Wendy Bee
Songster
Our Roo to Hens ratio isn't ideal (3-13), but everyone our little chicken world seems to be making it work. There are 3 or 4 hens who seem to be more 'popular' among the boys, though. Here's a pic of the most affected. She's a sweet ISA Brown and a great little layer. She and her sister ISA Brown are also among my most adventurous!
She's one of our Spring '21 chicks, and I haven't noticed a molt before now, but being pretty new at this still, I may have missed it from what I've read. The ISA Brown above is the worst off - there are a couple more from the Spring chicks who are missing some feathers on their backs, and one popular EE from our Fall '21 chicks (she just started laying about three weeks ago) is exhibiting some wear and tear, as well.
So . . .
Are saddles a good/necessary thing to do? We still have some snow on the ground here (and due for 7-12 more inches on Saturday!), but the chickens are getting out and about more in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully space will give the girls a bit of a break! When they are stuck inside, 16 chickens have an 8'x26' run with an elevated coop, so not too crowded:
Also, I'm feeding an all flock feed. The last two bags were an 18% pellet feed, but I think I'll be going back to a 20% crumble after these bags are gone. They seem to prefer crumble, and I mix ground Cayenne Pepper and a bit of ground Garlic with their feed, and it sticks to the crumble better. Chickens have oyster shell free choice at all times.
None of the girls is too bad off yet, but if saddles are recommended, I'll get those ordered. I see a lot of options out there, from Etsy to Amazon, so any inexpensive but quality recommendations are welcome!
Thanks in advance for any input!
She's one of our Spring '21 chicks, and I haven't noticed a molt before now, but being pretty new at this still, I may have missed it from what I've read. The ISA Brown above is the worst off - there are a couple more from the Spring chicks who are missing some feathers on their backs, and one popular EE from our Fall '21 chicks (she just started laying about three weeks ago) is exhibiting some wear and tear, as well.
So . . .
Are saddles a good/necessary thing to do? We still have some snow on the ground here (and due for 7-12 more inches on Saturday!), but the chickens are getting out and about more in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully space will give the girls a bit of a break! When they are stuck inside, 16 chickens have an 8'x26' run with an elevated coop, so not too crowded:
Also, I'm feeding an all flock feed. The last two bags were an 18% pellet feed, but I think I'll be going back to a 20% crumble after these bags are gone. They seem to prefer crumble, and I mix ground Cayenne Pepper and a bit of ground Garlic with their feed, and it sticks to the crumble better. Chickens have oyster shell free choice at all times.
None of the girls is too bad off yet, but if saddles are recommended, I'll get those ordered. I see a lot of options out there, from Etsy to Amazon, so any inexpensive but quality recommendations are welcome!
Thanks in advance for any input!
