Babies just turned 4 weeks old. The one silkie is like 1/4 of the size of the rest and the other silkie is about half the size of the rest. They have started to roost as high as they can at night and the silkies are sad that their friends leave them on the ground all alone.
It is probably just tired from the hard work. Let it be for now. I have never had an egg zip nicely that didn't finish on their own when they were ready.
After they internally pip they will start chirping. Not all of them chirp before external pipping but I find a lot do, especially when they have friends chirping. One chirps and the others reply.
Wow that is really rough. Did you contact them to complain and let them know about the high rate of wry neck? I just hatched eggs and out of 36 only 20 hatched and 3 died after hatching. I was annoyed and I only spent $30 on those eggs. I am sorry you have had to go through suck a rough...
I live in norther NB Canada and it gets down to -30c(-24f) multiple times a winter here. We just have a thinly insulated coop and have vents that are high enough that it is above their roosts. None of our chickens have ever had an issue with the cold. When they are a little cold they just...
I agree with the others, you will probably have issues with the size of that coop for 12 chickens. It will probably be fine until winter as long as the door opens at dawn and closes at dusk. As soon as they are forced to be close together during daylight hours they will start fighting. My...
None of my hens play. Their favourite activities are dust baths and foraging. I have got them swings, mirrors, things to jump on. They would rather lay in the dirt and look for tasty food. The babies love things to climb on and fly from one thing to another. You could do what some people do...
I know this thread is old. I was making deviled eggs yesterday and I noticed all my brown eggs had a white inside. The green and blue ones had a blue inside. However my dark brown eggs had a blue inside. The picture below is just from a fresh one with a little bit of the membrane removed to...
Looks good to me. As long as temperatures aren't crazy cold and you have heat for them it will be fine. I would suggest a brooder plate as the temperatures you stated would be fine for them to run around in without getting too cold. And a brooder plate is much safer than a heat lamp.
I never noticed an issue. However once it starts snowing I move them to another coop. I plan on building a brand new coop this summer and am considering cannibalizing parts off the tractor as I prefer to let the chickens free range. When I built the tractor I didn't plan on letting them free...
I put the metal roof right on the 2*4s. No underlay as it would add too much weight. For getting in to clean I put hinges on the back of the coop so I could completely open the back for cleaning or chicken catching.
I usually have issues with chick feeders but I finally found one that they have spilled way less than normal with. I got it off of thingiverse and printed it myself. I also printed the no waste remix. It stops the thing from getting over full so it is harder for them to spill it.