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I’ve given QOs to my hens for a couple of years - as a daily treat, with no ill effects that I can observe.

Thanks for your response. In short - yesterday she laid. And since I'm just going into my fourth year as a chicken owner, I've not had enough experience to call this anything short of miraculous - because it was so unusual given what I've witnessed the past three years. It was a slightly...

Two-year-old Blue Production - in an earlier thread, she was my girl who would poop half the time a little bit before she laid an egg. About a week ago she laid a shell-less egg, and hasn't laid since. About four days ago, she was listless, tail down (the penguin look), and not eating. That...

Finally got a stinker a couple of days ago - just now posting. I think this weighs on the side of my latter theory, that my hen is pooping a bit before laying, then plopping the egg down in the dung. One photo shows the egg as it was found - with an odd dab of poop on the "top" of the egg...

Update: This has been an example of taking your car to the mechanic - and the noise stops. My hen has laid 8 or 9 eggs that are clean - but I noticed something. First, let me make clear my original theory: She was pooping/laying simultaneously. I've rethought my theory to: She is pooping a...

I don’t think my girl has a poopy butt/feathers that is coating as the egg comes out, but I’ll keep an eye on that. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Haha - that’s a relief to hear; trust that I tried to google this prior, and nobody said they have birds that poop every time they lay, so I’m glad to hear it - and I so concur that it’s annoying as h-e-double hockey sticks. I will still post a pic of my poo delight just to compare eggs. 🙃

I'll have to take a picture of a poop egg next time it happens, as I always clean off the majority of poop with a twig at the nesting box. I have included a photo of my second BP's egg from today - the spots have darkened, but they were reddish upon retrieval and wash off. However, the spots...

Two of my hens are blue production, 2 years old. One of them, for months if not for as long as she's been laying, has poop on her egg about 1/3 to 1/2 the time she lays - otherwise, perfectly clear of poo. Recently, though, a couple of times, instead of poop, there's been a bit of blood. I...

Just to revive an old thread. You can see my two hens facing the camera are tucking their heads - which I've never seen before, but it's about 29 degrees now, and usually, our nighttime temp is in the low 40's, with some exceptions. Actually, to me it looks like all five of them probably are.

Bobcat...jumped through a weak spot in my bird netting - although, maybe the entire bird netting was a weak spot. Only got one of my hens, though, as my wife saw it out there, and I hightailed out there and scared it into the corner of the tractor run where I was able to lift it up and the cat...

This is the "thing" I'm learning with backyard chickens - when you're limited to six (city code), and they're basically all the same age, into their second year, you probably won't get eggs from November (or earlier) until spring. That kinda sucks, ha! Feeding them and cleaning up their...

Coop looks nice. I might be way off base with perspective, but if you have six hens, I'd just use one (maybe two) roost boards - with a poop board underneath. It will make your job way, way easier, imho. And maybe I missed this, but do you have a bird net over your run?

Good to hear. I just sprayed mine down with a soft jet stream at the top portion to clean out dirt, dust, and the odd pine cone flower. It now runs smoothly again. I have to wipe that threshold weekly, though, when it’s rainy season, or the slight build-up will trip the sensor and cause the...

I don't see anything in the manual about lubricating any parts, and in keeping it clean, it all seems very obvious. As for possible lubrication or other tips on maintenance for this door, does anyone have any advice? I ask because it's sounding a little...uneven when it opens. I haven't...

I may have missed someone already addressing this, but might I suggest you build a much bigger run, since you have the land? Twenty feet for maybe four hens would be good, but for 12, that could be inviting some trouble - especially on down the road when you want to integrate new chicks. They...

Poop board: Depends on how many chickens you have. If you have just a handful (our city law limits us to 6), poop boards are wonderful - I've had the same shavings on the floor of an 8'x10' coop for two years, and there is hardly a doo-doo mixed in - I can't foresee ever having to change it...

Thanks for your input - so much appreciated.

A further question: For 250' or so of poly wire, I'm assuming 0.1 joules is plenty. Also, would that need to have its own circuit breaker if I don't use solar?

Wow - dare I say Fort Knox. Very helpful information, azygous. Is there just the beginning (or end) wire hooked up to the positive on your charger, with another wire coming from your ground pole? How deep is your grounding pole into the ground? What charger do you have?