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I have a hen that needs a foot bandage because of some foot issues. Ideally, I’d take her into the house for that, where I can sit down more comfortably with her in my lap, there’s better light, it’s cleaner etc. However, I’m worried about the temperature difference. Even if I do it in the...

Here's another commonly given piece of advice I've always questioned. You often see people recommending to wash eggs in water that's warmer than the egg, the logic being that colder water will cause the insides of the egg to shrink a little, thus sucking in bacteria from the shell surface in...

I just read something on a facebook chicken group that I hadn't heard before (and I have a lot of chicken experience). BYC has a lot more experienced folks and a lot more (reliable) collective knowledge than facebook though, so I want to hear your thoughts. I read that, in the winter, when it's...

One of my hens has been acting strange for the past month or two. She's 2 years old and otherwise healthy, but lately she's been looking and acting a little off. She has a great appetite, shows interest in regular chicken life, comes into my lap to hang out. Her comb is very pale, but most of...

I have a 6-month-old Wyandotte with crop issues I can't quite diagnose. Tuesday late afternoon I noticed she was self isolating in a corner of the run, didn't seem interested in regular chicken affairs, or in food. She was doing a lot of crop adjustments and upon examination, I found that her...

This is my first year with Wyandottes. I also have several generations of Orpingtons (some breeder English and some hatchery buffs), and some Barnevelders. Each new batch is either hand-raised in my house and integrated at 5 weeks old, or raised by a broody with the flock. I'm noticing a clear...

My run bedding is 3.5 years old at this point - a concoction of wood chips, dry leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste that I have added periodically over the years, and which has been composting in place nicely. It’s piling up pretty high at this point so I need to remove some and start...

This is so ridiculous I can't believe it's actually true, but it is... Apparently, the TSC website cannot be opened outside of the US. It gives an "access denied" error. I was in Europe for part of the summer and wanted to recommend something to a friend (in the US) and send her a link, and...

I have two hens recovering from bumblefoot. Both went through the standard daily treatments of soaking, cleaning, ointment, and bandage; their kernels came out (without surgery), and they are healing well. Ideally, I'd keep them bandaged up longer, until they heal completely, but I need to...

Out of curiosity and just for fun, how old was the oldest age that you had a hen go broody for the first time? I thought they started pretty young, and all the rest of mine that have ever gone broody, have started at or under a year old. But right now I have this 3-year-old hen who’s never even...

Sexed hatchery quality 6-week-olds. I had doubts about some of them when they were younger, but at this point I’m quite certain they are all female. What do you think? The yellow ones are Buff Orpington, the dark are Gold Laced Wyandotte, and the rest are Splash Laced Wyandotte. All of them 6...

There have been others, I know... And I did go over them. Some had pictures at different ages and an update past the point of doubt, which was very helpful for me. So I'm starting one of those threads, too. First, to ask you for your opinions, and then to update it with pictures, and the final...

I have a 3-week-old chick that still has its egg tooth... I've never seen that before on a chick this old. The chick is being raised by a broody with the flock and is outside where it has rocks and things to scratch and peck at, so I'm surprised that the egg tooth has held on this long. Could...

We just ate our oldest chicken yet - a rooster over a year old, that I culled for a friend. He was HUGE and built like a tank. My husband is a big sous vide fan and we've done that with chickens before with amazing results, but never one this old. So he decided to leave the chicken in the sous...

My husband the enabler has convinced me to keep one of the chicks from this year's meat batch. I have a core flock of pet hens, but every year I also raise a bunch of chicks for meat, from a dual purpose breed. This year I'm thinking of trying Wyandottes. So the plan is to let them reach full...

I have English Orpingtons, which are prone to obesity. I used to give them treats only about once a week (a handful of scratch for 8 hens), the rest of the time they only eat their crumble (Purina flock raiser). However, they are still overweight (said their vet). I stopped even the once a week...

Can I eat eggs that my broody has been sitting on for 2 days? She can't hatch them because I don't have a rooster. I should've taken them from her sooner, I just didn't get around to it. Wondering now if her warm butt has spoiled them, or if they are still safe to eat? Temperature outside has...

My favorite hen was diagnosed with EYP today by our local vet. Vet showed me the x-rays and the mass is so large and thick that not much else can be seen in the image, and she says it must have been like this for months 😭 Which is confusing, because my hens only resumed laying after winter about...

I'm considering trying some Brahmas for meat. In our family we eat the whole chicken though, including and especially the feet (they are my daughter's favorite). I don't like feather-footed breeds and have never had one, but I want to try Brahmas because they get big and meaty. Has anybody eaten...

Not sure where to put this, just wanted to share a very cool (and impressive) observation, on how great chicken feathers are at doing their job. A couple of days ago I had to urgently process a cockerel (doing a favor for somebody whose neighbors had complained, and the bird had to go). She...