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My new keets are almost 1 week old. They have been confined to the coop with their mother since hatching. The coop is 16x16 but the hen is antsy to move around more and the chickens are tired of having to fight her just to get to the nesting boxes to lay each day. How long before it is safe to...

Gertrude the Guinea started laying her eggs for the Spring on April 8. Since “rescuing” her and her mate, Gary, two years ago, she has had nothing but bad luck trying to hatch out keets. Hopefully, this year will be different. Her first attempt in the fall of 2016 was in some DEEP underbrush on...

If a single hen spends 4 weeks laying eggs, then another 4 weeks sitting on them, how long does it take all the keets to hatch out? How can they all possibly hatch within just a couple days of each other?

I readily admit I am not much of a disciplinarian when it comes to our chickens. They free range sunup to sundown and pretty much lay eggs wherever they please. I've tried locking them in the coop for a few days at a time to teach them to use the nesting boxes, but I feel bad that they can't get...

This is Max. IMG_0850 by Dmontgomery posted Aug 5, 2017 at 8:57 AM He is not quite 9 weeks old. He has been crowing since he was 6 weeks old. IMG_0852 by Dmontgomery posted Aug 5, 2017 at 8:57 AM He came in an order from Murray McMurray hatchery. Either he is the "rare/exotic" bonus chick or...

One of the BR hens got sick yesterday. I assumed she was overheated because it's so hot here. I put a fan on her to cool her off, but during the night she passed what appeared to be egg yolk. I'm thinking a rubber egg broke inside her. We cleaned her up and emptied more yolk from her. Soaked her...

and more to come! IMG_0739 by Dmontgomery posted Jun 9, 2017 at 5:36 AM Way back in March, I asked my wife if I needed to build a new brooder. We gave our old one away at the end of last summer. She told me we wouldn't be getting any new chicks this year, unless one of the hens went broody...

We had another RIR go broody this week. That's the 3rd one this year already. We have 18 nesting boxes, but the other hens seem to think this is the only one in the world. The box is only 12"x15". IMG_0745 by Dmontgomery posted Jun 10, 2017 at 7:00 AM I guess that's not entirely true. We also...

It seems like I'm building a new coop every year! We have some good friends from church, that my wife sells eggs to each week. We will call the wife "M" and the husband "T". A few weeks ago, "M" sent my wife, "B", a text with a picture of a prefab coop and asked her to show it to me, "D", and...

I'm building a run for some friends. Anybody know where I can get 1"x2" welded wire that is 5' wide? The run is 10'x10' and I only want one seam. I'm only finding 2"x4" patterns and I'm worried those holes might be too big for the top covering. I'm using hardware cloth all around the sides. I'd...

I've pretty much decided that I will continue to brood the baby chicks on the back porch rather than in the main coop. It's much easier to keep an eye on everything and more readily have frequent contact with them for friendlier chickens later. But to easily integrate them into the flock later...

I just need a place where I can brag about my dogs. We have 5. 3 Bassett Hounds, a Pit Bull, and a Lab/Pit mix. When we first got chickens 3 years ago, the Lab/Pit mix caught and killed a couple of the birds. We were able to retrain her. All the dogs come and go indoors and out freely. The...

Breed of the white hen? (at least I hope it's a hen) When we got her as a 2 day old chick, she was yellow so we named her Goldy. She is much bigger than the other 2 chicks her age. Breed of black and white hen? We named her Clementine but I'm afraid we may have to change that to Cletus. Brown...

This is our little OEGB, Henrietta. I've posted about her before. She was rehomed to us in the summer of 2014, from a family member whose flock was picking on her a lot because of her size. She became my precious girl and I spoiled her terribly. She knows she is the favorite and will follow me...

I have a mixed flock with 4 BR, 4 EE, 5 RIR, and 19 RSL. I know the EE's are putting out eggs regularly, and the BR and RIR are contributing pretty well too. We have been getting 13+ eggs a day for the past week. The RSL are 25 weeks old. I only see 3-4 of them with larger red combs and waddles...

We live in the deep south where winter basically consists of 40 degree weather in January and February. We might get 2-3 days a year when overnight temps get below 32. My coop is 16'x16' with the east wall completely open. The roosts, pictured below, are at window level for maximum cooling in...

So we have about 36 ladies between 5-6 months old. A mix of BR, RIR, EE, and RSL. Egg production steadily climbs about another one per day. We're finding "new" eggs with paper thin shells daily too, so we know everybody is starting to get there. But yesterday, this happened! Over 3" long. For...

For multiple reasons, I built raised planters all around my coop and run. The inside of the planters is about 12" wide and they range in height from 6-12". My wife wanted to plant vegetables there but our chickens free range from dusk to dark, so that didn't work out. Do any of you have some...

Our flock was down to 3 by this winter, so we bought 35 new "pullets" in March and April. 2 of them turned out to be roosters, but that's fine. The RIR's are just now starting to lay. Yesterday I was watching them from the back porch when 4 of them went into the nesting boxes at the same time...

39 chickens, 3 are roosters. Each rooster has certain hens that stay around him during the day while they free range and roost together at night. (Yes, I have 3 seperate roosting areas in the coop.) Is each group of hens a harem or is that an offensive term to you ladies out there?