Recent content by mcdze

dominant barred males can be pretty nasty .. theyre a good looking rooster though ..

here in florida its up to 75-80 at night they dont even need supplementary heating after 2 weeks, just put em out lol

no dont clean them, it greatly increases mortality ..if eggs are dirty on a regular basis its usuallly because the coop is dirty, poop all over the place .. eggs will ooze usually by hatch time if theyre rotten, so i usually candle once around 10 days to remove obvious 'clears' and sloshers...

if theyre good-sized id do whats convenient for you, and get them on the daily program .. key is always plenty of space, older hens will never like immature ones, but as long as they can keep some distance theyll be alright .. i free range mine to, biggest step is them learning to put themselves...

i will remove all the bedding and only leave one or two going if theres pullets in the coop ... theyre gonna use them for a toilet and kick them up so i can just spray them out if theres no bedding ..if all you have is pullets yeah, remove bedding from all of them, block them off etc ... once...

I wouldn't worry about it if they ever eat a little something that makes them sick they'll learn LOL .. chickens have a pretty fast metabolism not too many things they'll eat will actually kill them as long as they can pass it .. I think that's the problem with things like lead in the yard it...

put the pullets in with them if theres only 2 hens.. as long as theyre 3 weeks plus shouldnt be much of an issue ..

young, chick size, pullets are best imo .. chickens learn from almost day1 and have good memories so you can get them into a routine that works for you very quickly ... if theyre older than a couple weeks they will have already picked up alot of 'habits' and possibly had some bad experiences...

put a large pan of water in their area for them to wade in .. put it in a place its easy to spray out and replenish couple times a day ..

really bad around here are possums, ive taken out 20 or so just this year and if enough of them zero in on your coop, theyll take birds to .. anyway, most problems 'at the coop' are at night .. occasionally you could get a rat or black snake snatching eggs in the day but theyll eat them on the...

birthrates in humans are way down to ... that said lol, if your birds are really young or old it affects viability quite a bit .. sometimes culling is necessary if you want to keep numbers tip top efficient .. otherwise, if theyre basically 'pets' then hatch what you can and take what you get...

be sure they have plenty of water either way .. id of already had them in the coop at 4 weeks, but divided off is best .. only condition that can sometimes be pertinent, is if you only have 3 or less mature birds, usually you can just throw them in there. they wont like it, but add a food...

real pecking orders arnt established until after birds reach full maturity imo .. but a big difference in size or age always comes into play with young birds, and some just are naturally more aggressive .. i'll see it at the food tray when one figures out it can get in by jumping up on the...

awww, thats so sad, sorry you had to go through that, ive lost alot of good chicken friends myself .. after you catch your breath i say, get some more and start over😉

i dont waste time and space with abnormal eggs, id rather stagger set for another couple days than have weirdo eggs in the bator lol ..