Search results for query: *

I don't know about the sick one that sneezes. How long have you had them? For the ones with red skin, they may get better within a few days or weeks of living in good conditions (not too crowded, reasonably clean) with plenty of good food (free-choice Flock Raiser or similar feed, plus oyster...

I'm not sure if you are saying each hen laid 120+ eggs, or if that is the total count from all 11 hens combined. This is the 148th day of 2024. If each hen has laid 120+ eggs so far this year, I agree that that are laying very well. But if 120 eggs is the total, that makes about 11 eggs per...

I once had a hen that did sit long enough for an ostrich egg. I hadn't given her any eggs, because I didn't want chicks, but she seemed to be healthy enough so I just kept letting her sit. She did eventually quit of her own accord.

Yes, that's what I was thinking.

Could they be scared of the weather, crowd and pile in a corner, and smother one at the bottom? Although I might expect to find several dead chickens if that happened, rather than exactly one each time.

Good point. And I've seen partly-grown chicks go through 2" openings, and young bantam chicks go through 1" holes with no trouble at all.

Probably yes. I would probably cross White Leghorn hen with either RIR rooster or Cubalaya rooster, then cross daughters to the other of those roosters. That gets rid of all the sex-linked genes from the Leghorn (probably Silver and maybe barring), and should give you about 1 in 4 chicks...

Gold or red probably does not matter much, but he does need to be wheaten and not duckwing. The roosters look alike, at least until you add other genes that affect the pattern, but the hens look different.

Next time you pull out as much as you can, you might try mulching the area heavily afterward. I'm thinking many layers of paper or cardboard, then something to keep them from blowing away. The paper or cardboard will usually keep things from growing up again (add more layers as needed. Sometimes...

It partly depends on what kind of setup you have. If you are making an opening for a chicken to walk through, like a doorway, one foot wide is enough for pretty much any chicken, and some can get by with less. Since you already have some chickens, you could measure how wide they are, and make...

For the color, probably yes you can use the Cubalayas. Cubalayas are going to have some traits different than those other breeds. If you want those traits, then they would be a good choice. Note, the Cubalaya rooster in the picture is not really the same color (genetically) as a Rhode Island...

No, I haven't. You are aware that the hen determines the sex of the offspring, right? (Backwards of the way most mammals do it.)

If the cover is still available, that could be useful. With that many chickens, they would barely have room to sit in the coop at the same time, so I'm glad they always had access to the run! Chickens can be kept in many different conditions. Part of the difference is how comfortable you want...

They always over-estimate how many chickens a coop can hold (as compared with how many it can *comfortably* hold.) That page says the coop part is 4.76 feet wide and 3.92 feet deep. That makes about 18.6 square feet. If you allow 4 square feet per chicken in the coop, it is only big enough for...

That does sound like a good idea. Yes, you will probably have to try one and another and maybe another, to see which ones work how well. Hopefully at least one of them will be successful :)

I think you could do it either way, leaving the eggs with the current broody or giving them to the other broody. Since you intend to break one of the two anyway, and you are worried about the health of the one currently on the eggs, I agree that it could make sense to give the eggs to the newer...

The size being 45" in length and width? That's probably big enough for brooding 8 chicks to about age 5 weeks or so (which is around the time they are fully feathered.) Common space guidelines for chickens: 1 square foot of space per chick up to about age 4 weeks (can be a little less in the...

Just-hatched chicks would naturally snuggle under their mother's feathers to stay warm, all night long and at intervals during the day. A hen's body temperature is about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. If you use a heat lamp, the usual method is to provide one heated area, somewhere between 90 and 100...

No, I suggest just-hatched little fluffballs, and immediately outside into a coop with a heat source (brooder plate or heat lamp or something of the sort.) Use an extension cord, and be very careful about fire risk, but you would have to be careful of possible fires in your house as well. Yes...

Thanks! Fibromelanosis is not really the important gene for making sexlinks like that. The sex-linked gene that matters is called Id for Inhibitor of Dermal Melanin. The dominant form of that gene blocks melanin (black pigment) from forming in the dermis (part of the skin.) The recessive form...