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My 10 year old Speckled Sussex had an impacted crop back in April (my neighbor was checking in on them during my vacation and gave them many pounds of lawn clippings). Massage, coconut oil, ACV, and probiotics seemed to get her back on track, but now she seems to have a pendulous crop. I...

Today I gave them a small dish of minced garlic. One of my Dominques launched herself at the container, so I think that I ended up wearing more of the garlic than they got to eat. Goofs. I think I’m going to try the mixing in with their pellets from now on. Now I’m off to wash the garlic out...

Just gave them some minced garlic. Holy frijole! I'm surprised that I didn't lose any skin, since I stupidly poured it into my hand and offered it to them! After 9 years with chickens, you'd think I'd know better. 😂

I guess it could be lash egg, though the thing she laid didn't look anything like any of the pictures I'm seeing. It was a squashy, muddy blob (some of the "shell" came off on my hand like pasty grit) with a membrane and some albumen. The next layer looked the same. The next 2 layers were...

Yep, she’s getting old. I always wondered if the production layers would have more trouble in the long run than my heritage breeds. My 9 year old Speckled Sussex is my prettiest, healthiest looking hen of the bunch. She’s just starting her annual molt though, so she’s about to get pretty...

Oh! And yes! She had been laying normally, as far as I know. Though maybe she hasn’t been and I haven’t realized? We have gotten a few oddly shaped eggs recently and a couple of shell-less eggs though. All of my girls are getting up there in years (this hen is actually my youngest) so we...

She does get fed layer feed. I have oyster shell, but not available to them at all times (it’s sprinkled outside the run so they can get it while they free range). I can start putting it in the run too. They used to free range every day, but we’ve backed off from free ranging recently because...

Okay, not really. It seems that she is egg bound. She laid a monstrosity earlier today that proved to be a shell-less egg matrioshka with 4 layer. Yep. An egg in an egg in an egg in an egg! Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen! About an hour later, she looked like she was going to poop and 3...

Hi! 2 days ago, one of my hens got attacked by a hawk. Fortunately I have a noisy flock, so when I heard the ruckus, I came running and not much damage was done. She has a few scratches around her face and lots of missing back feathers, but not much else. The problem is that she won't open...

They are fully feathered and are starting to chirp instead of peep. I'm about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia. The ground isn't frozen, just really muddy, though it shouldn't be in the tractor since it has a roof over the back half and wire cloth over the front half. There is still snow in...

I have the Cornish Crosses in a small dog cage right now. They are in the same pen as the other chicks, but they can keep away from those little pecky beaks. The quarters are tight, though. I've been letting them out here and there to stretch their wings. It's funny... I let them out...

I found what I believe to be a slice of rodent ribcage in a can of Progresso Minestrone soup once. Never a worm in my chicken meat though.

Are you sure that it's a worm and not just an empty vein?

Hi! I have 2 Cornish cross "chicks" that are about 3 weeks old. They are huge compared to the rest of my 2-3 week old chicks (a mix of Tractor Supply dual purpose breeds and packing peanuts from a friend's Ideal order). The Cornish Crosses are about 10 times bigger than everyone else and they...

I have a nearly 2 weeks old chick that trills every time he needs to poop. He strains and strains and it looks like his vent kind of inverts about 1 cm out of his body. It looks like a little straw or hose is coming out of his little butt. After some trilling and straining, a small bit of...

I still have my little Green-Cheeked Conure. She'll be 19 years old in March. I stand behind my original post. Green-Cheeks are awesome! =)

Yep, they are red broilers. I figure we'll take them around 18 weeks. I don't know why I thought they'd be ready so much sooner. Oh well... I'm glad they are getting some time unmolested. One of them was getting a bloody neck from the boys mounting her. =(

They are currently in the big cooler, filled with salty ice water. I remember reading that that was a good way to rest them. The 7 girls seem so much happier now that there aren't 11 boys (9 leghorns and 2 red broilers) jumping on them every other second. =) So we should make sure to do the...

We are going to "take care" of all of the males tomorrow and give the girls more time to grow. I know the Leghorns won't have much meat on them, but I'm sure I can get something out of them. =)

Yep, there are 9 Leghorn roos (they were my "males for warmth") and 2 red broiler males in there. The tractor is pretty big at 64 sq ft, but it's still tight quarters when there are 18 birds in there. The Leghorns still seem so little though, as do the female broilers. Somehow I expected the...