So in the spring I purchased a rooster from a local woman who bought eggs from a place who breeds Black copper marans. Most of the eggs that hatched were cockerels so she was rehoming. I was looking for a BCM Roo because I have some real nice fancy BCM hens I wanted to breed. He did his job and...
I have a 7 year old barred rock who I discovered had water belly in March. I have been draining her since. Sometimes I’d get 400 mls and 2 weeks later another 400 mls. Then she’d be fine for 6 weeks. Recently I haven’t had to drain as much. I drained her about a month ago and took maybe 100 out...
So I took these 3 ducks from a co worker like 2 weeks ago. They have been quarantined away from my own ducks. They were doing great, eating, swimming etc. I had them locked up one day because I worked a shift at work I didn’t expect and we had a fox on the property.
Well today I let everyone...
My best mama is/was my bantam porcelain d’uccle. She is tiny and mighty. Went broody and hatched 3 eggs, the chicks were marans not technically hers but oh was she so proud. They’re 10 weeks old now and they still follow mama everywhere and are bigger than she is. She is still teaching them. All...
I have had chickens for a few years now. Like many of us we started with a small coop and added onto it again and again to accommodate our growing flock.
I’ve noticed something in the last few months. Originally we purchased Barred rocks, Orpington, bantam porcelain duccles, Rhode Island reds...
I have an Orpington sitting on 5 eggs that were due to hatch tomorrow. Sunday they were fine. Monday I did not check on them, I worked an overnight shift at the ER and came home this morning to check on mom and eggs and as soon as I opened the lay box door I smelled death. All 4 eggs are gone...
Exactly 4 weeks ago my blue splash maran hatched 3 eggs. She has been a wonderful mom and this is my first experience letting hens hatch and raise their own chicks.
She talked to them constantly, showed them where food and water is, protected them against the other hens.
The last few days...
I may incubate but I have no idea who they belong to. Sometimes they are heavily speckled, sometimes they're like this.
Choices are barred rock, buff orpington, or rhode island red.
Ive had a few broody mamas that I let sit on eggs for the hell of it. The first mom, a BCM hatched 3 babies. Shes a wonderful mom. Those 3 are a week ahead of the next batch.
Then my blue splash and porcelain d'uccle went broody. I let them have 2 eggs each, they all hatched within a day or 2...
Ok last week I had a 4 year old bantam rooster just curl up in the lay box and die after being fine.
I got home yesterday from work and my husband points to my 4 year old RIR hen on my porch and says "she hasnt moved all day" so of course i stand her up and she immediately falls over and uses...
I have 3 BCM that are broody right now. I have marked some eggs and let them keep them, our set up is different though. Our lay boxes are in a big elevated part and its a steep ramp to climb. Im afraid once the babies hatch they will fall and get hurt.
We have a flock of 26 hens and 2...
I have a pair of bantam porcelain d'uccles I got at tractor supply years ago.
One roo and one hen and they paired off in our flock. The hen is broody right now. This morning i opened the lay box to collect eggs and my d'uccle roo was dead next to his hen 😩
No wounds or anything. Its like he...
My neighbor got an incubator and hatched eggs they had gotten from myself and some friends. Unbeknownst to myself they also found eggs while they were out mowing, put them in their incubator and hatched a turkey vulture.
They had given me 2 chicks prior to this to raise because i had chicks...
My barred rock Laverne did not come out of the coop this morning and I realized her vent area was absolutely full of poop and when i looked closer i saw maggots.
After 2 hours of hydro therapy, I then clipped her feathers to see what on earth I was dealing with.
Her vent is normal, but under...
Heres an update on my year old BCM who I found in the pasture 2 nights ago after she didn't go up in her coop to be put up.
I found her with a very clean U shaped cut on the back of her head down her neck. The tissue under did not sustain any damage. We are assuming this was a passing grab by...
Tonight when my girls went up I did my normal head count and was down a BCM. I went looking for her and found her in my pasture where my 2 pyrenees and sheep are. I picked her up and she was wet which was odd and I brought her inside to check her over and found this.
What in the world did...
I posted about my friend giving me a hen who was getting picked on at her house. I knew the moment I saw her she was not well. She's very skinny with a droopy crop. I got her to eat strawberries the first day.
Day 3 she's barely eating, smells strong of ammonia and is all puffed up. Her comb...
Hey everyone!
A friend of mine gave me an Isa brown hen that all of her hens were ganging up on at her place. I had it inside my home in a dog crate for a few days but it seemed stressed so I put it in the coop at night and next day all my hens were pummeling her. She just lays there.
She is...
Hey everyone! I have 2 roosters that hatched together, they are about 2 years old and have always gotten a long. One seems to be more dominate and monopolize the hens. Well last year I added 6 copper maran hens and my RIR mix rooster took to them. He's the less dominate one. But they've never...