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Question on this subject: If a rooster copulates with a hen once is that enough to fertilize her eggs for the next month or do they need to be together longer? I want a particular roo to be the father of this hens next clutch and she is in the house because she just had a brood of only one...

I have been looking at chicken coop and designs for months (years even) and this is one of the best I've seen from the chickens point of view. I have yet to understand the need for a ramp as even my silkies who can't fly manage to get 4 feet or so off the ground to roost. Roosts and nest boxes...

Okay so it looks like it is not just my flock of Silkies that stays out in the rain. I too have noticed that they are so easy to bathe they almost fall asleep and don't mind the blow-dryer.........Such incredibly sweet-natured birds!

Hello everyone, I just found this thread and am glad to have found that there is a Swap in Elkins which is probably the nearest to me. We live in Pendleton County and started off with about 6 or 7 different breeds of chickens but have finally narrowed it down to our all time favorite, the...

I had a Silkie broody hen that sat on eggs of various vintages, one of them hatched but she stayed broody on about 2 more eggs. Meanwhile I had an incubator hatch of 13 chicks so after a couple days or less I put them under the broody hen at night. She accepted all of them except the 2...

Thank you....I just came in from putting them under her now that it's dark out. They have been in all day under a bed lamp in a small box and I noticed that they are now much bigger than the others (nothing to do but eat all day). I was thinking about painting them ....maybe using a magic...

I really don't want to keep chicks in a brooder as it seems that they are healthier raised by a hen, but I have a problem with 2 of the babies I tried to slip onto my broody hen. To back up a bit I bought silkie eggs off of eBay planning to put them under my black silkie hen who had been...

Loved the article! When we recently had a week-long power outage we spent a good deal of our time sitting on the porch observing the little flock doing chickeny things. Better than TV! We learn something new about chickens every day.

You said "Raising the chicks with the rest of the flock is fairly dangerous, especially if there are roosters around." That is probably good advice unless the roosters are Silkies. My four Silkie boys have been taking care of the 6 month-old chicks since they were only 3 days old and now are...

I've raised chicks by the method in the article and now am raising them by silkie hens. I really recommend letting a hen raise them if at all possible. Soon after hatching I transfer the hen and chicks to a pet kennel (locks up very tight at night against predadors) that has a bottom of play...

I have a silkie house chicken that is inside all the time and we provide her with a mortar tub full of sand for a "bath" every day or so and she loves it. We have another tub full of sand for our outside silkies to nest in and they love to sleep on the edge of the tub which is inside a large dog...

Miss Lydia Quote: I would put more eggs under her and move her inside where you can monitor her closely and give her very nutritions food. I had a broody bantam cochin that sat thru 2 messed up times until the third time worked out for her and she hatched chicks.....seems like she was broody...

artsyrobin, I see your setup is similar to mine. What is with the pet taxi...I have 5 nest boxes on my front porch (easy to just pop out the door and gather eggs) two of which are pet taxis but just the larger pet taxi is the most popular. Yesterday I noticed that the hens actually line up to...

Quote: All hens vary in temp. Hatching time will then vary. Mine began hatching "a day late" as well. But who is to say when late is? I didn't know that! Thanks

Quote: Truck camper top is a great idea. Too bad we disposed of a couple. Wish we were nearer a large metro area where more people use Craigslist because it is slow gaining popularity around here.

Quote: Thanks for the idea. We have a lot of 10 foot lengths laying around as well as connectors that we aren't going to use in the house because these parts have been out in the weather for years. Got to go take a look and plan some runs.

Quote: I agree with this...Your best bet is getting rid of the problem. Any way you can fox-proof your property a little better? Put out a live trap with an already dead chicken in it or other bait, or just wait for him. Thats something your husband could do since he cant help with the coop...

Quote: Good thought. They are so happy free-ranging but yesterday I saw them near the road on the neighbors newly planted garden. More of this and they will be unpopular.

Quote: Thanks, great idea! I need to start checking more.