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My 4 year old hen has a red swollen abdomen. I soaked her in warm epsom salts. Her vent isn’t red or swollen. Any thoughts on what this is? I fed her an egg and water and she gobbled it up. Her waddles are still red. I have her separated. She seemed fine yesterday. Here is a picture of poop...

I spent years evaluating risk for a living before I retired to my dream life as a farmer. I guess the threat analysis is still on my brain because I look at my hens' safety much like a risk assessment. I started with the strategic goal of having very happy hens who do not feel threatened, live...

My EE little ladies have not laid an egg for three weeks since I replaced their rotting nesting box. The rest of the flock is taking it well but my six EEs were very upset over the box change. I miss my four blue eggs per day. My other hens are RRs, Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons and they do...

I have chickens living in our sustainable permaculture food forest and I would like to grow them free chicken feed. A usual hen eats 1/4 pound of feed per day if required to stay in a coop and run all day. Without the food forest and lake supplementing their feed, they would be expected to eat...

For all new chick owners with a dog, now is the time to train your dog to think he is their parent. Here is a video below describing the process I used to train our dog. A broody is best but training your dog to love your flock will hopefully keep them safer. Free ranging Chickens really...

With a lot of help from Back Yard Chickens in the last two years, our flock is happily thriving. With your design help, we submitted plans for our coop and received extensive direction redesigning. Here is a video of the process and build, safety measures as well as an update on my little...

I have 50 meaties coming. They have their own protected space since I plan to raise them. They have heaters, heat plates and a large space safe from all other hens and predators. One of my buff Orpingtons has been broody twice already since December. I would give her some chicks but I’m not...

Two separate Easter eggers had an eye ulcer this year. The meds seemed to help but I’m trying to figure out the cause. I know I’ll get asked so... Meds were Metacam .5 mg/ml cipeofloxacin 5 ml eye drops and smz tmp 240 mg/5ml. She said she would need to remove the eye but after 3 days on the...

Two weeks ago we had a hen with eyeworm that we wormed and had to debride the eyeball. She recovered. A week ago this hen woke with a massively swollen head. Her eyelids had no running puss but there was yellow under them that was like soft globs under the tissue of her eyelids. That seems to...

I have to remove pus from my hen’s eye and need to know how to numb it. Does anyone use a type of eye drop or lidocaine ointment in the eye?

My year old pullet has a swollen eye she will not open. This started 5 days ago. She does not have a smell, and is not sneezing or rattling. There appears to be no discharge. I am new at this so I gave her Epson salt baths thinking she was egg bound as she seemed lethargic. Then I started...

My year old pullet has a swollen eye she will not open. This started 5 days ago. She does not have a smell, and is not sneezing or rattling. There appears to be no discharge. I am new at this so I gave her Epson salt baths thinking she was egg bound as she seemed lethargic. Then I started...

My EE named MJ has not yet started laying eggs. Her 6 flockmates of the same age all started around 18 weeks and all lay almost every day. She has unlimited access to organic chick starter feed, layer pellets, a bowl of oyster shells and a bowl of ground up egg shells. She free ranges from 7...

These are supposed to be 3 buff Orpington, 3 RIRs, 3 barred rocks and 2 Easter egger pullets and they are hanging out with my happy meat Cornish Xs. Do you see any boys in this mix besides the Xs? Also, any thoughts on breed? They are 5-6 weeks now. Sorry about the duplicate pics. I couldn’t...

My 5 week old Cornish x are miserable. They are in a shaded run/coop but our high is 90 degrees in Central Florida. They have lots of water, plenty of breezes and cold items like chilled cabbage. Most of the meat chicks are panting terrible and some even cough. The same age laying pullets are...

I got 25 Cornish x Roos and 12 pullets yesterday. They are all under a week old. I hoped to let them all hang together. The three day old CCs seem to gang up on the biggest black pullets that are maybe almost a week old and twice as large currently. They were pecking at two of the 12 pullets...

My coop and run have 1/4 inch hardware cloth completely surrounding every bit of it and a metal roof. I have 1/2 inch hardware skirting underground. Two different neighbors lost whole flocks in the last month. They are thinking coyotes. My whole acre yard is fenced. I want to add another layer...

I purchased 20 bales of hemp from New Country Organics. They were $19.95 each and shipping was $224 total. This comes out to $623 total or $31.15 per bale (5 cubic foot bags). This is far less costly than any other place I could find online. I live south of Orlando. Does anyone else want to go...

I got these at Rural King. The largest one is supposedly an EE born on 10/23. The rest are supposedly born 10/30 and are two more EE, three Rhode Island Reds and two black Orpington. They should all be pullets but I’m getting nervous about the red combs developing on the orps. The orps seem shy...

I want a coop much like the Carolina coop designs. The coop will be 12x5 and the run will be 12x23. Here is the inspiration coop. I am in central Florida on a lake. I rarely freezes here at my property due to the lake. My real risk is heat. I have one area of my yard that has some dense live...