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  1. swatchick

    2015 BYC Calendar - Your Pictures Needed!

    "What are you looking at?"
  2. swatchick

    What is going on???!!!

    Thanks for your reply! The Americauna died this morning. The Barred Rock doesn't seem swollen, but she also really doesn't want me touching her abdomen, either, and with all her other behaviors it does seem like internal laying may be at play. Thanks for your input - I really appreciate it.
  3. swatchick

    Light and eggs

    Thanks for your reply -- I wasn't thinking about that! Great point. I will just let things unfold...
  4. swatchick

    Light and eggs

    I have a flock of relatively old (3 years) hens. I just posted about some issues we're having, but I am wondering, as I enter the world of the older egg layer (which is fine with me, BTW, because they do enormous composting and soil turning work around here -- the eggs are a bonus), can you...
  5. swatchick

    What is going on???!!!

    About two months ago, my Buff Orpington developed peritonitis (from internal laying). Around the same time, one of my Barred Rocks, and one Americauna began to show signs of egg binding -- the Barred Rock started to do the penguin walk and pant even when it wasn't warm and no one else was, and...
  6. swatchick

    NEED A SMALL COOP THING FOR MY BROODY HEN!!

    I recently broke my broody hen by placing her in a wire cage I'd used as a run when they were chicks -- hardware sloth on all six sides with a door on one side -- with only food and water, and I kept her in the run with everyone else during the day and put her on the roost with everyone at...
  7. swatchick

    Unexpected helpful tool

    Thanks everyone... I definitely feel both sadness and relief. He was a truly magnificent creature to behold, all golden yellow in the bright green meadows.... The hens were safely enclosed in their predator proof coop at the time, and I'm not sure they even saw it -- usually they FREAK out if...
  8. swatchick

    Unexpected helpful tool

    That calming down with age was what I was planning on. Unfortunately, he became lunch to a bobcat today.... Ironic, since he has been driving me nuts for quite awhile, and I had just gotten into a relatively smooth routine with him and was even feeling a bit fond of him for all his moxy. I...
  9. swatchick

    Unexpected helpful tool

    Just to be clear, my roo is NOT living in this wire enclosure -- I simply pop it over him when I am intruding on territory which he is tasked with protecting. I don't need him to be nice to me, I need him to protect the hens, and he does a great job of that. I love those baskets!
  10. swatchick

    Unexpected helpful tool

    I've got a roo who is a great flock protector -- too good, in fact, as he considers me a threat to the girls most of the time. He's free range, so it can be a bit of problem. The other day, he started coming at me and I picked up a length of 3' woven wire that I had curled into a circle/tube...
  11. swatchick

    My Rooster is having to much fun with my hens.(If you know what I mean?..)

    It matters how much space there is, as well. If the hens can put some space between themselves and the roo, they've got a better chance of avoiding him. If there isn't much of anywhere to go to get away, they don't have time to respond to the wacky puff up check me out dance many roos do...
  12. swatchick

    Can you call this an egg?

    I say, if it's got a shell, it's an egg......and a darn cute one at that.....
  13. swatchick

    Enthusiastic, unskilled rooster questions

    Thanks for your replies -- I think I'll go ahead and make him a bachelor pad so the girls can get a break now and then.
  14. swatchick

    Naked Butt!

    I'd wonder about mites...
  15. swatchick

    Enthusiastic, unskilled rooster questions

    I have a 9 month old Buff Orpington rooster and 10 hens in a 4x10 house and two 8x10 runs (one on each long side of the house, both accessible all the time). Roo is, shall we say, very enthusiastic about his rooster duties. All ten of the girls are losing all of the feathers on their backs and...
  16. swatchick

    Dilemma - Get up crack dawn or leave coop door open overnight?

    The feed issue is the one challenge I've had when it comes to sleeping in. I leave the house door open (it's an open front -- hardware cloth -- house anyway and they did fine when it was down in the 20's early in the winter here), but as soon as I started doing that, the rats moved in to eat...
  17. swatchick

    how high is to high for roosts

    I've got mine all at the same level and at about 4 feet, though there's a ledge about five feet up that some prefer. I put a short wooden step ladder to one side of it, and those who like to fly up do so and those who like a 'boost' jump up onto the ladder first. On the way down they dive bomb...
  18. swatchick

    Sulfer Well Water..??

    Mine have been drinking water with hydrogen sulfide for a year and have had no problems at all. If you use the big plastic jug style waterers, the smell will dissipate naturally, and adding a bit of apple cider vinegar seems to help too, if you're concerned about the chickens rejecting it based...
  19. swatchick

    post your chicken coop pictures here!

    The trouble with this thread is that every time I think I've decided what I want to build next, I get some new great idea here! I'm paralyzed by possibilities I'm only partly joking -- it is so inspiring to see what folks are doing....
  20. swatchick

    Cleaning a previously used wooden house

    Super, that's just what I did! Just wasn't sure it was enough. Thanks for the input. It was an especially awesome find as it was screwed together in panels, so I was actually able to take it completely apart to clean every nook and cranny. The only problem now is, I feel chicken math at...
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