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Our Easter Egger, Peggy, is not looking good. She's self-isolating from the flock, tail down instead of up, feathers looking kind of ragged. We just returned from a trip so I don't know the last time she laid but she for sure hasn't in the past two days. My house sitter says she hadn't seen a...

We've had several successful broody adoptions through the years. This is our first fail. We did everything the same as in the past so I am tempted to blame the hen. Our Salmon Faverolle went broody last year and I decided not to give her chicks because she was so skittish and unstable. In the...

Noticed a few days ago that our four-year-old Ameraucana seemed a bit listless, possibly molting - awfully early in the summer for that, I thought. Then yesterday I saw that she had runny poop - white and green. I cleaned her up and started researching. Thought maybe vent gleet? Was going to...

We have a RIR that I believe is near death. She has been failing for some time, stopped eating some days ago. I just went into the coop to clean up around her and found what I think are maggots in her poop! Small, white, roundish. I have never seen anything like this with any of my other hens...

I have an EE who has been a very undistinguished member of the flock. So much so, in fact, that when she went broody in January (January????) I said nope nope nope. Not only was it an off time of year, but this hen tends to be bullied and I didn't think she could defend chicks against our mean...

Just in case anyone needs encouragement to try it - we just gave our Bella two baby chicks (which we acquired thanks to some help from @SurferchickinSB !) and it has gone so well, again. Buff Orpingtons make spectacular broody moms, although so did my little Mille Fleur d'Uccle. Mostly, it is...

Came back from a trip to see that the Tupperware dish we'd wired to the inside of our pen had fallen apart. Wondering if there is a better way. I found this on Amazon - does anyone use these? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016L1VWGC/?tag=backy-20 Our pen is basically chain link but 2 ft. of...

Like all hens, mine love their foraging time in our chicken yard, which is composed mainly of dirt and fallen oak leaves. But the last three weeks or so they are extremely purposeful in their pecking about rather than just the random passing the time. What could they be finding? We have ants...

I faithfully refresh the birdbath under our oaks when I clean the chicken coop every morning. Lately, the birdbath has had all manner of weird stuff in it - shells from peanuts, turquoise-colored stones that look like they came from an aquarium. Today I found burger wrappers and plastic in it...

I just realized I've been keeping my backyard flock for almost eleven years and the joy has still not worn off. It's hard to articulate why it is such a pleasure but I tried: https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2018/04/14/my-coop-runneth-over/

A friend gently admonished me for giving pieces of bread to the ground birds on my property. Later that same day I was handing out bits of pizza crust to my hens, who voraciously gobbled it up but then I suddenly worried I was harming them by giving it to them :eek: I honestly worried that I...

I don't know why but it always warms my heart when I see that the rich and famous love their chickens, too:wee https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/stars-theyre-just-like-us/

My latest acquisition, an Easter Egger born in May, just started laying. She's my third or fourth EE, but my last one was a dud in the egg-laying department, so it was a thrill to find this little gem in the nesting box last week. More pix here...

I had such high hopes when I got two chicks for my broody hen. Always fun to add to the flock. But then one baby somehow didn't make it back into the pen one day and she vanished. Ugh. And now, this: https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/june-or-junior/ My heart sunk when my neighbor...

I know that loss is just part of the deal with a backyard flock. But this one took me completely by surprise: https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2017/06/10/no-fairytale-ending/ My coop and pen are pretty secure. No incursions in eight years of flock keeping. So most likely human error. This...

I got a little nervous with our adoption last week. Thankfully @featheredbelles and @azygous did some kind hand-holding for me. :bow Since then, things have gone so well! I don't know what the magic is that makes an adoption work but I guess maybe just making sure that the broody is truly...

I've successfully introduced chicks to broodies twice before but I'm still nervous about this:confused: I slipped two chicks under my broody Buff Orpington last night. They are beneath her and I've pulled them out to check on them (making her very angry) and they seem okay, but I can't tell if...

A few weeks ago I remarked that I'd never had such a balanced flock - all five hens happy, no one seemingly at top or bottom of pecking order. It has been the steadiest, calmest flock I've ever had. Then we went away for a few weeks, had an experienced pet sitter staying with the birds and she...

Santa is making his list and checking it twice, and so am I. I just compiled a gift list for the Twelve Days of Chickenmas: https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/12-days-of-chickenmas/ Of course, what I really want to find under the tree is a pair of goats to go with my chickens, but...

I just read about the amazing rescue of Reva the Revenant this week: https://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/taken-abawk-chickens-beat-the-odds/ and I started thinking about how long chickens live.They say that the average lifespan of a chicken is 5-7 years. Of the dozen or so hens...