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What I'm not sure about is whether there would be puncture marks or bruising if some animal had her in its mouth carrying her off. I see nothing! What do you think?

Forgot to say, I found the dead hen about 25 feet away from the tree, down the hill, as if she'd been running. So, I ruled out death by illness or simply falling out of the tree. :)

Some of our chickens have been sleeping in a doug fir tree. Last night we heard a commotion and ran out to find one chicken dead on the ground, with no marks on her, just 4 missing tail feathers which were on the ground under the tree. The rest of the chickens huddled under a bush near the base...

Thanks for all your help! I'm working on candling - I'll start a new thread when I have some pics.

How sad to lose a turkey to a coyote, but oh, that's horrible - losing your turkey to a mower . Sorry to hear it. The turkey has settled in and I can leave her dog crate open in the pen. There's also a chicken on a nest in that pen, but they don't seem to mind each other. However, I'll move...

Oh, and how long can I save the turkey eggs I'm collecting? A week? 2 weeks? More?

I moved her into a dog house in the empty coop. If I let her out of the dog house, she shuffles along the edges, trying to get out. So, I've got her locked up in the dog house with some food and water, though she hasn't touched either - is that typical? When I let her out into the coop for a bit...

I'm building little hoop houses for my flock. I want structures that let in the most light, and feel that white tarp over a hoop structure is the most cost effective and stable (i.e., wind resistant) way to go.

Thanks! I found the missing turkey hens! They were sitting together in a nest in a brush pile about 50 feet from the coop in the woods, but still within the electric fence - so safe. One of the hens has returned to the flock, the other is still in the nest. I put some grains out for her, but she...

Thanks, I'll start pulling the eggs and turning them ... in the mean time, 2 of my turkey hens didn't show up for dinner or to roost tonight, I'm hoping they have hidden nests, and are tucked away in them. How far might a turkey go to nest? Should I be looking on the ground? In bushes? The...

I've got 9 hens and one tom living with about 30 chickens. The turkeys are laying, and a few are spending a little time hanging around the nests, or lingering in the nests, like chickens do. The nests are shared between turkeys and chickens (and one kooky little rooster who sleeps in them at...

Well, that's definitive! Any one have any suggestions for how I might go about testing an unknown like this? I could just offer it, and leave it up to them, but I'm open to other suggestions.

Clumps of green mistletoe in the oaks stand in stark contrast to the grey and brown vegetation of our winter. Wild birds depend on it for a foodstuff, and I've read that deer it, and cattlemen have fed it. But, when I google mistletoe, all I see are dire warnings about its toxicity. I fed a...

Thanks for the tips, Olive Hill What is a DNR? Is the concern that my domestics will somehow infect the wild hen? My Tom doesn't hop the fence, so reproduction isn't the issue. I live on the border of wilderness; my donkeys, poultry and future goats, not to mention dog and cat, share ground...

Thanks, Olive Hill! I'm working towards getting my birds off commercially prepared crumbles. I've been feeding a grain mix of wheat, oats, millet, sunflower seed and corn. They also free range, and I give them some meat and greens. A couple of times a week they also get a mash with wheat bran...

Grass hay or alfalfa? I hadn't thought of doing that. What grains do you feed?

Fighting can vary between roosters and flocks. Extra roosters will most likely give you extra management issues. If you want the simplest system, just keep one rooster for your 12 hens. If you want to keep your roosters, however, watch how it goes, and be willing to intervene (i.e., cook a...

You could cut and tape together a larger brooder out of scavenged cardboard boxes quite quickly.

I've also not had any issues with fine grit for chicks, Mine have it in their grain/egg/greens mixture starting day 2 (chicks being raised by mama).

I've got 5 chicks that were just hatched by a hen 3 days ago. I'm following a Hawaiian Natural Farming feeding protocol for them: brown rice grains (uncooked and lightly ground), scrambled egg and chopped bamboo leaves. This diet is said to promote healthy gut growth, upon which so much of good...