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Many thanks for your reply

Poor hen What a horrendous wound...you did the right thing not to let her suffer.

Our 2 1/2 year old Chantecler rooster (The Professor) died last night The back story - two weeks ago we let our younger roosters out for some fresh air/grass and one picked a fight with our resident rooster, who lost for the first time. No blood was shed, it was more a matter of the younger...

Thanks! I will try mixing in yogurt or just leaving it until they finish it off. I suspected they were being picky girls

I feed my chickens Shur-gain layer mash from the feed store and they are doing well on it. The one thing that I noticed in the last six months or so that puzzles me is that there is always lots of crumbs left in their feed troughs that they don't eat. These "crumbs" have the consistency of...

Thanks for the advice, on both counts! I think I will try the "sacrifice" bird with one of the older hens we were planning to cull this winter - I suspect that these Araucana are healthy, but I have a nice flock and don't want to be the cause of its downfall. Would a week or two be enough time...

I have a fairly large flock: 3x each Buff Orpingtons, Jersey Giants, Golden and Silver Wyandottes that are 5 months old and just integrated with very little fuss with the rest of my flock, which is 10 Barred Rocks and 10 Black Sex Links...plus a Chanticler hen and rooster. A month ago I...

Hello, My apologies if this has been covered recently and I missed the thread. Last night I noticed one of our 1 year old barred rock hens (Rosetta) was roosting in the coop well before dusk, something unusual for her. This morning I found her laying on the coop floor and she was very...

I manage to do it myself (since it's hard to convince my husband to leave our warm house to help me in the chilly coop!). I catch a hen or one of our roosters, hold them snuggly with their wings tucked in against their body on my left side (like you would hold a football), and with my right hand...

My apologies if this has recently been covered. I have six going on 15 week old Barred Rock cockerels that I am fattening up with grower/finisher and additional cracked corn. I've heard that once they reach a certain age and their hormones kick in it will make their meat really tough. what is...

This is the second time I've seen this behavior in our small flock. The first time was about 6 weeks ago. One of our Chantecler hens (Amelia) was spending a long time in a laying box clucking away. Our Chantecler rooster (the Professor), our other Chantecler hen (Ginger), and our Barred Rock...

I have friends who due to health reasons are no longer able to care for their 24 12 week old chickens so I have agreed to take 5 or 6 off their hands so they will have a life as layers instead of becoming dinner. These birds are the same age and from the same hatchery as some of mine but have...

I'm with the "don't do it" crowd. Our 11yr old Doberman-Sheppard mix was great around the chickens when we were with her. She took a casual interest but never attacked them or showed any sign of aggression. But then she ended up killing 18 chickens in less than 30 minutes the first time she...

At least one of our 6 month old Chantecler hens started laying a few weeks ago. Once every couple days there would be a very small pale brown egg. In the last week I noticed one of them missing from the flock while they are out free-roaming our property (which is odd because they are really...

Well, it's a relief to know that a) my chickens' bizarre snack choice is normal and b) that their bizarre snack choice will not make them ill. Lol.. and if it keeps them warm from the inside than that means less for me to worry about too : )

Our 3 hens and 1 rooster have been eating the exposed Styrofoam type insulation in their coop (which I've since covered up). They have also been pecking at and probably eating some old and yellowed spray-foam type insulation outside the barn when they are free roaming. They all seem to be fine...

Fantastic info - thanks! Ventilation never occured to me, in fact, I figured it was best to keep any cold air out completly so the coop would stay cosy and warm. Live and learn, eh? We're curently using heat lights for our younger birds (6 weeks) and they are keeping the coop comfortable when...

This will be our first winter with chickens (barred rock, black sex-link, and chantecler) We live in Ontario (near Ottawa) and during the winter it is typically around -20 C (or -4 F) - sometimes warmer, sometimes colder. We will have two heat lamps for between 24 and 30 birds in a coop that...