I usually have enough eggs, I feed any that are cracked back to the birds right away.
If I crack it when I'm collecting it, I'll just use it immediately. If a bird cracked it, I'm not sure when it happened or how dirty the appendage they cracked it with was, so I usually just feed it back...
Sure you could use oyster shells from the restaurant. Folks have had a hard time breaking them up into useable size for the hens and capturing (not losing) the smashed bits. If you can do that, you can use the oyster shells no problem. Even the larger sizes, if the hen can try and pry bits of...
That's awesome that you have some girls so old! I feed all my egg shells back to the chickens - if it's from my flock, I see no need to bake them. They can go back the same day I crack them, or dry on the counter for a few days. Then I smash them slightly with my fingers into ~1/4" pieces...
Most roos will show human aggression much earlier than a year, but for some it can take a while. I'm cautiously optimistic if they make it to 6 months, and then after a year, I'm pretty confident. Still, we never fully trust a rooster. Someone always needs to keep an eye on them when doing...
If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with the feed on the left, the 17% protein feed. The more protein the better if you care about the long term health of your birds. It has more protein (obviously) but it also has more calcium. Are you providing calcium and grit free choice to your...
Some of the longtime chicken keepers on here have noticed that the rooster's temperament is not really done developing until after a year or possibly 2 years. If you have a nice roo and he's over a year old, your odds are good he'll stay that way, but of course there are no guarantees with live...
If you do a Google search on Purina Flockraiser, and see the nutrients list, this is a typical All-flock feed that is used in the USA. See screenshot below. This will give you something to compare to if you're looking for all-flock type feeds in Australia.
All flock is the same thing as chick crumbles or possibly pullet pellets. Look at the calcium level of the feed. Chicks get the lowest level of calcium, maybe 1% or less if I recall correctly, while layers get around 4%. If pullet pellets have the same amount of Calcium as the chick crumbles...
She sounds really sick. I'm sorry no one answered your post. Next time, edit the original post instead of posting a second time - folks see that second post and think someone answered you, and then no one actually opens the thread.
How is your hen now? What did you end up doing?
Watery...
Looks like your hens may be over-grooming him. Rare that he'd be doing it to himself. have you tried pinless peepers on your hens? Or on him if he's really doing it to himself?
Also, did you check for lice and mites? Pics look good, so I doubt it, but figured I'd ask.
Was he starting to...
Selling BYM chicks is fine. But you'll get more money and probably a lot more interest if you can sell purebreds. You'll have to separate them out for breeding a month or more before you collect the eggs to be sure the parent roo is the one you think it is. Generally, it's best not to mix...
1. Put fake eggs where you want them to lay their eggs. Ceramic, wood, golf balls, even rocks sometimes work. Also check your nest box setup - do they have enough privacy, enough space, are they being disturbed while nesting and want a more private, quieter area? Some folks use curtains on...
We have a large community of folks here, who raise birds in a wide variety of ways. I find that when a number of folks have years of personal experience doing something a certain way and have been successful at it, that gives me confidence to try the same thing myself. Does that mean it's the...
Hahahahaha! Love it!!!
My cat used to do something similar. She wanted us to get up early and feed her, so she would come into our bedroom and hit the metal hangers that were hanging from the doorknob of our closet several times with her paw. It would hit the wooden door and make an awful...
WR hen feet. The WR and NH are often prone to collecting dirt/mud between their toes, right where the flap of skin is where the toe connects to the sole of the foot. I go out there periodically and push the globs of dirt out. You see a ball of dirt on her left foot at the base of the outer...
So, I finally processed my final White Ranger hen, the one that was still alive as of this past post. I kept her all this year hoping she would start to lay again, and she didn't. She eventually was so heavy she couldn't fly up to the top of the dog crate for roosting with the flock at night...