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Quite often you will find that one or two of the other hens are the ones doing all of the picking on the other hen. If you can identify those two you can try and swap out the bullies for the injured hen after she heals a little. this will reset the pecking order in the main coop. after a two or...

I have to agree with mowin If your not going to eat eggs or meat it would be far cheaper to buy manure every spring than to feed 50 chickens year round not to mention what are you going to do with maybe 3 dozen eggs a day 365 days a year. Also 50 chickens will go through a lot of food with...

I always build my pop door on the inside of the coop with the opening framed out with1 x 4 or whatever fits your walls. The trick is to make the door long enough to come down below the opening so that preditors can't reach the bottom of the door and raise it up. As long as the slide channels...

I live in Ky and have been using a 50 watt bird bath heater. I don't know how cold you get but I know it works fine down to about 5 degrees with no freezing at all in a 5 gallon waterer with horizontal nipples or what I am using now a cooler with the bird bath heater and a low watt fountain...

For years now I've been buying 1 bag of starter to start with and then just switch to all flock (18% protein) after the first bag is gone. Your birds will do fine on this diet and no worries about calcium. If I have it I quite often keep them on all flock till everybody is laying and then...

Do not attract cats to your run. Your cat may be fine but most aren't. A few years back I had 3 get into my coop and they killed 41 out of 42of my layers for sport, one bite was taken out of all the kills.

I have a number of security steps, starting with all the wire is 1/2" hardware cloth. Coop is 2' off the ground. The entire coop and run is covered by steel roofing which allows me to keep food and water in the run reducing rodents in the coop. By the way all food is fed thru 3" elbows on the...

I'm sure that I true greens too. Luckily It wasn't a big deal for me as I enjoy green eggs too but I wouldn't have been a happy camper if I was really counting on blue eggs. I just was saying that mistakes happen some times.

I ordered 5 of the true blue about 3 years ago. All were sexed correctly and like Easter eggers no 2 were alike. Pretty good layers but a little flighty. My only problem was all my true blue's layed green eggs. I was thinking about calling the hatchery but a cat got in their coop and did them...

Looking at your picture it looks like you will be able to see movement inside. I know that the temptation to check for pips 12 times a day can be hard to resist but leave it alone. The reason you don't want to open up a lot is to keep the humidity up for hatching. That being said a quick check...

If it is a Roo then the turmoil will last for a while. For now they will put him in his place, but as he grows he will grow into the top spot providing He's the only roo. I always try to put young Roo's with the older girls as soon as he's big enough to not get really hurt. It is amazing how...

While I've only had a few NHR's over the years the ones I've had were not very aggressive, In my experience the RI were the more aggressive of the two. But like all breeds you the range of aggression will vary.

Any time between now and shortly before POL will be fine. Sally PB is right combs and wattles will get much redder when their getting ready to lay. Just remember that you can have one girl laying and the others can take a few weeks before their all laying, this is normal. You don't say what...

If all you have is the two 16 week old pullets block off the nest boxes for a couple of weeks till they start roosting just make sure the roost's are higher than the nest boxes. Lock the girls in the coop for a couple of days to let them know this is home. If their going up the ladder during...

I'd have to go with either Australorps or White Rocks. Both are good layers but the rocks are better for meat with the same personality. The WR roo's seem more mellow tho.

Cull him now. Trying to fix a roo might be OK for adults but is not worth it with kids involved. My life has gotten a lot more peaceful since I have have zero patience with aggressive Roo's. One strike your out. Their not only a pain to deal with I don't want that temperment bred into my flock.

Your friend is right light is needed to keep older hens laying in the winter. The light really won't heat the coop much. I sell eggs so i do need the girls to lay in the winter but I don't run the lights for 14 hours like some do. I just try to keep them in light for about 11-12 hours. I...

I've always found that I get a lot less eggs feeding a grain diet. Unless you feeding soy with it they will be low on protein. Dumor feed will do in a pinch but I don't use it if I can get anything else. A few years ago it changed and smells bad when you open the bag. It will also smell a lot...

You might want to give white rocks a look too the ones I've had were good layers and grew fairly fast. No duel purpose bird will grow like a Cornish x but the white rocks I've had seemed to grow a little faster than most.

How dark is your coop? Some times young chicks will try to stay in the light as long as they can if they've just came from a brooder that is always lit up. Their just not used to it getting dark but will soon get used to it. You'll also find that the kids just want to resist going to bed till...