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Hello, Our 2 yr old Speckled Sussux has dialated pupils and is very inactive. Plus, she has not laid in 3 days. Egg bound? The other hens in the flock are all doing great. Last week we had 100 temps, and she was fine. This week temperature is back to normal. Ideas? Thanks for your time. - Mark

Howdy -- We have a new backyard flock (four 1 month-old Red Stars) that will soon be sharing the coop with our Speckled Sussex, who is the lone hen from our first try (the BR died during the summer heat, then the EE turned into a nasty bully and got sent to the farm). So far we've let them...

Howdy, In the heat of the summer, our backyard flock shrunk by one, leaving us with 2 hens: EE and SS (Speckled Sussex). The EE was at the top of the pecking order, but wasn't overly aggressive when there were 3. But now, she is a terror! We've given her time-outs, restricted her movements...

Howdy! Background: Our small backyard flock (3 hens: BR, EE, Speckled Sussex) got even smaller this summer due to the heat (our BR died). About 10 days ago, our EE, the dominant hen, started to molt (again -- the second time this summer) and stopped laying. About this time, the EE started to...

Howdy, Has anyone had a chance to see the pictures/read the brief article in this month's National Georgraphic? (It is about 'rescue chickens' in the United Kingdom.)

A sad morning...went out to let our 3 hens outside to do some free-ranging only to find Mayflower, our BR -- 1 year and 1 month old, dead upstairs in the coop. I examined her -- no peck marks, no feathers pulled out. We have great neighbors and don't have any problems with predators. She laid...

Howdy all, I was curious to see if anyone else has read the above mentioned article about the loss of genetic diversity in our food sources, both plants and animal. There were two pages of uncommon breeds of chickens that are moving towards extinction because of our desire for fast meat and...

Our BR laid an egg without a yolk. While I know this is no big deal, she laid it on the poop board. Every egg she has ever laid was laid in a nesting box. So...did she know the egg didn't have a yolk, and by laying it on the poop board was saying, "This egg is no good -- poop!" or is it just a...

Howdy! Here's something amazing: we're almost 100% certain that our BR laid her first eggs today. Eggs -- 2 in one day! I checked for eggs earlier today, and got 1 from our Sussex who always lays in the same corner downstairs. When I checked upstairs, there was nothing. Some hours later, when...

Hello all, Doing some maintenance yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, I discovered a hidden egg. I washed it, put it in the frig, but my dear wife objected, claiming it could be spoiled. I checked the coop Friday morning, so the egg spent only a couple days tucked into the corner. Our temperatures...

Hello all - Our EE surprised us in mid December by laying hey first egg almost exactly 6 months after she was hatched. Plus, it was during a cold snap, with high temps in the mid teens. She continued laying through December, every other day, a real champion, and wasn't bothered at all by the...

Hello! I am looking for a used Little Tykes (or any other brand) playhouse (the kind kids can stand up in) to turn into a coop. I live in South Carolina, zip code 29550. If you are near, please post a reply or send a PM. Thanks and happy 2011! - Mark

Hello, I was getting ready to plant rye grass seed for this winter when I decided to do some quick research. I discovered that not all varieties of rye grass are recommended as forage for livestock. ("Livestock" didn't explicitly mention chickens, but moreso cows, horses.) We live in South...

I didn't know where else to post this link: (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Safety/Recalls/MajorProductRecalls/UCM224392.pdf) It is from the on-going nightmare of factory farming. It is somewhat troublesome to read, but what caught my eye was the immense pile of chicken manure as well as the...

Howdy -- Our old gas mower (thankfully) died this morning, which was timely as we've been wanting to get a reel lawn mower. Does anyone have one? (I've done the research, and with our small front/backyards (less than 2 hours total mowing time), a reel mower is a possibility. Plus, we have 2...

Howdy -- One of our common native birds in South Carolina (not talking chickens yet) is the Mockingbird, which, as its name suggests, is a gifted mimic. While eating dinner last evening, we heard a distinct 'cheep, cheep', and one of our daughters declared, "That's Bunny!" (Bunny is our 2...