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  1. QChickieMama

    Merging 2 sets of hens into one pen

    I have 2 chicken tractors in my yard; one has a rooster and 4 hens, and the other had 4 hens. The 4 hens dropped down to just 2 hens, so I added 3 younger hens to get them out of a falling-apart pen with no grass access. This tractor holds 5 birds just beautifully. However, these 2 sets of...
  2. QChickieMama

    carcass is terrifying my flock

    I'd read here that various people's flocks enjoy eating up the remaining meat on a carcass. I just dumped a river otter in my coop, and they freaked out, like one of their own had died. Might they overcome this initial response and find it edible later today? I won't leave it overnight for...
  3. QChickieMama

    Wheezing barred rock w/other issues

    Today I found this hen wheezing on inhale and exhale and being pestered by her 2 roomies. I had sprayed her within the month with BluKote on her exposed belly skin, so she's still slightly purple. However, I have so many questions about what's happened to her. She has white grossness and a pink...
  4. QChickieMama

    super odd egg situation

    One of my pullets was behaving weirdly the other day, shoulders all hunched, kinda squatted down in the grass, right after I let them all out to free-range. I watched her for a while, wondering what was going on. Then she squats lower and pops out this: Has anyone ever seen anything like...
  5. QChickieMama

    Goldfish in a water trough for steers?

    I read somewhere that goldfish will eat the mosquito larvae and help keep the water trough cleaner for my steers. I've had them a week, and the water is GREEN. Do goldfish help or harm the water trough? Would the steers prefer clear water to green water?
  6. QChickieMama

    Single 5wk chick with no mama

    I rescued 2 5wk old chicks, and one died. Now I have one vigorous chick who peeps SO much of the day from being alone. In the afternoon, I let her free range with the flock (Rooster and 17 hens). Chick is super gutsy but they still peck her on the head when they feel like it. She's made it 4...
  7. QChickieMama

    pink belly? no feathers on the abdomen of 5yo hen

    Two of my cream leg bars are 2yo and their low bellies look distended with no feather coverage. Their combs are floppy over on one side. They look so disheveled. They're laying maybe once per week. What is this? Should I cull them or are they missing some nutrient?
  8. QChickieMama

    males and females of same age developing at different rates?

    I have 20 new chickens hatched 3/15/25, 3 males, 17 females. The roosters came of age and crowed a few weeks ago. However, the females in the same pen are not ready to be mounted. They're looking like adults but they're still pullets. Is this normal? I'm curious. The males were so aggressive...
  9. QChickieMama

    teaching chicks to go back in and roost at night?

    I have 8-week-old chicks in their own 10x10 pen. I've started letting them free-range in the late afternoons, but their instinct to go back home to roost isn't working very well. They go in to another next-door 10x10 pen where the adults are all roosting, or they just wander around in the grass...
  10. QChickieMama

    a farm-based Christmas gift

    Over the last 4 years, I've compiled 52 devotional reflections on the farm into a book called Strength in the Seasons. I imagine many of you awesome chicken friends here would enjoy reading this 250-page beautiful book full of watercolor art and engaging farm stories. nanavinar.com is the...
  11. QChickieMama

    My cover crop is thriving in random spots in the garden

    I planted daikon radish and mustard greens over my whole garden about 6 weeks ago. It's lush and beautiful in some spots, and small and pale in some spots. What amendments could I apply this fall/winter for a healthy spring garden? The thriving spots are where I buried dead chickens (ha! It's...
  12. QChickieMama

    Would a brick floor in the coop be a good idea?

    I have an empty 12x12 chain-link coop right now, so I'm re-roofing it and trying to dig out the mouse underworld. Also trapping the mice. Ugh. Anyway, I have a pile of leftover bricks. Would they make a decent flooring? Has anyone done this and regretted it? Perhaps the mice would create a new...
  13. QChickieMama

    A question about culling

    When it's necessary to cull a chicken, I harvest the meat for us or for our dogs. I simply hate to waste. My question is this: is it normal for a hen to have a large amount of belly fat? I'm wondering if my girls are getting too many treats.
  14. QChickieMama

    Feeding plants with fungal disease to my chickens?

    My snow peas have succumbed to a fungal disease in my garden. I usually put the spent plants in the chicken coops for them to enjoy. Would plant fungus bother the chickens at all? I think the fungus is just killing the plants; the snow peas that are still on the vines look fine. Thoughts?
  15. QChickieMama

    mud

    If I put small gravel and then sand in my covered coop (in central NC), how long could I expect them to live mud-free? Right now, the coop has hardware cloth sides and a metal roof. Sitting on a bit of a slope next to another coop, so all the rain that runs off one coop roof runs into the...
  16. QChickieMama

    two fighting roosters

    I have two flocks of chickens, one behind the barn on L side of yard, and 3 chicken tractors on the R side of the yard. For years, I've had one rooster in each flock. They can talk back and forth, but they've understood the imaginary boundary. Now one rooster has decided to try to kill the...
  17. QChickieMama

    To cull 4 older hens or to integrate?

    I'm having the hardest time making this decision. I have 4 older hens in a large pen, and I have a group of six 6-month-olds in a too-small pen (5 pullets & young rooster). Option A: cull the 4 older hens (hatch dates 6/21 & 5/20) and give the youngsters the whole pen Option B: put the 10 in...
  18. QChickieMama

    Would you bury a dead chicken in your garden to nourish the soil?

    I heard about this somewhere, but now I'm wondering if it'll be a problem to have a decomposing creature inside a fenced garden. Will plants growing on the upper layer of soil have a problem? I usually rake the surface smooth and then stick seeds in a tiny trench to plant my garden--I don't...
  19. QChickieMama

    Predator mystery--tips to prevent?

    I had 5 6-mo-old BR pullets living in a mobile tractor. They were fine when I closed the pen at night. In the morning, one was on the ground by the edge of the coop with part of her headless neck poking out from under the pen. The other 4 were fine. It was chilly for here in NC-about 24* in...
  20. QChickieMama

    Solution to mouse problem?

    We have a mouse issue. I know our coops are full of mice and I half-heartedly try to reduce that population there sometimes. However today's problem is in our garage where I store my cured garden produce. We've removed all the grass seed, the original attractant. Tried live trap boxes with...
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