[COLOR=FF0099]PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!! We finally got someone to talk to us. I won't go into the details but needless to say, today we got an email, with conditions, that we can have chickens as pets in the Yelm city limits. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT![/COLOR]
Are your birds molting? Besides scraps what type of feed do they get? You should definitely be giving shell, whether it's oyster or crushed egg shells. If their ranging area doesn't have plenty of gravel or small crushed rock they may not be getting enough grit. They have to have grit to digest food. Also consider giving them more feed each day. They won't eat more than they actually need, but if they're not getting the protein and nutrients they need, they'll naturally eat more. Do they have unlimited access to clean water? Have you checked for mites and such?Hi all, Am super new to this whole chicken raising awesomeness, and thus have some beginner questions for all you experts! 1 - Our hens seem to have quite suddenly decreased their laying. We have six hens and a rooster. Our birds are just shy of 9 months old and we tend to get anywhere between 4 - 6 eggs a day, most days. They are out all day, every day so I just assumed they found a new place to lay and we couldn't find it. But today we kept them inside for most of the day and still only got one egg. All this time too, we have continued to get 1 - 2 eggs in the nest boxes each day. Oddly enough, our rooster (who we thought we were going to have to get rid of) has almost completely stopped crowing. He crows 2-3 times/day max now. This is in stark contrast from his usual, albeit sporadic crowing sessions. Our 7 birds are given 2+ cups of feed each day, have a 1/4 of an acre of grass and brambles and trees to scratch around and explore, and receive a ton of kitchen scraps (sour raw milk, whey, cabbage, kale and chard stems, etc etc etc). Do you all think they might be calcium deficient? In the past we had oyster shell and grit out for them, but have been lax in making it available as of late. Besides the seemingly overnight decrease in egg production and lack of crowing, our birds seem to be happy and healthy. I have put out a bunch of oyster shells and grit, but am curious if you all think anything else might be up? 2 - Totally unrelated. On a whim, and since we have a rooster, we decided to try to hatch a couple of our eggs as we would like to more or less double our flock. 18 eggs to be exact. All with our cuckoo maran rooster and our hens (ameraucana, rhode island red, gold laced wyandotte, buff orpington, barred rock, and dominique). It was 21 days yesterday and to date almost all of our brown eggs have hatched (9/11), but only 1 of the green eggs - the amerucana x cuckoo maran cross, have hatched (1/7). Any ideas? I have seen mention of a lethal gene with amerucana's - could that be to blame here? Also how much longer do you all think we should incubate the eggs that haven't hatched? Thanks so much! I appreciate any and all advice. I have attached a couple photos of the new babies. At the time they were still in the incubator, so they are not the greatest quality. The incubator set up. It is a friend's and she said she had never seen condensation like that. Could that have been a problem? It appeared post-hatching though ...Hatching is hard work!
But not so hard, apparently, that you can't get up to cheer your brother / sister on!
Since its sorta still spring Im thinking of letting her have a few eggs to hatch....
???
PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!! We finally got someone to talk to us. I won't go into the details but needless to say, today we got an email, with conditions, that we can have chickens as pets in the Yelm city limits. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!
Well Folks I have a question for you.... I have a sweet broody hen that is determined to set
Has anyone had good results letting a broody hen have a few fertile eggs to set?
Any Advice or Tips?
Any fertile eggs for sale Locally
We currently do not have a Roo in our mix been trying to decide on a good breed to match our farm personality an goals
let her set on a few. I gave mine 6 to set on and she hatched 4, 2 of which survived after 2 days. If you do, don't worry, just let nature take its course. They know more about hatching eggs then we do.Well Folks I have a question for you.... I have a sweet broody hen that is determined to set
Has anyone had good results letting a broody hen have a few fertile eggs to set?
Any Advice or Tips?
Any fertile eggs for sale Locally
We currently do not have a Roo in our mix been trying to decide on a good breed to match our farm personality an goals
Quote: Congrats, and who said you couldn't fight city hall?
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Quote: Congrats, and who said you couldn't fight city hall?
thank you everyone, what it comes down too, is I guess people were killing and eating chickens in the city limits, and people complained. So they said if we are using them as food sources then NO, since the law is hazy about having "pets" because pets isn't clearly defined, it just says domestic or wild animals, being kept for pleasure, companionship, or utilitarian purposes, we CAN have them. But just like any animal you own, if they are a nuisense they have to goThe problem I see coming though is that our neighbor has been a nightmare since we moved into our house a year ago, literally from day one telling us what to do with our yard, and that we should spray for weeds and pests, even though I had 3 kids at the time and a dog, now 4 kids and 2 dogs. I refused and he got mad. Then he asked us if we wanted a tree he was getting rid of, we are busy people and never answered him, I come out one morning to find this **** thing, planted in my front yard. After telling him to move it and him raining nasty words and insults at us, he finally moved it, and then complained to us that it was ugly where HE decided to replant it. Never fixed the giant hole in our front lawn, then he kept demanding we remove a bush that wasn't even on his property because he wanted curbing put in.......... the bush was no where near it and the hole he made from digging it up is still sitting there, not fixed. and I'm pretty sure he's the one that tried to get us in trouble for having chickens when he didn't even know for sure if we had them. My 8 yr old told their 10 yr old. Whatever. But he's always up in our business, everytime my husband builds something, WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING, What that large tent thing on the side of your house, is that a coop, who's ever heard of a chicken coop tent???? We told him it was our storage shed for the lawn mower etc. which he then asks, is it a work shed, I swear, this guy is a public nusience
