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My 2 year old olive egger has started crowing. We have a rooster who crows louder and better. She is not a dominate hen. We first noticed the crowing when we had some 12 week old chicks and figured one of them was a cockerel, but after we sold the chicks, the crowing continued. That's when...

Our Black Copper Marans 2-year-old rooster hasn't been himself for 2 days. He is very lethargic. Sleeping with his head down frequently. This morning, he was the last one off the roost (very unusual). His comb is turning purple toward the back. I'm not sure if he is eating; we will check...

We did a major cull of our flock this fall. Pending the cull, I sold 4 older hens and our 5 year old rooster. We had been thinking we might not have a rooster anymore, but once the rooster was gone, decided one was a good idea. We hatched 11 chicks this summer. 5 female and 6 male. In the...

Lacey hatched 4 chicks on 07/17/15. We put her and her chicks in a chicken tractor much longer than we usually do because we've had 4 broody hens this year and Lacy is only 1 year old; low in the pecking order. We wanted to avoid her getting into fights with other hens; especially other...

I bought a dozen supposedly fertilized leghorn eggs to put under my broody hen. Today is day 22. One egg pipped yesterday, but the chick couldn't make it out of the egg. We've candled the remaining eggs and only 1 is fertile. But it hasn't pipped and I'm worried it won't. This hen starting...

Our young hen, I guess she really still a pullet (she was hatched last July), has gone broody. We got her settled onto 4 eggs yesterday (05/06/11). It is her first time and she is very earnest. She hasn't taken a break from the nest these first 2 days, as far as I can tell. She is in a brood...

We just got home and found our dogs had attacked one of our hens while we were gone. We found a lot of feathers on the ground and she was trying to hide under a wagon. I think we probably interupted them or they would have finished her off. She has flesh missing from her back just above her...

My husband just came in from locking up the hen house and he found one of our hens roosting on the floor. He noticed her waddles are cold, while the other chickens have warm waddles. He put her up on a roost and she stayed. He also noticed she has had diarhea and there is a drainage from her...

Our Mama Hen Died This is the worse possible thing that could have happened. She had a failed hatch and we got her some day-old chicks. I wrote all about it in another thread. Wednesday: The Day old chicks came. Thursday: We gave the chicks to Mama. They bonded very well. Friday...

What can I do? We don't have an incubator to fall back on. She's moving about in the brood box, scratching and clucking. It's very hot in the hen house right now. We can't move the brood box out of there. It's attached to the wall. I've done everything I can to keep it cool in there, but...

It is day 18 and our Mama hen ate one of her eggs! I checked on her, the egg was outside the nest with a hole in it. The egg was empty and the chick's head was next to it. She must have eatten the rest! This is the 3rd year this hen has gone broody. This year when she went broody she...

We lost one of our favorite hens to a fox this morning. My husband was up on the roof and heard her squeal. She had gone out near the road, and a fox was chasing her. He said the fox would grab her, she would escape, but the fox would be right on her again. He hollered from the roof, but to...

Last summer's hatch included 3 roosters. Unfortunately, the one we wanted to keep was killed by a predator when he was about 3 months old. The remaining 2 are now 8 months old. Up until the last few days, they've hung around together and gotten along well. It actually seems like they work...

We lost a 2-year-old Barred Rock hen tonight. I went out a little early to lock them up, and my count came up 2 short. My husband and I went looking. We found one dead; head gone and neck torn open. We found the other one, frazzled, and hiding in the bush. Last year, we had them fenced in...

Our Mama hen is a mama again! She's been sitting on 8 eggs. Today is day 21. A few starting piping last night and we had 1 when we woke up. So far, 5 more for a total of 6 hatched. Here's Mama with one of the chicks peaking out from under her. There are 2 remaining eggs. One has pipped...

We have an Easter Egg hen that stopped laying about 2 weeks ago. I wouldn't know if another hen stopped laying, but she is the only hen that lays blue/green eggs. She acts fine. She's eating. She runs around. I saw her dirt bathing today. Her vent is pink and moist. We checked for mites...

We hatched 5 chicks this spring, early April, and 3 turned out to be roosters. In June, the first one started to crow. This was a "no no" with our neighbor and we dispatched him near the end of the month. He's in our freezer. That left 2 more. Fortunately, the neighbor moved!! We...

I admit I am still new to this. Everything I have read, March thru May is the best time to hatch chicks. I have a hen who is broody right now. I've put golf balls under her and I'm letting her sit on them. I would love to put fertilized eggs under her and let them hatch, but I'm worried it...

I have a hen that's been sitting in the next box almost 24/7 for 3 days now. The first evening I took her out and put her on a roost. This would be a bad time to hatch new chicks with winter just around the corner here in Michigan. We haven't let any eggs accumulate under her. If I keep...

We love these 5 chicks, but are very worried about who is a rooster. Any opinions? These are our 3 Buff Orpington/Ameraucana mix. This is our Rhode Island Red/Ameraucana mix These 2 pictures are both of our EE/Ameraucana mix. I'm sorry they are not better pictures. I took them...