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Some of our chickens have been sleeping in a doug fir tree. Last night we heard a commotion and ran out to find one chicken dead on the ground, with no marks on her, just 4 missing tail feathers which were on the ground under the tree. The rest of the chickens huddled under a bush near the base...

I've got 9 hens and one tom living with about 30 chickens. The turkeys are laying, and a few are spending a little time hanging around the nests, or lingering in the nests, like chickens do. The nests are shared between turkeys and chickens (and one kooky little rooster who sleeps in them at...

Clumps of green mistletoe in the oaks stand in stark contrast to the grey and brown vegetation of our winter. Wild birds depend on it for a foodstuff, and I've read that deer it, and cattlemen have fed it. But, when I google mistletoe, all I see are dire warnings about its toxicity. I fed a...

Our Broody hen has been sitting on 9 eggs. 5 of them hatched on Saturday and Sunday. Now that it's Tuesday, I'm wondering what I should do with the 4 that haven't hatched? There's a bad smell, but I can't tell which egg is the culprit. I'd like to toss, them, if there's no good reason to hold...

Hi there Resolution, I have a question for you that came up while I was reading your scratch grain thread, "Scratch Grain is one way that people can feed their birds without using soy or any imported cereal crops. Finding the appropriate supplements to ameliorate nutrition provided by scratch...

I read that the dose is a max of 50-65 mg/kg every 24 hours. But then I also read 50-65 mg/kg twice per day. Which is correct? (Edited title)

I've seen Aunt Sally's poo page, so I understand there can be a great variety in normal poo. But I've been watching my birds because I'm worried about blackhead due to the death of a turkey 6 weeks ago who had a spotted liver . So, yesterday morning I photographed a bunch of the poos in the...

I have 9 Black Spanish poults, and 2 Blue Slate, all are 11 weeks old. 6 weeks ago I found a poult dead in the coop in the morning, autopsied him and found cheesy masses in the cecal sacs and a spotty, necrotic liver (link to spotty liver picture ). The poult had not seemed depressed, though he...

Found dead 5 week old poult in coop this morning. I decided to autopsy, and found that this poult's liver is spotted: I also found this fatty blob in a dead-end section of the colon (ceca?) and cut it in half: He was also pretty skinny, and his intestines were full of bile, which may...

5 week old poult. I think it's a pecking injury. Just started letting the poults into a yard with a thin fence next to the chickens, there was some scuffling going on, I didn't realize how bad it was .... Poult was fine yesterday, saw this today. The eyeball itself seems ok, just some swelling...

Mother Hen just quit! The 10 chicks are 5.5 weeks old, feathered out. Our daytime temps are 90, night time high 50's. They've been sleeping in a plastic sided dog crate with mom in a separate coop from the flock, I'm waiting to see where they decide to go tonight. They've been integrated...

Butchered my first 3 cockerels last weekend. Went well, except my knives weren't nearly sharp enough. I felt bad because I don't think they bled out as fast as they should have - blood kinda dribbled, rather than spurting, and took about 2 minutes. :( I tried sharpening my knives with a stone...

I’ll be adding chicks to my existing flock this spring and have some questions: Proximity of brooder to grown flock? My coop occupies one end of my hoop house. I'd like to put my brooder in the hoop house a few feet away from the coop. I will provide enough barrier to prevent the heat lamp from...

I just read up on how to do a fecal egg count at home on this excellent website (if you're into goats and cheesemaking!): Fias Co Farm There's even an equipment list with links! Only thing is, it's for goats. Would parasite eggs in chickens look any different? Below are pics of worm eggs from...

This spring I want to try some new breeds of chickens, to decide which birds I like best for breeding up my homestead flock. (Last year I ordered one each: NH, BPR, BA, BO fro the feed store (Ideal)). I've narrowed the birds I want to buy this year, something like: Dark Cornish, WLR Cornish...

How do I manage 2 roosters, with 5 hens, till my spring chickens grow up enough to balance out the flock? Should I give each roo a couple of hens and make 2 separate flocks? Will simply providing more ranging space keep the peace? Should I separate the roos (everyone ranges together in the day...

Rather than throw away chicken soup carcasses, I've been looking for ways to make the most of the old bones. Bigger beef bones seem more challenging, but probably contain even more valuable components. I've read that bones can be burned and ground up to make home made bone meal to fertilize the...

I currently have 7 chickens: an Australorp and a BO roo, and the hens are Marans, EE, New Hampshire, and Barred Rock. All the birds are about 8 months old and I'm getting about 2 1/2 dozen eggs per week. That's really the maximum number of eggs the humans in my family can use. I want to begin a...

I bought this hen from a fellow who had "Americaunas" as well as a variety of Marans: Splash, Blue, French Copper, and Splash. He was breeding to get Olive Eggers. She lays regular brown eggs, maybe slightly darker than my Barred Rock's. I gather she's a mutt, but what should I call her? an...

My pretty little Ameraucana X has become the only hen my Black Australorp rooster can manage to get hold of long enough to mount. And she's overmounted - little bare patch on her back with a couple of cuts. I've cleaned her up with saline solution, and put some salve over the cuts. I think...