Recent content by GardenDmpls

  1. GardenDmpls

    What's Up With All These Sick Chickens?

    There actually was one, Mike the Headless Chicken. Lost its head, but not the brainstem. Owner kept it alive for 18 months in the 1940's, dropping a mixture of milk and water into its esophagus with a dropper. There are some articles around you can google it. Here is a toutube video...
  2. GardenDmpls

    Mice eating feed and getting into coops

    About ten years ago I began noticing that we were using twice the feed. Went out one night with a light and found plenty of mice. Got a large Grandpa treadle feeder and then a second one. Removed all other feeders. Next I got metal garbage cans with very secure lids to store feed in. These two...
  3. GardenDmpls

    Time change is affecting my chickens

    My door (Pullet-shut) which I've had a long time, runs on a light sensor, not a clock (although you can set it that way). That way it automatically opens and closes when it is twilight or dawn. When closing it pauses for a minute and then reopens for just enough time for a shut out chicken to...
  4. GardenDmpls

    How long can chickens stay in freezing weather?

    Chicken body temp is usually in the range of 105-107F, but in the cold they can speed up their metabolism and raise it to 109-113F. This is why some give their chickens cracked corn before bedtime, as it gives an extra supply of food to keep their metabolism higher over-night. Different...
  5. GardenDmpls

    What am I doing wrong? No eggs

    Chickens biological egg laying clocks are regulated by the amount of light (in hours, not brightness) that reaches their eyes per day. This ensures that they aren't hatching chicks in the winter when they don't have much chance of growing up, due to lack of food and the cold (we are talking...
  6. GardenDmpls

    Run bedding smells

    My run area got very compacted over the years and would smell bad after a rain. Used my mantis tiller to de-compact, shoveled out some of the built up soil/compost and added corrugated roof panels to carry water away. When digging I also found some empty feed bags here and there that blocked...
  7. 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...
  8. 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...
  9. 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...
  10. 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%...
  11. 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...
  12. 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...
  13. 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...
  14. 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...
  15. 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.
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