Recent content by mudpaw

I recently was holding on of my girls and realized she had white spots on her ears (flat, not raised. Just looks like there's no color there). She's a splash and I just thought maybe that was it. I got curious and checked everyone and a few other non-splash girls have it too. Should I be...

Quote: If the hens in it are laying age, I'd recommend it. They aren't going to hold it all day long until they return to the coop for the night (also, don't think they'll lay eggs when you'd expect LOL...that "eggs first thing in the morning" ideal is not always the case-my girls rarely lay...

I'm so glad so many people seem to like this...Thanks! I should have put it somewhere on my initial post- this is light weight, part-time design (just say you want to let your chickies spend part of the day out in it)...not really for living in 24/7. I wouldn't really consider is predator proof...

Quote: that's a good idea! I may have to go and buy some grey conduit then and some metal conduit to go with it! Thanks for the input! Thanks everyone so far for your input and comments <3

I drew up some plans for a simple chicken tractor design...it's great for those of us who might need a temporary/seasonal tractor or even for a broody hen, but don't have tons of space to store them when not in use. This design fold totally flat (except for the nest box) for easy storage. What...

Quote: I plan to build some collapse-able "A" frame chicken tractors for my girls to use in my front yard when my garden is dormant (they have a large stationary coop/run as well). I'm going to draw up plans, but they are a simple enough design- make two rectangles (mine will be pvc pipe)...

Quote: Congrats! I'm sure you'll love it! Where I live, the city told me they had to be in a pen at all times (I'm in the city, just a few blocks from the downtown area-though this is a small town). I really don't see how my securely fenced back yard is considered being "on the loose", but I...

thanks for the other ideas :> So anyone actually done this with good success?

I know I saw a post at one point mentioning building a wood fame with hardware cloth across the top and planting grass underneath, thus creating an area where the chickens can eat grass, but not scratch it up or pull it out at the root. Has anyone actually done this? My chickens don't have...

I have a young splash maran (non-hatchery) who has laid her first two eggs...both were about average brown eggs (like any other brown egg layer) with a dark speckled patch on the end. I hope they will darken up all over (she hatched from a reasonably dark egg-maybe a 6 on the maran scale). Is it...

nope...I should have stated her breed before-She's a Maran.

I have a little pullet (she's about 4-5 months old) who has crook/wry/twisted neck as a chick. I gave her vitamins and soon she was back 100% normal. The last week or two I've noticed she's holding her tail at an angle as if she's trying to keep her balance and her head is held more to one side...

my girls appear to all still be laying at this point ( I have Speckled Sussex, Delaware, EE, and Red sex link)-though some one has slacked off a little, not sure if it's the Delaware or the SS. No artificial light here either (though maybe in the future).

darn...why are hens so stubborn ? I'm still tempted to try this style of nest box though...we'll just have to see I guess BTW- Cargo, I just LOVE you hoop coop!!!!! It's lovely

haha...yep one of my ladies also moved all the dummy eggs to one side LOL. I used a community nest box on my first coop (it started as a divided one, but I just removed the dividers to see if it would change things). I may just try out an open community nest box on my new coop and if they still...