Reviews by Allsfairinloveandbugs

Great informative article! I am guilty of giving broodies flat surfaces (plastic dog crates) to incubate their eggs in. Early on when lots of hens began to go broody, I did notice the plastic bottom was too slick for them to keep their legs from splaying out to the side, so I started putting rectangular, low-sided cardboard boxes inside the plastic crates to decrease the nest size. This has worked sufficiently, but the surface is still flat, and your way seems so much better. Especially since my soil is very sandy, and so very easy for a hen to make a perfect nest area. Broodies are nearly done hatching this year, but next year I will let them do it your way!

The vast amount of nutritional information in this article is incredible! I really appreciated the nutritional info you added for each of the various foods you feed your flock. I also liked that you commented on an often-repeated refrain on BYC "to only give treats once per week; otherwise stick to commercial feed only." Every single item you feed your birds could be considered "treats", but they add up to a balanced diet. Plus, we all know how much chickens love treats! I have no doubt you have a very healthy and very happy flock. Since I couldn't memorize the entire article, I will be referring back to it often, and recommending it to others too.

Excellent tips for traveling with poultry. As I read this article, I remembered back to the catastrophic California fires a few years ago, and how some BYC members were panicking while deciding to evacuate with their poultry or leave them behind. Personally, I grew up on the Texas gulf coast, and hurricane evacuations are an annual concern. So this article is helpful for other reasons along with choosing to take poultry on vacation.

Extremely interesting and very well-written article. You definitely gave me an appreciation for your native, unique landrace!

Very well written, helpful information.

This article is hilarious and also very VERY true!

Your descriptions were hilarious and put a smile on my face today. Thank you for writing this!

Very well written and stated. No matter the species, there is never a guarantee that one will live to see another day, and quality of life does matter.

That is an amazing survivor story! A couple of years ago I went into the nest boxes one morning to gather eggs, and found a dead hen near a nest box. Her entire beak was completely gone, sliced off flush to her head. It was a very disturbing sight, and I couldn't figure out how it happened since I lock my chickens up safe and secure every night. Soon I saw another hen walking nonchalantly through the yard as if nothing was wrong, but to my horror her right wing was missing! At this point I knew the culprit was surely an opossum, but still had no explanation as to how the possum gained access to the coop. I went out that same eve before dusk with a dog-proof trap, wondering where I should place the trap to catch the culprit. I went inside the coop to check the nest boxes before closing the coop door, and discovered a big male opossum curled up inside a nest box. He had gone inside before dusk and was waiting until dark so he could once again dine on chicken. Too bad for him, the chicken wing he ate the night before was his last meal. The hen that lost her wing healed with no issues, but unfortunately the injury to the hen that lost her beak was fatal. So glad that your hen's story had a happy ending.

I'm really sorry about your beautiful favorite hen, but commend you for writing this article in hopes of saving others from the same fate.

Article includes many helpful ideas on ways to "repurpose" chicken poop and put it to good use to improve garden soil. Good job!

This article makes showing chickens sound like a lot of fun, and the helpful tips improve one's odds of winning. Also, Sophie is sooo cute and beautiful. Congratulations on her Best of Fair win!

I'm so impressed that you were able to think of this idea and make it work. Well-done, and congratulations on a successful hatch!

Very informative article. The mention of various activities that pigeons can be trained to do is very intriguing!

This article is EXTREMELY well-researched. I've always taken knowledgeable BYC members at their word that DE and other natural dewormers are ineffective, and so I've never used them. But your article backs those claims with thorough research. Very impressive. And I love the punny article title too!

Very well-written and informative article! I've already seen blood on eggs twice this spring as my older hens resume laying again. I wasn't concerned since it rarely happens, but this article was nice confirmation that there is no reason to worry.

Excellent informative and encouraging article for those who may wish to keep their roosters even though they have a flock where the ratio of roosters to hens is disproportionate. I saw your bachelor roosters thread a few years ago, and that led me to make a separate cockerel/rooster pen for my own boys. I now use it to separate randy young cockerels from pullets/hens until the boys' hormones settle down, to temporarily hold some roosters during non-breeding season to give the hens a break, and to keep some spare roosters "just in case." I've been able to move boys in and out of the bachelor pen at will, but my flocks are free-range, and I've only ever kept males with sweet and gentle temperments. Though I've never had a problem with roosters fighting, there have occasionally been hormonal cockerels that decided to "mate" with other cockerels. I've had anywhere from 3-17 cockerels/roosters housed together in the bachelor pen at various times.

This article is very informative and thorough, emphasizing the neccessity to keep chickens comfortable in hot weather through proper coop construction styles and ventilation, as well as many other important tips and pointers.

Very informative, and the many differences between incubating emu eggs and poultry eggs are very interesting. For anyone who wants to incubate emu eggs, this article contains all the information needed to have a sucessful hatch.