Thank you :-). We had him in a wire cage, uncovered & it was an uneventful ride home. He was actually a real sweetheart especially for not having been handled ever so I'm glad we gave him a chance at being uncovered & seeing what was going on.
Thanks so much you guys!My instinct is to go with her instinct but I know they aren't infallible so just wanted to see what people with more experience thought. Thanks for the time!
Hi all, we're getting our first Roo & the lady said he has not been handled by her much, he is only a 5 mo old BO. When we catch & crate him, is it best if the crate is covered so he is in darkness til we get home (half hour car ride) or will he feel better if he can see? It's a wire crate &...
Hi, I have a broody Barred Rock that decided to sit. We hadn't gotten a rooster yet so eggs aren't fertile. We are getting both a roo & fertile eggs today & my question is, what is the least traumatic way to pick her up, remove bad eggs & exchange with good ones? She is inconveniently located...
Hello everyone, I have an 8 month old Barred Rock gone broody who is sitting on a large clutch of eggs outside under the rose bush. I live in North Idaho & it's getting to be winter here. It was 38 degrees last night. I have 2 questions, one- is it possible for her hatch a clutch au naturale...
Hi all, I have Barred Rocks that free range our back yard. Their coop & pen (if we ever needed to lock them up) are located right under the outer edge of a big apple tree. When they were first outside, they roosted in the coop. Then one decided to roost in the tree one night & of course it's...
Hi, one of my polish hens hatched her first couple chicks yesterday & I noticed her comb is so so pale. She's been good about getting out to run around, eat & poop for a little bit every day but she just looks worn out. She is also doing a low gravel-y sounding growl when someone gets too...
Hi, I asked this yesterday or the day before & didn't get any replies so I think maybe I can ask it in a better way :-). I have 12 9 week old chicks. I think I have a couple cockarels in there, maybe a few, but waiting to see. My question is, do they all mature sexually at the same rate, like...
At what age are roosters old enough to do their part in producing fertile eggs for my broodies? How many "girls" does each roo need in his own little "flock" to keep both hens & roo sane? Thanks for any help! We are new to flock management as we just had 3 hens & an a-sexual rooster before...
----Hello All, we had a hen who suddenly went & stayed broody. We didn't have any fertile eggs (our adult rooster had been taken or killed) & our new ones aren't old enough to do that yet... so we posted on freecycle & craigslist & got 3 fertile eggs & switched them out with the empties she sat...
Thanks for the great info! They should hatch today or tomorrow so I already switched feeders with chick feed & getting oyster shell for big girls today. Thanks so much!!!
---We used a plastic kiddie pool with 4 1/2' chicken wire sides as our "brooder". We put in several roosts through the wire, at varying heights. We just used bamboo rods at first. They hopped up & down all the time.
---We just put the chick grit in a separate bowl next to their food & they...
We were given several different kinds of mint, herbs, etc... to plant IN the pen. The mints as you know, are extremely hardy, to the point of annoying to most people but it doesn't hurt me one bit that they take over the pen. The chickens like almost all kinds of greens & can't hurt these...
So we had one of our polish girls go terribly broody, she just had to sit on some eggs. We didn't have any fertile, so we got some from a freecycler. She has been an excellent sitter & if all went well, they should hatch in the next couple days. We've decided to let her raise her babies the...
I don't know what breed you have, but we have polish & brahma-bantam adults & twelve 9 wk old barred rocks & we haven't had to clip any wings. They just don't want to fly that much, especially after they are getting close to adult size. With our babies, the only time they flew up to the top of...
Hi, I think 2 things helped turn the corner with ours as we went through the same thing. One, we started leaving the t.v. on quiet in their brooder room during the day so they would see people movements & hear people sounds even when we couldn't be there. They were mesmerized & I think they...
Wow you guys are hilarious :-) I feel much better about letting them have some screen time :-) I feel like I'm not as crazy to think it's made them a little more relaxed around me & a little more content :-). Thanks so much for the boost!
BTW: my son figures they now know how to dodge...
So my chicks are about 3 weeks old now & the other day when I was dusting the chick room I put turned on the t.v. that was in there remembering there was a favorite video in it from when the kids were young. All the chicks turned toward the t.v. & stared mesmerized. I turned it off when I was...
I am new to chickens but I don't see why not. I bought a pack of plastic balls with bells inside, came home & sanitized & dried them overnight then gave them to the chicks. We also have a hanging thing called "Baby Cake" that is supposed to help them with their pecking need & keep them from...