Search results for query: *

Mine are very productive egg layers in season (April to October). I've gotten mine to use nesting boxes but it's tricky to do. Of they catch you raiding the nesting box they will either attack you or abandon the nest and lay somewhere outside . I don't find guineas to be any dumber than other...

All of my roosters are friendlier to newcomers than any of the hens. A couple of them go out of their way to welcome younger birds I introduce to the flock, and they'll also train them as they get older.

Preening is a sign they're relaxed. If you're around your chickens and they preen and sun or dust bathe that means they're comfortable around you. It's also necessary: one of the things they do when preening is oil their feathers to make them water-resistant. Keeping them straight helps them...

Likely there's a hidden nest somewhere with all your missing eggs in it, unless the local wild-life finds it first. I had a couple instances when I first started free-ranging of chickens creating secret nests and then going broody over them. The most extreme example was when my nightly...

Sun-bathing. It gets really fun when you walk out onto your back porch and a bunch of them are doing it as a group.

They're pretty territorial and will yell at anything that passes by. They also like to wander. I have 16 acres and mine still tried to invade my neighbors yards and the nearby road. I ended up adding some fencing to keep them in.

Like Red Horse Ranch said, maybe at six weeks or so the females will start sounding off but usually it's a lot later than that (12 weeks+).

I haven't seen that behavior. Every guinea that I had that "guh-wahked" turned out to be an egg layer.

I've heard that they may try to snatch small chicks, but I haven't really seen any of the ones around me exhibit anything remotely aggressive. My flock gets nervous whenever they come around like any other large bird flying overhead, but the only time they interact at all is if there's carrion...

At their age they're good to move outside. If you're worried about cold nights put the heat plate in with them but unless it gets below freezing they should be fine. When you get a chance I'd double check the integrity of the run: some of the boards look like they're getting old and I prefer...

The first couple weeks some of them sleep really weird. I even had ones that would be eating and then suddenly close their eyes and nose-dive into the feeder.

This topic is better suited to the guinea fowl forum, but here's what I know. After keeping chickens off and on for 25+ years, I ended up getting a mixed flock of chickens and guinea fowl in August 2022 (15 of each). I live on about 16 acres of land, of which I have about 5 acres fenced off for...

There's a ton of variables. Some breeds lay like crazy for 2 to 3 years and that's it. I had a speckled sussex hen that was 13 years old and when I started free-ranging my flock she started laying again (I even hatched 7 chicks from her). The last of the "mean girls" in my flock is at least...

Chickens don't seem to have much of a sense of smell. Their eyesight & hearing is surprisingly keen, though. I've seen them get agitated at what I think is nothing many times, and then a minute or two later a hawk or a low-flying aircraft comes into view and then I'm like "Ohhhhhhhh." What...

I have lost three chickens since November 2022 to hawk attacks. Two of them were almost completely black. Plus, I've seen hawks ambush and kill lone crows whenever they get the chance. I'm calling shenanigans on this theory.

Thanks. Initially the baytril seemed to help, the foot was really red at first, the redness was spreading up his leg, and he was lethargic and feverish as well. The first week the color got better and the bad foot didn't feel hot any more. The weird thing is other than the swelling he seems...

Unless your kids are using the playset (and thus the structural damage could result in an injured child) I'd leave them alone. Every year they try to infest the frames of my decks, and this year they've been nosing around the coops and run. Any other wood around the property I leave them alone...

An update. This morning when I let the flock out to free range I noticed the rooster's foot had ballooned up significantly more than the picture on Friday in spite of the increased dosage of antibiotic. I got some extra supplies and brought him in tonight. I used an LED flashlight to determine...

No, it just depends on whether or not you have owls. Rabbits have good night vision & are active at night. Guineas are practically blind in the dark (some of mine can't see at all) & they get sluggish at night, plus if they're roosting in a tree they're that much easier to get at. Predators...

Dogs and cats hunt instinctively, and all poultry are prey animals. Unless the animal just has a low prey instinct an attack is inevitable unless you specifically train them out of it.