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I want to make sure I’m doing this right. I live in N. Texas, which has long, dry, scorching summers, a few periods of torrential rain, and mild winters. Gardening is year-round; I have vegetables or herbs growing in all seasons. Ex: It’s Jan and my basil, planted last March, is still alive...

Our coop door is automatic. When we left for a friend’s house, the pop door was open and the door switch on auto. While at the friend’s house, we had a terrible thunderstorm with high winds, hail, and torrential rain. When I got home, all the chickens were outside the coop and soaked. Coop...

I’m sure we did not do this correctly. We have a flock of RIR all hatched out on Aug 3: 18 hens and a rooster. Our kids’ school hatched out chicks on Oct. 11 and is keeping the hens for egg production; they had 12 roosters that needed culling. A local boy slaughtered 10 of them for his...

I set up this 60 watt equivalent LED supplemental light bulb. Because my coop is small and does not have a high ceiling, I installed the light outside a vent window under the roof eaves to prevent chickens from pecking at it. It shines into the coop on the side with the roosting bars; most of...

I found this post with a message from a chicken-focused veterinarian very helpful. In it, he explains exactly how light stimulates egg production (not through eyesight, but rather a gland on the forehead)) and debunks two theories I have seen here and elsewhere: 1) Giving chickens supplemental...

We were given an extra chick with our order and now, at 18 weeks, he is obviously a rooster—larger body, pronounced comb, more beautiful tail feathers. He’s a Rhode Island Red, so I’m expecting him to get aggressive and crow. Thus far, though, he’s more curious than the 18 hens in the flock...

Hi there, This is our first time farming chickens. We have 18 Rhode Island Red hens and one rooster. We live in the Dallas area, Texas. In December, we have 10 hours between sunrise and sunset with about 30 min more of light in the sky (twilight). Our chickens just turned 18 weeks old. We...

New chicken owner here. 1 chick confirmed dead, 1 chick missing, 1 chick injured from dogs yesterday. 18 remaining in the flock. Chicks dug a hole under our wood fence, got stuck in space between that and my neighbors’ chain link fence, and their dogs got the chickens through the bottom of the...

We just installed the $25 automatic pop door yesterday. It worked great to open at sunrise this morning. At dusk, though, it closed before any chickens had returned to the coop. They were standing outside by the ramp to the closed door at dusk, so I shined a flashlight on the sensor. The...

1st time chicken owner here. We moved our RIR chicks to the coop 2 weeks ago. They are 5 weeks old and have only been in the coop. Today I opened the pop door and left it open for 5 hours. Not one chick came out into the run. I’m assuming that if I do that daily eventually they will come...

We moved our 1 month old chicks to the coop yesterday. It’s warm enough here. I went out there and checked on them around 9:30 pm and they were sleeping. After I locked them in, I stood outside for a few minutes. The porch light was illuminating my yard and coop. And then … what came...

Newbie here! My son designed our coop with one wall that opens so we can sweep out the bedding easily into a wheelbarrow and cart to the compost heap. We were planning to put 3 in. of litter down in our 5 ft. x 8 ft. coop and sweep it out once a week. That could prove expensive though: It costs...

Our RIR chicks were hatched on Aug 3. We have 21 of them in 2 brooders. They’ve been on the front porch in 105 highs, only needing the heat lamp at night. Now temps are 85- 73 and I’ve had the heat lamp on all the time. They are moving around, flapping wings, trying to fly out when I open...

We are new to chickens and will raise them in our Dallas-Ft. Worth suburban backyard. We’ve had chicks in a brooder on our deep front porch for three weeks now. It has been hot (highs of 104-5) and very dry, no problem. Heat lamp only needed at night for lows of 85-80. Coop is built but...