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I understand that most with knowledge of this subject will not want to reply; for many possible reasons. That's totally fine. But *IF* someone out there has knowledge and is willing to share, I greatly welcome and appreciate it. We love our girls and want to make sure their last day is as good...

I've identified an individual in my backyard flock of 8 that has enough worm load to have pooped out living, wriggling worms. I've seen it twice, both times in cecal poop. The worms are very, very thin. Clearish or whitish? 1cm long or less. She's in good health otherwise. 14 months old...

For those that have adopted euthanasia-via-ether as your preferred culling method: Where do you get your ether? I've only done the ether method once. It was very effective and humane compared to other methods I've tried/researched. Most people use automotive starter fluid. I know that's...

We have a six year old barred rock that a few days ago became fairly sedentary, and obviously is working (employing effort) to breath. Her whole body moves as any chicken's does when breathing, but the movement is much more pronounced. She seems healthy otherwise. Comb and waddles look great...

We have a black australorp (Aurora) that has had a very rough go of things for the past 5 months. She is going on 4 years old and, as far as we know, was perfectly healthy up until her molt started with the transition to winter here last November. She was vaccinated for MD at birth at the...

We had to put down one of our beloved flock not too long ago: a production red that was succumbing to internal laying. We had always heard a kill cone was the most humane way to cull a bird, so that's what we tried. It was a disaster, actually. But we learned from our mistakes (didn't make the...

UPDATE - PLEASE DISREGARD original post. Replies not needed. We have since seen new symptoms to indicate definitively this is internal laying. I'll add details later if I can manage it. Right now I have to put down a dear chicken that I really don't want to... my first one. Must get to work...

This year we had two (and only two) chronic health problems with our flock (all now about 18 months old). One went from laying eggs with strange deposits/pigmentation that degraded into hardly laying at all, frequent laying of rubber eggs, and increasing lethargy (details in this thread...

Our alpha, Charley (barred Plymouth rock), is now about 13 months old and has been laying reliably for the past 8 months (minus a one month break in the dead of the harsh winter) with no egg issues to speak of (a few occasional meat spots, but that rarely happens any more). A couple of weeks...

We have five almost-one-year-old hens all laying normally until the past few days. They were recently switched from a 16.5% protein layer feed that had 3.7-4.5% calcium to an 18% layer feed with 3.4-4.4% calcium. They were on the previous feed ever since they started laying. Additionally they...

I have never seen anything like this. They are tubular, about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches long, and about 3/8 inch in diameter. All sorts of critters run around here, the most common scat I see are porcupine, skunk, raccoon and coyote and occasionally deer. Assuming I can identify those correctly...

Hooray, hooray! It's another seed starting day! :wee But this is always one of the most exciting: we're starting tomatoes and eggplants today!! We're in Zone 4B near Midcoast Maine. We have a longer number of frost-free days than many places in New England (I think about 100 or 110), but it...

Just curious. I love BYC! But it's not my primary source of DIY information. I've found an almost rabid enthusiasm for DIY at Garage Journal's forums. They've been very helpful to me on all things "tool." BYC forever on all things chicken! :) But am I the only chicken keeper that has found...

Five young hens, all going on 11 months old. They all seem to be perfectly fine including regular laying. I've noticed as the winter thaw has moved into high gear we started to see occasional diarrhea. One of them does it more (say 1-3 times a day) than the others (say 0-1 times a day)...

Hope this isn't too way out there for BYC... Black oilseed sunflowers are easy to grow and the chickens love them unhulled. When the day comes that I actually try pressing some to get my own sunflower oil, the press doesn't give a hoot about the hulls. But for those nice, big, yummy...

Both of our production reds (going on 11 months old, regular layers) really seem to get into a trance like state when they lay. They can spend upwards of two hours in the nest box sometimes! However if you collect their eggs they quickly come out of it and go back to being "regular" chickens...

Howdy, All! One of our girls, Holly, a "Rhode Island Red", started laying about two months ago (she's now about 10 1/2 months old). When she first started laying she took one day off on the second or third day. Ever since she has laid an egg every single day with no days off. I've heard young...

Hey Everyone! Last night as the girls were getting onto the roosts for bedtime something strange happened. I'm still trying to put pieces together and was wondering if anyone could shed light on the situation. When we came to check on them I was shocked to find fresh blood on the roosting...

I have seen many recommendations on BYC for 20-22% protein feed for laying chickens, but I have not seen those recommendations elsewhere. I don't know if dual-purpose heritage breeds (which we have) versus strict layer breeds (which we do not have) are a factor. But all the recommendations I...

We've had a couple very warm days and some snow melting to the point we could take them out of the run on a supervised walk yesterday and today - their first outing in a month, and they only had one outing then (which was one month after snows stopped their daily "free-range" foraging). But...