Sunny the Chicken
Songster
I have three questions in this post.
The first one is, how do you keep hens' feathers clean!? Their feathers are always coated with poop or whatnot because my rooster always climbs onto their backs after stepping in a big pile of poo. Right now they have around 200sq. feet of space.
It's not as visible on my Speckled Sussex but on the other three... my two Leghorns' big floppy combs have also slightly been ripped by his beak, they bled multiple times though eventually healed. The hen in the middle has a giant bald patch on her head from mating though.
For the second question, why are my chickens so tiny?? Are they all bantams?? They're 6 months old and laying giant eggs, yet they always look so small compared to other people's hens. Probably only 9 inches tall, and my lightest is only around 2-3 pounds. Rooster's 4-5 pounds (haven't weighed them in a while because they're scared of the scale). We might have switched them over to laying feed a bit early (I think they were 4 months) because my dad didn't do any research before buying the feed, and we ran out of crumbles.
Third question, litterally every poop my speckled sussex "makes" is the consistency of water. Her butt fluff is literally covered in dried poop. She's obsessed with treats and is probably my most active hen, always digging around in the garden. She's completely healthy with a normal (big) appetite, and she's not stressed around me since she loves any attention I give her. She does drink a lot of water thought, even in winter. What could be wrong?
Thanks
The first one is, how do you keep hens' feathers clean!? Their feathers are always coated with poop or whatnot because my rooster always climbs onto their backs after stepping in a big pile of poo. Right now they have around 200sq. feet of space.
It's not as visible on my Speckled Sussex but on the other three... my two Leghorns' big floppy combs have also slightly been ripped by his beak, they bled multiple times though eventually healed. The hen in the middle has a giant bald patch on her head from mating though.
For the second question, why are my chickens so tiny?? Are they all bantams?? They're 6 months old and laying giant eggs, yet they always look so small compared to other people's hens. Probably only 9 inches tall, and my lightest is only around 2-3 pounds. Rooster's 4-5 pounds (haven't weighed them in a while because they're scared of the scale). We might have switched them over to laying feed a bit early (I think they were 4 months) because my dad didn't do any research before buying the feed, and we ran out of crumbles.
Third question, litterally every poop my speckled sussex "makes" is the consistency of water. Her butt fluff is literally covered in dried poop. She's obsessed with treats and is probably my most active hen, always digging around in the garden. She's completely healthy with a normal (big) appetite, and she's not stressed around me since she loves any attention I give her. She does drink a lot of water thought, even in winter. What could be wrong?
Thanks
