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She is one of the top birds in the pecking order and is a great forager, so I don't suspect nutrition deficiencies...I feed them a high-quality Organic pelleted layer feed and the flock free-ranges during the day. There are no signs of external parasite eggs, and they ingest DE with their food...

One of my chickens stopped molting halfway through her last molt in the Autumn. She has been covered with pinfeathers for months and she's still wearing half of last year's ratty feathers. Some of the new feathers that did start to grow in are only partial-length as though they were in the...

So I moved into a great old house that comes with an old dog run (/tree fort!) that I would like to turn into a chicken run. It's got four chain-link walls, a cement floor with drain, and a tiled roof; but is by no means predator-proof yet. I would like to cover the floor with pea gravel...

Thanks for the reply. This morning she was back to normal. I shall keep an eye on her, but from what you said I won't worry too much.

Please help! When she breathes, my 9 month old Ameraucana pullet is making an audible "hoooonk" noise. It sound like a sad harmonica. When I picked her up to investigate, the noise stopped because she was holding her breath and breathing shallow. When she walks around she continues making...

Well, BR are supposed to be color-sexable. Yours looks like a female. Maybe she's just... manly? I have a bossy BR pullet who started crowing! Turns out once the boy(s) started crowing, she decided her noisy services were no longer needed. My EE rooster (also supposed to be a girl) just...

UPDATE: It took her an hour to do it, but I finally found a small egg sitting in the bottom of the coop. Whew. It was just a newbie panic attack.

I have a friend who has a mixed flock of around 20, with one large-fowl rooster and one bantam rooster. The banty is top roo! Each boy cares for girls similar in size to them. In your case, I might assume that he would care for all the girls. Would your 1 bantam hen be over-bred? Dunno.

I have a young Showgirl Silkie who crows a couple times in the morning, only. And his voice -- from the moment he first threw his head back, his voice has been rich and gorgeous. I mean I've heard some hoarse noises coming from Silkies roosters just crowing their brains out -- however, this...

I have a Modern Game Bantam outside making a cacophony of sound pacing to get into the run, pacing the run, pacing to get out of the run. It's been going on for a half hour now. Her hind-quarters are larger than usual, which makes me think she's got a package 'needs delivering. She's new...

Umm... I would try penning the chick in the run so that the birds can socialize but so that violence is not an option. Probably until they all happily ignored each other.

I have two free-ranging Showgirl Silkies. I don't know if the "Turken blood" makes them more bold, but they have had no problems out in the yard. One, a cockerel, is top chicken! The other, a young pullet () had been caged all her life until 12 weeks of age and happily trotted around the yard...

I'm happy to report today that both chickens are off of medication and as perky as... er... spring chickens. The Australorp felt feisty enough to challenge the cockerel! And -- miracle of miracles -- the BR crowing pullet hasn't crowed! They're all in the yard with the rest of the flock...

I hear it's hormones. If she hasn't seen a rooster, then her instincts tell her "someone needs to be at the top!". It's not learned behavior, it's instinctual.

Hi! I have a crowing BR pullet as well! She just started a couple weeks ago, just after I noticed that she climbed to the top of the pecking order. I have been trying treating her like a 'bad rooster' -- chasing her around the yard and carrying her under my arm in order to "establish my...

Is it permanent? I mean, do they have trouble processing a vitamin or some such thing; or is it temporary, a problem with diet?

That's gorgeous! I love it! I'm going to bookmark your coop for inspiration.

There is a point at which the degree of brightness of the light will affect their day/night cycle. For birds, light cycles are everything. It affects not only physiological function (laying, molting... migration!), but psychological health as well (24 hr. light OR dark can cause feather...

Muscovy ducks! Has no one said that yet?

Ooh, okay. Thanks, I will.