I'm glad I found this site. It looks like it will be helpful to us in our new adventure.
We have 16 adult chickens and 2 roosters. (Only one of them is with the chickens because they fight BIG TIME!) We are trying to sell the other one or he may end up as chicken and dumplings - I mean rooster and dumplings! We bought our chickens for the eggs and hopefully will eventually get enough to sell so our adventure will pay for itself. Might take awhile...
I have no idea what kind of chickens they are but they are white and a few are redish. That is the extent of my chicken knowledge at this time. One of the red ones lays a green egg! That's kind of exciting for me - ha ha.
We have a rather small coop and a small fenced in area but right now that's all we can do. The coop used to be our kids' playhouse (one is now an adult and the other in high school, so we have not deprived our kids!) and we moved it away from the swingset to a spot a lot further away from the house. That was an adventure in itself!
I made little dividers for their nesting boxes and found long tree branches, about 1-2" around for their roosting spots. They seem to like them just fine and they lay all their eggs in the same spot. I watched one once when there were three other eggs in the nest and they have to have them in just the right spot but are very gentle with the eggs. Guess that is a part of their nurturing instinct?
Anyways, I'm glad to be here but I do have an immediate problem: Yesterday, I noticed one of the hens limping. I've looked all over your site and find it could be several things - how do i find out for sure? Her legs don't seem broken nor her toes and today she won't even hop or limp. She stays in one spot. Won't eat or drink and just plops down on her tummy and stays there. I don't know what to do.
Would appreciate any help and suggestions. I've put her in a pet cage with some straw away from the other chickens until I know what's wrong with her. She barely peeps when i touch her and doesn't try to get away even. I do hope she'll be OK and I've named her Chickie. (Original, eh?)
Thanks to anyone and all!
We have 16 adult chickens and 2 roosters. (Only one of them is with the chickens because they fight BIG TIME!) We are trying to sell the other one or he may end up as chicken and dumplings - I mean rooster and dumplings! We bought our chickens for the eggs and hopefully will eventually get enough to sell so our adventure will pay for itself. Might take awhile...
I have no idea what kind of chickens they are but they are white and a few are redish. That is the extent of my chicken knowledge at this time. One of the red ones lays a green egg! That's kind of exciting for me - ha ha.
We have a rather small coop and a small fenced in area but right now that's all we can do. The coop used to be our kids' playhouse (one is now an adult and the other in high school, so we have not deprived our kids!) and we moved it away from the swingset to a spot a lot further away from the house. That was an adventure in itself!
I made little dividers for their nesting boxes and found long tree branches, about 1-2" around for their roosting spots. They seem to like them just fine and they lay all their eggs in the same spot. I watched one once when there were three other eggs in the nest and they have to have them in just the right spot but are very gentle with the eggs. Guess that is a part of their nurturing instinct?
Anyways, I'm glad to be here but I do have an immediate problem: Yesterday, I noticed one of the hens limping. I've looked all over your site and find it could be several things - how do i find out for sure? Her legs don't seem broken nor her toes and today she won't even hop or limp. She stays in one spot. Won't eat or drink and just plops down on her tummy and stays there. I don't know what to do.
Would appreciate any help and suggestions. I've put her in a pet cage with some straw away from the other chickens until I know what's wrong with her. She barely peeps when i touch her and doesn't try to get away even. I do hope she'll be OK and I've named her Chickie. (Original, eh?)
Thanks to anyone and all!
