Your Help Needed! - What Are The Top Chicken FAQ's?

[Oscgrr]

Here are a few that I asked early on:

Will my chickens destroy my vegetable graden?
How can I protect my garden from my chickens?
Do they need to have food and water in the coop at night?
How do I keep my chickens out of my neighbors yard?
How do I discourage egg eating?
Why do some eggs have clusters of bumps at one end?

I've had several more but that's all I can remember right now.

 

[badgerfan20]

HI I have 150 cornish rock broilers and they are about 5 weeks old can i put them on only cracked corn or full corn cournels because i have a unlimited supply of free corn?

 

[jwg423]

What is the best feed, Medicated/non medicated (whats the difference), how old until I move from a chick feed to the next step in feed and what is the next step in feed?
When to feed grit?
When to feed oyster shells? Do I need them?
What is the best diet to achieve good egg quality?
Can my rooster eat the same feed as my hens?
Winter/summer care? Keeping warm enough or cool enough... Tips on how to cool an over heated chicken...
Many people order "Americaunas" from hatcheries, only to discover that they are EE's... What are EE's and how to tell the difference?
How to care for an Ill chicken?
How old to allow free ranging?
How old until they can move from brooder to coop?
How to add new chickens or chicks to the flock?
What does it mean when my chicken does _____? (such as panting or other chicken behaviors that may be a sign of illness or needing some sort of care)

One topic that I will be needing help with soon is incubating and hatching eggs, it would be awesome if someone could post a tutorial with photos

 

[shellstewart]

Some of my questions:

- How do you tell if your chicks are roosters or hens without getting them sexed? Any hints?
- If I have one rooster of a particular breed, does it matter if he mates with all breeds of my chickens and how will this affect my eggs and future chicken population?
- How can you tell when a hen is getting ready to lay? What are some key behavior indicators that can clue me in to start looking for eggs, other than age?

THANKS!

 

[ChicksterJo]

What do I feed my flock of chickens of different ages?
How do I keep my chickens cool?

 

[azmotogirl]

Quote:
I even got this question from one of my Doctors........ I asked him if a woman needed a man to have eggs. That shut him up!!

 

[pasesak]

I have four hens. I used to have a rooster as well but I had to give him away due to his ravaging the hens non-stop! I have posted before about one of my hens that wasn't laying well...well, now she is not laying at all! She eats well, in fact she eats like a pig, and she seems energetic enough, but she has been limping, and has been sleeping in nests, or during the day she will crouch on the ground like she is in a nest and won't move. Her legs have turned back to yellow.

She looks healthy, but I just noticed today that I don't think she is pooping either! Her bottom looks clean and her skin on her bottom looks yellow, but there have been no droppings where she has been sleeping. She has not been laying now for a couple of months. I felt around her bottom to feel if it felt unusual or hard, and it doesn't feel particularly different but every time I try to feel it she freaks out like it hurts or something, though she is kind of an uptight hen that bites a lot and gets mad over everything.

Another of my hens also has not been laying much either (once a week). My other 2 hens though have been laying just about every day. I have no idea what is going on, and I am concerned about my poor chickens. I don't want to off them! What could be going on?

 

[Carolyn252]

List of items to be kept in a first aid kit for chickens.

Descriptions of each of the first aid items including what they're used for and how they're used (dosages, method of application, shelf life, approximate cost, whether or not the eggs must be discarded while the medicine is being used, etc.)

Sources for each of the first aid items (online sources and names of some retail stores for non-online purchase)

 

[Carolyn252]

How to store eggs, how long they can be stored with and without refrigeration, whether or not to wash them, how to wash them (hot or cold water, with our without soap, etc.)

How to cook hard boiled eggs so that the shells will definitely peel off cleanly and easily without pulling off hunks of the white of the egg.

 

[Carolyn252]

Are there any toys that chickens will play with? Any ready-made toys in the parrot toy section of pet shops that might be appropriate for chickens? Any home-made toys that chickens will play with?