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We brought Lucy up to the house for her spa day because she appeared to have a bad case of crusty butt. I cleaned her tush really well, and trimmed a few feathers. This is what she looks like. I felt for a bound egg and looked closely at her booty. I didn't see anything that I would consider out...

Just thought I'd share this racey photo with you all!!

Hello, friends. I was closing up the run this evening, and three of our girls snuggled in for the night to keep each other warm. I couldn't resist taking a photo of them! Left to right, this is Ethel, Lucy, and Scarlet!

My wife and I were wondering today if there is a "shelf life" on their oyster shells. I built a dispenser for them, but they haven't touched it in a few months (that we can tell). They did eat it when the weather was warmer, but now they don't seem interested in the shells or the grit. Will the...

I think it was probably inevitable that at some point we'd lose one of our girls to a predator. We came home yesterday from a hike only to find a hawk eating one of our chickens. My wife chased the hawk away, but the damage was done. The poor girl was opened right up, but still breathing and...

One of our girls has what appears to be a very sore bottom. What can we do for her?? Soak her in warm water with Epsom salt perhaps?? Our girls don't let us get near them, so we have to trap them at night when they are roosting. Here is a photo or two...

Hello, friends. We just got three new pullets yesterday. We only have the layer feed for the other four girls. Is it OK to feed the pullets layer feed?? They are betwixt 6 and 12 months according to our friend who gave them to us, but we aren't exactly sure which point they are closer to. My...

We were getting so much rain here that the shavings in the run never dried. So, to mitigate that slop fest I built a roof over the run. Here is the finished product! We'll be adding new dry pine shavings very soon in preparation for cooler weather, and just to thicken up the bedding.

We've had so much rain here, so I decided to put a roof over the run to keep the pine shavings dry for the girls. It's almost done. I finished up the roof joists for the most part today. I need to add a few stabilizers between them, but other than that, it's pert near ready for the corrugated...

Hi all, I don't have any reason to believe our girls have worms but I do have just a general question about that. Should I be giving my girls something as a preventative measure or are worms something handled once it's verified that they have them?

Last week, our beloved Nina died while sitting on the nest. We didn't notice any odd behavior, but things happen. So, we are giving consideration to getting some more. We were told that getting just one (who can do that anyway?) is not a good idea. We were told that it would better to get a...

I came out to the coop this morning and found our beloved Nina dead in the nest where they all lay their eggs. We have no idea what happened. She spent multiple hours in the nest yesterday, but we didn't think much of it. I inspected her completely and found no sign of bugs, and no predators...

Hi all. One of our girls has a really nasty looking crusty butt, and tonight it appears that she tried to poop, but it all just kind of stopped at the feathers. It doesn't appear stuck inside. It just appears like it got hung up and didn't drop. In any event, we are new to this and I'm thinking...

Hello folks, We have had tons of rain here lately and our run, which is 6' x 18', is full of wet pine shavings. We use the deep litter method in there, so it's several inches of now wet pine shavings. I wasn't able to get the roof done before we left town for a week, and then everything in the...

I started building a new dust bath for the girls today. It's probably a bit big, but better that than too small. It's 30" x 42". I'm going to put some walls and a roof on it to keep the rain out. I'll probably just use some thick plastic for the "walls," but I'll be putting corrugated roofing on...

So, we are pondering putting sand in our run. Our run is 6' x 18'. I've read the pros and cons, but wanted to get some "real world" experiences from you fine folks who know SO much more than we do. The girls already ate all of the long grass in the run over the last six weeks that we've had...

Hello, friends. I'm not familiar with which breeds are the larger ones (I can look it up), but I'm curious to know if my Copper Maran is just big, or if she's fat. Here is a picture of her. I don't know her actual weight, but I know many of you are chock full of knowledge and could look and know...

Well, here it is. It's ugly, but it's functional.

Hi all. I've been reading all kinds of posts concerning feeding, and I am, once again, somewhat confused on the issue. I have two 5-ft. PVC tubes in the coop filled with feed, so the birds can eat on demand. Some are saying that I should feed them daily in order to control their intake and...

Hello, friends. Super newb here again with yet another question. Our five girls are all about a year and a half old and laying eggs very regularly (4-5 each day). Their feathers below their vents are kind of nasty looking and I was wondering about pasty butt. From what I can gather, it's more of...