep her separated, especially in the coop at night. I...
Our neighbors have a flock of around 24 chickens. They have one girl who has almost been pecked to death. My friend separated her and let her heal completely, no scabs or visible sores, but still needs a few tail feathers. She tried to put her back with the flock but they immediately went after...
I saw a chipmunk in the chicken yard the other day. He was flitting about grabbing a bite of grain and feed on the ground.
The hens were busy elsewhere, but I saw the rooster look right at it and did nothing. I was under the impression chickens would go after small rodents in addition to bugs...
The feed smells okay, but I think I'll dump everything and start from scratch (not chicken scratch;) ) I thought they'd just self feed on the mix I was tossing to them. But there is a lot on the ground that they don't eat. Back to basics I guess.
I was giving them organic layer crumble. I tried the layer pellets but they didn't touch those. I thought throwing the scratch and crumble mix around would be like self-feeding from the feeder bin. They'd just scratch around for it instead of eating out of the feeder. No?
The scoop is probably about 2 cups. I have 4 hens and one rooster. I haven't seen them use the inside feeder or water since allowing them outside when they were feathered in enough this spring.
My chickens have quit using their inside feeder and water.
They have a very large, secure yard they peck and scratch around in, but I think I made a mistake by throwing a couple of scoops of chicken scratch around the ground for them every day. Now it seems they won't eat anything other than...
Yesterday I found two very small light tan/pinkish eggs in the chicken yard. My girls are only 16 weeks old. I've got two Welsummers, two Rhode Island Reds and one Deleware. The shells are very fragile and both eggs were broken when I found them, probably because shell was so fragile it broke...
Wow! She's so much better today! She managed to dump over the bowl of feed I put in with her and watched her drink fresh water when I changed it out. Her poop looks normal too although I know you can't see coccidia without a microscope.
She's talkative and up on her feet.
But she looked so...