Recent content by Ridgerunner

When I got my first chicks to start the flock I got them from Cackle. I kept two pullets each of Black Australorp, Delaware, Buff Orpington, and Speckled Sussex. I kept a Speckled Sussex rooster. Both BA's went broody their second year, none of the others did. In my opinion, if I had kept...

You are the one looking at them, I'm not. Your risk tolerance is different from mine. I can't make that decision for you. I've had a pet cat and there are a few feral cats around. I've never had a problem with cats and chicks. Some people do, the risk from cats is certainly not zero...

I think all you will get on this is opinion. Somebody has to pay for studies and I don't know who would pay for a decades-long study on this topic. Commercial operations are the ones that typically pay for studies and they don't use broody hens or keep hens longer than two laying seasons...

How old are the new chickens? Are they mature enough to lay or still immature? Until they start to lay my pullets avoid the older hens as they are likely to get pecked if they get too close. My older ones leave them alone as long as they don't invade their personal space. That avoidance is...

Why do you think the nest is too high? I've seen a hen get her chicks out of a 10 feet (3 meter) high hayloft. She said jump and they did, then ran to her. My hens regularly hatch in nests 2 feet or 4 feet above the coop floor. The hen has no problems getting them down when she is ready...

Yes, provided they can get out of a direct wind. I've had chicks younger than them go through nights in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with no supplemental heat. I don't anticipate they would have any problems.

I would not. Not because your hen is going to die but because she is likely to break from being broody. Before a hen starts to lay she stores up excess fat. Most of that is in a fat pad in her pelvic area but more fat is scattered around her body. That excess fat is mostly what she lives on...

Did you age him?

Are you counting the days right? That's a common mistake on here. It takes 24 hours for the eggs to have one day's worth of development so you say "1" the day after you start them. One trick to check your counting. The day of the week you started the chicken eggs is the day of the week the...

They can be if the mother is barred and the rooster is not. And the down is a color that you can see the spot. That does not apply just to olive eggers, that applies to every chicken out there. That's how you make Black Sex Links. Do you know that the mother was barred and the farther was...

How big of a dog crate? Physical measurements? You need room for a nest, food, water, and a small bit more. A broody hen should know by instinct to not poop in her nest but the food and water are fair game. That means you'll need access to clean the food and water. I'd wait until the hen...

Too bad you didn't ask us how to cook an old rooster. They don't have to be tough but you need to know how to handle them. Sorry you had that problem but glad you handled it.

Looking at comb development and posture this one could be a male. I can't see how heavy the legs are with those feathered feet. It is still too early to tell for sure. You might post more photos at 5 weeks. A photo showing a close-up of the head so we can see comb and wattles (if any) and a...

Is this area actively eroding away in rainstorms? Do you need to do erosion control? One concern is that anything you put down may wash away. Never say never. Anything is possible. A piece of space junk could fallout of the sky and hit your house this afternoon. That happened to somebody...

Not a vacuum or suffocation. If the humidity gets too low in the incubator after an egg has pipped the membrane that surrounds the chick may shrink, locking it into place so it cannot move to hatch. Opening the incubator can let the moisture out so you have some risk of shrink-wrapping the...