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Where did you get the chick?

Pretty Spitzhauben pullet! Thanks for updating. It's fun to see how they grow and change :)

A white or yellow dot on the top or back of the head means barring, I think all the time. It is more likely to be present, and more obvious, on solid black chicks. Chocolate or blue or lavender chicks have the dot too, but it doesn't stand out as much. Chicks with a pattern of other colors may...

Since there are wild chickens roaming in your area, and Karen the black one was found as an abandoned chick, Karen is probably a mix rather than belonging to any particular breed. For the three from the store, they are most likely some version of Red Sexlink. Females are typically red with...

I don't have any suggestions about the drinking cups, but I would suggest providing one source of plain water (no supplements). For normal healthy chickens of any age, they do not need supplements in their water. Plain water, plus a complete chicken feed, will provide all the nutrients they...

Those are probably not causing any problems. Providing grit is good. I would consider probiotics optional: not harmful, but not helpful enough to notice any real effect. If the probiotics are in the water, I would make sure they also have a source of plain water (nothing added to it.) The...

22% protein should be safe for all chickens, of all ages. Higher protein feed is usually more expensive than lower protein feed. So anyone that wants to save a little money, switches to a lower protein feed as soon as they think the chickens can stand it. The minimum protein level for young...

Glad to hear it :)

You can feed them chick food for their entire lives, if you want. Just put out a separate container of free-choice oyster shell when they get close to egg laying age. Chick starter is safe for all chickens of all ages, as long as you provide oyster shell as a calcium source for the ones who lay...

As far as I can tell, "dry hatching" means two different things: --rare meaning, carefully maintaining humidity at a certain level, lower than what incubator advice usually says. --more common meaning, just do not add water, and let them incubate at whatever humidity the incubator happens to...

Not a frizzle, based on the 8-week photos a few posts above yours.

If he is already trying to get out of the box, I might try it tonight anyway. A duckling under the mother is not going to get cold as long as he stays there (during the night). Then in the daytime, if he can keep up with the others, he will probably be fine as well. Or if he has a problem during...

Sorry, I don't know anything about feeding that specific plant to chickens or other animals. But in general: Chickens are usually pretty good at deciding what is safe to eat and what is not, if you give them choices. So putting some in their run would probably be safe enough, as long as they...

I think Golden Laced Wyandotte for the second one. I don't recognize the first one. Where did you get them? Sometimes that provides clues.

Where did you get her? If she came from a hatchery, or from a store that orders their chicks from a hatchery, she is probably not mixed with anything in particular. Most of the hatcheries have flocks of easter eggers that are just being bred with each other. Any crosses with other breeds would...

Cat or dog food can help, but is usually more expensive than chicken feed. Maybe that is different in your area? The other things you mention are going to be pretty low in protein, so the chickens will definitely need some good sources of protein. That could include bugs and worms, cat or dog...

I don't know if he will live or not, or if he will be healthy. If he seems generally healthy but was just too young to keep up, I would probably try to put him underneath the mother tonight, in the dark. There is a good chance he will be able to keep up with the group tomorrow. If he seems...

Grit is little rocks. The grit (rocks) mostly stay in the gizzard, to grind up the food the duck eats (or chicken, or pigeon, or whatever.) Birds do not chew their food with teeth, but grit in the gizzard is their way of breaking up food into little bits so it is easier to digest. If the duck...

White is a color you see on the chicken. There are a number of different genes that can cause white, plus a few more that cause colors light enough to look "white" in some situations. Silver is caused specifically by the Silver gene, that turns gold/red shades into white. So it is white caused...

I have sometimes found eggs in a nest in the corner of a coop, with bedding scratched over the top, that had been accumulating for a while before I found them.