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I understand this is exceptionally rare. Has anyone here ever had this happen? This egg came from one of my Marans. I hard boiled it but now I wish I'd blown it out...

I have a 22 week old lavender Ameraucana pullet who has had a chronically runny eye for a couple of months. It seems as though it is irritated, as she keeps it closed unless she really needs it. When it's open, it's clear and bright with no redness. The wateriness is not bubbly, she has no...

I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge of how Sodium Bentonite clay works best when used as a binder. I know it is used to bind pellets, but what if it is put in homemade chicken feed? Will it help bind the premix and grains/seeds together so the chickens will eat the premix? I suppose...

I have two year-old Silver Grey Dorking cocks who are kept separate. For a few weeks I let one guy out with the hens to forage while the other stays in a pen, then I switch them so the penned up one can roam for a while. It's not ideal, but it's the only thing I can do until I can make...

I just now wing banded my first chick: a one week old Silver Grey Dorking pullet. Just as I was about to push the band through with the pliers, she moved and now it's very close to the edge. I felt for the tendon, and I think it's just at the back edge of the tendon. She is still able to fold...

Hi all. I have chicks hatching from my first ever experience with incubating. I used a Hovabator Genesis 1588 which has done an awesome job staying at about 99.5 but adding even a little water makes the humidity climb to 50 - 55%. I've got the vent open and I try to just add a little every...

This is the very first time I've ever incubated eggs and I've been a nervous wreck for the last 3 weeks! These are shipped eggs (21 of them, 5 different breeds) and they all had terribly detached air cells. The postal service did them no favors; the box was mashed! No broken eggs, though. I...

Hi all. I have my movable chicken coop on some of my neighbor's unused land with his permission. This field is adjacent to our property. Ever since we moved into our house 15 years ago I've wanted that lot to turn into a barnyard, and when I finally asked him if he would sell it, he said no...

Here in Vermont we have recently had several storms which have given us about two feet of snow in total (so far). This evening I went out to feed my girls and button up the house for the night and found one of my SG Dorkings out in a drift and unable to move. Something must have spooked her...

Our very handsome Partridge Cochin cockerel, Meatball, is a lovely guy with people, but a brute when it comes to my Dorking boys, who definitely need to stay here because they are for breeding. Meatball was a "packing peanut" and we fully intended to keep him, but I'm afraid he's just too...

My EE hen, Big Girl (she hangs out with bantams so it's only natural we call her that =) ) didn't lay all summer. She finished a moult at the end of spring/early summer and then just lived life without getting back to the business of laying eggs. I checked her vent and it was dry and...

I have 6 Dorking pullets, 3 Marans pullets, a Cochin cockerel and 4 Dorking cockerels. They're all 25 weeks old and have been in the same hoop coop together since they were 6 weeks old. They have a very large yard surrounded by an electric fence but they very often are let out to forage on the...

I have SG Dorkings that I plan to breed using the spiral method in the spring. This requires having 3 trios, which I have, plus one extra cockerel as a back-up. I also have 3 Cuckoo Marans pullets strictly for eggs, not for breeding. That makes 9 pullets and 4 cockerels. We have a Cochin...

Two of my 9 girls started laying last week. Today I was shocked at what I found in the nest. I've had chickens for going on 10 years now and I've NEVER found an egg like this from a pullet. From aged hens, sure, but this is a new one on me! Has anyone else had a pullet lay an egg like this...

I'm at work, but called my kids after school to be sure they were working on the list of chores I left them. My son answered and when I asked if he'd done his homework and then gone out to give the chickens fresh water, he said, "Yes, and I found a brown egg and a white egg!" Wow! That means...

I started making my own chicken feed this summer. Included in my formulation is whole oats, whole wheat, cracked corn, field peas, sesame seeds, fish meal, kelp meal, Redmond salt, active brewers yeast, limestone meal, NutriBalancer, and in the winter I'll include alfalfa meal (they're on...

Today I noticed one of our yardbirds (most of our chickens are on pasture, but 4 of them are 3 years older and are pets that hang around our front porch) was lethargic and had what looked like a (sorry, graphic here) blobby, bloody gob hanging from her rear. I thought, "Oh, great, she's pooping...

Hi there! Next spring (2013) I intend to begin breeding my Silver Gray Dorkings. I've done much reading on the subject of breeding programs but have not been able to make up my mind as to which would be the best one: Line breeding? Spiral breeding? Clan breeding? So I decided to come to...

Yesterday, my husband and I starting processing 16 Barred Rock cockerels for meat. This is the first time we've ever done it, and it's going great. Question, though, for those of you in the know: today I noticed three of the four birds we processed had soft lumps over the keel. I cut one off...

I have 5 old layers and 9 new pullets who will start laying this fall. I'll be starting a breeding program with my Dorkings next year and will need to keep track of egg production in order to choose breeders, but I'm wondering just how I am supposed to do this? My birds are all out on pasture...