Recent content by GardenDmpls

  1. GardenDmpls

    I have very odd looking Barred Rocks....or do I? Guess who game.

    Since I retired from teaching in a high school vet science program, I no longer hatch eggs, but neither do I buy chicks from a local store that is likely to mix them up. Instead, I order already sexed chicks from one of several hatcheries or private farms. Never have gotten the wrong breed, and...
  2. GardenDmpls

    Question about bantam weight on treadle feeders…

    When I was a teacher who also taught night school, I got a Pullet-Shut door. It ha a light sensor so you don't have to worry about resetting it as the sunrise/sunset time changes throughout the year. It runs on a battery and I got it it with a solar panel in 2014 and it's still working. It has a...
  3. GardenDmpls

    We did it....Eggs!!!!!

    Hadn't heard a good explanation until I saw a documentary that showed why chickens do this. In the wild, a hen going to her egg laying spot gets escorted by one of the flock's roosters who will keep an eye out for predators. When the hen is finished laying, she sings the "egg song" to let the...
  4. GardenDmpls

    What is going on with these eggs?

    Some people give all flock feed because they feel that more protein is better. Not necessarily. Excess protein can strain the kidneys and also cause excessive nitrogen excretion which causes more ammonia to build up from the manure. This is not healthy to breathe in. Laying hens need 16-18%...
  5. GardenDmpls

    Chickens suddenly stopped laying for 3 months?

    I have sometimes had the chickens do a late or a slow molt which ran together into the low light break. This seems to happen more with new hens. Some hens will slow down laying until it stops the week of the solstice, then picks back up again several weeks later. This year I raised fall chicks...
  6. GardenDmpls

    enrichment/enclosure for indoor setup (plants,toys, etc)

    Seramas are the smallest chickens, so it might be workable. I have kept chickens in the menagerie of a high school vet science program. They lived in a large room with high ceilings and tall windows down one side. Other animals were housed in the room. They had a plastic snap-lock coop. The...
  7. GardenDmpls

    Logistics - is a fully enclosed run necessary?

    It may be that domestic animals have been bred to become more vulnerable to predators, but even wild animals are preyed upon. Predators are eating wildlife for most of their meals. Whether you are raising domestic chickens or wild pheasants or guinea hens, they are going to be preyed upon unless...
  8. GardenDmpls

    Need advice for the best vines and plants for in a chicken run!

    Here is what I have been doing. Every year I start pole beans around the outside of the run. They are started about 12-18" away and I put in trellis netting that meets the coop wire about five feet up, so the vines meet the wire mesh out of reach of nibbling beaks. I harvest lots of beans...
  9. GardenDmpls

    Do I have 2 roosters??

    You have it right. Blue color is throughout the egg. Brown is sprayed on the outside of the shell (inside remains white). Green eggs are a combo of blue shell overlayed with brown spray on the outside.
  10. GardenDmpls

    What is this coming out of my hen??? It’s at least 5ft long!

    Possibility may be that she swallowed string and by some miracle it is passing, rather than tangling up in the intestine. There are long strings used to sew the feed sack closed.
  11. GardenDmpls

    Giving chickens corn that is soaked in 5 gallon bucket of water good??

    To understand better, you must go back to high school biology. All of the proteins in our bodies: hair, organs, muscles etc. are made of amino acids. When we digest proteins from different sources, they are broken down into amino acids which our cells rearrange to make human proteins. Different...
  12. GardenDmpls

    Looking for Passover feed recipe for Layers

    I've kept chickens for a long time and this is what I give my chickens on Passover. Keep in mind that although you may not eat kitniyus (corn, beans, peanuts etc.) there is no problem owning it and since chickens are not Ashkenazi or Sephardi, they don't have the custom of eating or not eating...
  13. GardenDmpls

    Will a chicken not lay their egg colour, they are supposed to?

    Color sprayed on the egg in the reproductive tract is generally varying shades of brown/tan. Blue eggs are blue all the way through. If you look inside a shell, brown eggs are white inside, while blue eggs are blue. Green eggs come from a blue egg layer crossed with a brown egg layer. The brown...
  14. GardenDmpls

    Any Idea what this is?!?!?

    I searched articles on this site and found a helpful one. You can search for others yourself by going to the top of this page, clicking on "articles" and using the drop down menu for search. Here is one I found. Lash eggs can take on different appearances. They are caused by salpingitis. There...
  15. GardenDmpls

    Need experienced advice on how to deal with single digit temps in non-insulated coop

    The reason egg production goes down has nothing to do with the cold. It has to do with day length, most specifically hours of light. Egg farmers will have lights go on automatically in the pre-dawn hours so that their flocks keep laying through the winter. I don't give added light as I feel...
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