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I'm not usually bother by hawks except as they migrate through this time of year. Yesterday my wife came running to tell me there was a hawk after our chickens--they were free ranging all over about 2 acres. I ran out in time to get a glimpse of either a goshawk or cooper taking off through...

After being misdiagnosed by 6 different doctors(everything from muscle strain to a pinched nerve) I finally convinced one to have me tested and it came up positive for Lyme. If you have it you'll know the kind of misery I'm in--right side from shoulder to foot but mostly in hip and knee. It is...

Couple of MCMurray 8 month olds that I'm not quite sure of: The bird in front is BR, supposed to be a pullet. What do you think? Comb and wattles say roo but not the body shape, plus it is half again the size of the 2 others of same age. (Admittedly its been a while--like 63 yrs--since I...

More of an observation but it leads to a slight problem: In the first week of May I added 3 dozen pullet chicks, 9 breeds of 4 each. Most are at the point now were I should be integrating them with the adults--only 10 plus 2 roosters--so they can go out into the chicken yard. The problem is...

<I'm revising this: After rethinking what I saw I'm now convinced it wasn't a mink as it was too big, rather it was a fisher. We've seen one around, I've captured it on game cams and my wife saw one run up the across the street neighbors. This just complicates the problem.> Sitting watching...

I wrote a post earlier about my adding an automatic door to my coop. Basically I wanted something that I could control with my iPhone/iPad remotely. The ones I saw on here and elsewhere either worked manually, on a timer or were light dependent. I didn't want this because there are times I...

I have an interesting situation. This spring 3 of my 4 remaining guineas were lost to predators so I have one lone guinea. A week ago I moved my 3-week old chicks to the coop brooder--a partitioned of section of the coop with one long side hardware cloth. The lone guinea has been spending...

I have an interesting situation. This spring 3 of my 4 remaining guineas were lost to predators so I have one lone guinea. A week ago I moved my 3-week old chicks to the coop brooder--a partitioned of section of the coop with one long side hardware cloth. The lone guinea has been spending...

Last evening, about 7:30, I was working in the garden which is about 40 ft from the chicken yard. I heard a squawk but figured the birds where harassing one another so kept right on planting seeds. Then I heard a second so figured I'd better check it out. I got to the edge of the garden just...

Back in the first week of the month I got an order of 3 dozen day-old pullets. Because there were already some month-old pullets in the brooder pen in the coop I put these in a big furniture box covered with hardware cloth in the back cellar with a brooder plate. No problem, all the chicks...

This is my Ameraucana rooster that I call the Old Guy. He came as the single rooster in an order of six straight-run Ameraucanas in the the spring of 2009. This photo was taken in 2010 when he was a year old. In the 10 years I've had him he's outlived his hens and a couple other roosters...

9 breeds, 4 chicks each (ok plus one "exotic "chick), arrived via priority mail at 9 this morning--loaded on a plane in St. Paul early Monday morning. Inspected them all as I gave them their initial dunk of Quik-Chik infused water--all seem healthy and no obvious signs of defects. Now all are...

There is a thread on mixed breeds of chickens but how about mixing types of birds? At one time or another I have kept and housed chickens, ducks, geese and guineas together in the same flock. Since my primary goal is chickens I have found that the other birds could cause problems. I sold off...

Am I the only one who uses a red light in a brooder? Back in the day--early 50's--this was a recommendation to prevent injury. The idea being that the red light would cover the sight of blood so the chicks wouldn't pick at any that had wounds. It used to be I'd use a red heat light on the...

Yes, they are noisy and do raid small birds' nest but they cab also be useful. This morning, while drinking my coffee and before I released my birds, our local flock of crows were in our lower hedgerow making a heck of a racket. Checked with the binoculars and could see they were mobbing a...

In my checkered career of raising chickens, bees, ducks, geese, guineas, horses and rabbits I have found one huge problem--winter. During the warmer--aka nonfreezing and snowing--months it is fairly easy (and fun) to house, feed and water most anything. But once one has to push through...

When I built my 12 X 12-foot chicken coop 50 yards below the house—we live on a hill—over 30 years ago I had no trouble getting to and from it. Things change. Now shoveling a path in the winter and negotiating the mud during thaws is a bit more challenging. Not that I mind nor find it...

Went out last night to close up the birds just after sundown and my old--8-yr--rooster came running up to me all excited, something he usually won't do. I flashed a light around and what I thought was snow was white feathers. After catching the roo, putting him in the coop and counting beaks I...

Thinking of installing one but, from what I can find reading info, most seem to be solar triggered or on a timer. I want to be able to open and close mine remotely on my own schedule--I like to check for critters before releasing and keep my birds locked in if we are going to be away for the...

One of the things I should never do is go into TSC when they have chicks but, unfortunately, I had to go in for grower today because the 6 production red chicks I bought there 3 weeks ago are about through their bag of starter. At any rate they have new chicks and, of course, I had to check...