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Long story short, we've had a terrible problem with raccoons killing my chickens. They actually broke a plexiglass run door to get in and kill my chickens. My chickens free range and will (wisely) no longer go in the coop at night so the door just stays open so they can lay eggs and eat/water as...

For the most part, it's obvious who's a cockerel but I haven't figured out all the breeds that I received with my McMurray rare breed assortment. And then there are a few who are so gorgeous, even though I know what they are, I just want to share. #1 I have 3 who are identical, from what I've...

My family went on a brief getaway to a more rural part of Ohio this week. We drove by some different rundown places with a number of roosters in individual small runs with small shelters. Am I wrong in thinking they're raising roosters for fighting or do people raise them like this for 4H or...

Background info: We have 3 hens & a rooster in our coop. Plus, this spring we added 6 pullets in an area that was fenced off from the older crowd for their safety. Inside the basement, we've been raising 20 chicks. Friday the house chicks were ~ 4 weeks, flying out of the box so I decided it...

Ever since my neighbor's dog killed 6 of my hens last February, I've been down to 3 hens and 1 rooster out in the coop. Days ago when I locked them up at night there were only 2 hens. I called and looked, nothing. I never found any feathers but knew this couldn't be good. Yesterday when I was...

I met a local woman through craigslist who is selling off the extra pullets from her order. She said she was on the waiting list for 3 years and finally got her Buckeyes, cuckoo marans and barnevelder pullets. I'm getting 2 of each from her. What a deal!

Hi all, I'd love it if you'd play "what's my breed?" with me. We received 27 chicks from McMurray, these are the 20 survivors. I tried to get good pics that would show their wings and legs as well. Thanks! #1 #2 #3 #4 more to come

I am so sad. We received our shipment of 27 chicks from McMurray today. At first everyone looked ok and drank from the water but within a few hours, we lost 2. I just found another one dead and there are two more who don't look good at all. We've done chicks before and NEVER had losses like...

I'm so excited- I placed an order with McMurray this morning for 25 straight run of their rare breeds. Does anyone know if they tell you which breeds you actually were given when your order arrives or is it a guessing game?

Free 5 roosters, 3 buff orp, 1 black australorp and 1 white (forget his breed). 4 1/2 months old. Will not ship, must come pick up as I can't drive right now. Beautiful birds but hatchery stock. Healthy, I just have too many. You can eat them, we won't.

Hi all, Recently the neighbor's dog got a hold of one of my pullets. (~ 4 months old). I didn't get a good enough look and see how deep the wound was under her rear feathers/wing. Yesterday my DH mentioned she didn't look right and I took a close look. The poor baby has maggots growing in her...

This evening I found a pullet who is badly injured. It appears that something slip open her scalp and it's probably 4-5" long, laid open to either side. I read the article about treating wounds and cleaned it with 1/2 strength H2O2 and then sprayed it with Blue Kote. We then isolated her and...

I've posted about these birds in the past, but now that they're getting older, I'm eager to hear opinions. The first group were supposed to be buff orps, but some (several) have dark brown feathers in their tails. Otherwise, their legs are white and they do seem to be bo's. Are they a mix? (btw...

The one chick hatched at somepoint Thursday night or Friday morning, as best as I can tell. Unfortunately, we found it dead. My hen is still sitting on the 1 remaining egg. How much longer should I give it before taking it away? What if she's still acting broody and with no chicks? At this...

So we have a broody SS and I got some fertile eggs from a friend to put under her on May 1st. Last week one of the 6 broke leaving 5. NBD, this is really more of a fun experiment since she's broody anyway. Today I went out to check on them (I worked all weekend and the kids have been taking...

I've read and read on here but I still haven't really seen a great answer for this. Right now I have 15 pullets and cockerels between 4 1/2 weeks and 6 weeks old. I have a broody sitting on 6 fertile eggs that should hatch ~ May 22nd. I also have 11 laying hens that are a year old. I'm hoping to...

I posted a few weeks ago for guesses on the breed of my "buff orps" that I bought off a crazy man in a dirty house. Now that they're a bit older, I thought I'd solicit more opinions regarding their breed and genders. Approximately 4 1/2 week old "buff orps" per the man This little cutie...

We had our chicks in a large rectangular storage box but it was getting a bit small, so we moved them into a large dog crate today. However, some of the littlest ones can get out the bottom, as well as they're knocking out the bedding. What suggestions do you have for keeping it all in? They're...

We've been free ranging our girls since last fall at least and have been very fortunate that we haven't lost any for quite a while. Unfortunately though, when my son locked them up last night there was one missing. Today my son found a number of feathers and part of a wing. When I was poking...

We wanted to add some chicks this spring and I found a "too good to be true" deal on craigslist. This guy says these are all buff orpingtons, I'm just curious to see if you all agree and if you notice cockerels vs pullets. He said he had the hen upstairs in a bedroom (yes, true story) but this...