They just like to have a dust bath to clean their feathers, rid themselves of mites and probably because it feels good. All chickens (I assume) need a place they can dust bathe. Many people put a container in the chicken yard filled with dirt or fine sand. If you do this, try to put it where it...
Is your run wet because it is uncovered and it is raining a lot, or because it is in a low area that water collects in? Or both? If it is in a low area, you may have to do a little landscaping to divert the water away from the run.
In my experience, the lighter and larger the litter is, the more...
My chickens can fly over the 4 ft garden fence. I am dreading dealing with this after the garden gets planted. I may have to do some wing feather clipping.
If you have your chicken wire supported, pretty tall, covered, and at least a foot away from the actual garden plants, I think it would work. I tried fencing off some sunflower seedlings and the chickens managed to flatten the wire enough to reach the plants. Oh, your diagram did not show up.
You know, I thought this was my post until I realized I am not MJP, lol! I had the same type set up, front and back roost, 8 chickens, all wanting the front roost. One chicken being picked on. One biggest bully. In my case, the bully "up and died" from I have no idea what. The mood in the coop...
Your climate and weather makes a difference as to what and how severe the issue becomes. In SE Missouri, humidity makes our fly and stink problem pretty bad. Here's what all I tried last summer and fall: Add hay (bad idea) Add straw (not the best) add wood chips for landscaping (good, but I...
No, but if there is no roo with the girls, one of them might take on some male tendencies. Like "Well, somebody's gotta boss these girls around!"
I was just thinking of crowing, bullying, feathers, but maybe spurs, too.
Can you identify when she does the picking? Like when the victims try to eat, or on the roost at night, or could it be a territorial issue, or.....could it be out of boredom? Although with the whole back yard to roam around in, I don't see why she would be bored.
A couple years ago I read that you can just cut pieces of your long sweet potato vines and stick them in the ground, cover with a flower pot or bucket, and leave for about 10 days. They will sprout roots on their own and grow just fine. I tried it and it works well.
Kqren, I see a few people walking around with masks on and just assumed it was because they had a cold or virus and were trying to keep from spreading it. I don't think we have corona virus here in MO yet. Man, I hope I don't have to wear a mask. I hate those things!
A few years ago I started buying newly hatched birds and hand raising them. English budgies, cockatiels, sun conures, love birds. They were so much fun and I had no trouble selling them. On average, English budgies sold for about 3 or 4 times what the regular budgie sold for. That may be why you...
I think if the cat is well fed, you won't have a problem. Particularly considering your black sex links are larger than the cat.
A feral cat may be more of a threat, though.
Do you think the chicken was there from dark last night or died this morning?
Possibly she knew something was wrong, went to get a drink and died at that time.
My girls have dropped off the last week or so. I still have the lights giving them about 12 hours of light now. Production was fine till now. 3 today from 7 girls. Interesting experiment with the lights, and the winter has been so mild so far that it wasn't a problem leaving water and food in...
It is supposed to be around 63 and sunny tomorrow, here near Cape Girardeau.
Today was a good day to clean out the coop, put down fresh shavings and set a mouse trap in one of the nest boxes that I blocked off from the chickens with chicken wire. I actually had a burst of energy, probably...
That's a nice blue egg you have there! My current Easter eggers are laying some fairly pale eggs. Not impressed with one that is supposed to be a "super blue egger" Blah.
One of my girls that is supposed to lay dark brown eggs lays speckled eggs about half the time. I think her brown spray...