I don't post here much, but I do come here a lot when I have an inquiry and it is usually taken care of through the forums without the need to post. So for that I say, "Thank you," to everyone who has helped me with my flock
A good news story- A long long time ago I posted that one of my hens had literally bitten the scales off the legs and feet of another hen who had scaly mites so bad her scales were "lifted" (long story short: she came to me that way). Even though the wounds looked grievous and she was in distress, I sprayed her legs with Blue-Kote and the pecking stopped and the wounds healed completely! So it does pay to put a little effort into your birds sometimes, things that look really bad can have a solution, even if you are like me and don't really have a lot of "alternative housing" areas for your chickens.
The bad news story is now my hens have decided to eat their eggs. I only have 4 now and I would just cull them all and start over next Spring but there is one my husband is very attached to and we just had to get rid of our rabbits because he was so deathly allergic to them :\
Has anyone tried putting "fake eggs" in the coop that can't be broken, to try to dissuade them from pecking their eggs, and it worked? I've tried re-arranging their coop, making multiple nesting areas, and I generally am out early in the AM to check but all I see is evidence of egg-eating, and no eggs!
A good news story- A long long time ago I posted that one of my hens had literally bitten the scales off the legs and feet of another hen who had scaly mites so bad her scales were "lifted" (long story short: she came to me that way). Even though the wounds looked grievous and she was in distress, I sprayed her legs with Blue-Kote and the pecking stopped and the wounds healed completely! So it does pay to put a little effort into your birds sometimes, things that look really bad can have a solution, even if you are like me and don't really have a lot of "alternative housing" areas for your chickens.
The bad news story is now my hens have decided to eat their eggs. I only have 4 now and I would just cull them all and start over next Spring but there is one my husband is very attached to and we just had to get rid of our rabbits because he was so deathly allergic to them :\
Has anyone tried putting "fake eggs" in the coop that can't be broken, to try to dissuade them from pecking their eggs, and it worked? I've tried re-arranging their coop, making multiple nesting areas, and I generally am out early in the AM to check but all I see is evidence of egg-eating, and no eggs!