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Hi all. I'm thinking of placing a 8 gallon planter that's full of mint into my chickens open run area. They haven't shown any interest in the plants when they are out free ranging but then they have lots of green options. Once the mint is locked in with them they might eat it down to the...

So yesterday I processed our three cockerels leaving the ten pullets to rearrange the pecking order without them. The girls were pretty quiet that day but it was a strange day for all of us so I wasn't too surprised. But they've been quiet all day to day too, except for a couple of predator...

I have a question regarding pecking order. But first I'm going to talk about my experience with a pullet named Mahogany. My partner incubated and hatched 8 Swedish Flower Hen eggs, and one of the last ones to hatch was a dark one we named Mahogany. She hatched late and had a couple of...

I've never raised leeks before but I've got seedlings now and it occurs to me I have no idea when they are ready to put out in the raised beds. Frosts are over but I believe leeks are pretty cold hardy anyway, mostly I just need to know if my seedlings are big enough? Anyone know?

Okay, so we were discussing nest box placement (he believes 3' from the ground is best) with the guy who built our coop and run and he mentioned in passing that his Rhode Island Red stole the other hens eggs. He said he found nearly all the eggs in the RIR's nest, 3' off the ground. I said...

We have 2 Americana and 2 Speckled Sussex chicks all about 3 to 7 days old. The Americana seem to be natural leaders and the Sussex seems to be (for lack of a better term) derpy. Very sweet and I love them but every time someone is peeping because they are lost and chilly it's the Sussex...

Okay, so I picked up 4 chicks (2 speckled sussex and 2 ameraucana) and we wanted them to learn eat and drink so we tried playing mama hen calling chicks to them. Now these are hatchery chicks and never had a real mama hen, and yet they all slowing turned to the hen calls coming from my cell...

In chatting with the guy that's going to build our new coop, he mentioned putting yogurt in a low pan and letting the chickens run through it. He said they can eat it too but that running through it will protect them from fungal infections of the feet. We live on the Oregon coast so wet...

Got a question about maintaining the run area under a raised coop. I've been hanging out on the board for a year or so but this will be my first chicken adventure and I'm trying to avoid as many issues as possible. In my case, the coop will be 3' off the ground, and the space under the coop...

I know it's just barely Fall and and the Winter hatch is a long way away and no, my coop and run haven't been built yet (waiting for a bit more disposable income), but is it too soon to start planning my hatchery order? My list of wanna haves is up to about a dozen different breeds with a...

So sooner or later we will start processing our meat birds, and I'm curious if it's safe to give the laying hens or not ready for processing meat birds the guts and other offal that I'm not interested in. Hearts, livers, heads, feet and wing tips are all to be kept for the stock pot if nothing...

We are getting a manufactured home placed on some land and our contractor is one of those guys that knows everyone and gets a shot at all sorts of handy things that other folks are getting rid of. Well he got a used chicken coop and dropped it at the new property for me to decide on. It...

I've seen designs for rainwater catch systems that use water collected from the coop rain gutter. Stored in a plastic barrel then fed down through pvc pipes to nipples for the chickens to drink. I like the idea and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with those systems? Or plan to set...

So I intend to make a Fort Knox coop with a large attached run. When I'm working in the yard and garden I wanted to let the chickens range to eat bugs scratch about. Then when I go in the house again I'll need a way to get them to go back to their run. A coworker said I'll have a devil of a...

So I was cleaning up after breakfast this morning and the bacon fat container was already full so I wondering if bacon fat can be given to chickens? Maybe mixed in with rolled oats and other kitchen scraps?

The new place we will be moving to will have a 20 x 20 shed with a big area for a work shop (weeeee!) and since I'll be building a coop or 2 and probably some rabbit hutches and maybe even install hardwood flooring in the house, I'll have an excus... um good reason to have a good set of power...

I plan to dump chicken poop from the poop boards and mixed straw, pine shavings, leaves and such from the run into the compost heap. We'll probably have the hens help us mix up the compost. And I know a lot of chicken folk do the same but is this a risk for salmonella?

We'll be living in an area with wet but mild winters and I'm wondering if we'll need to include winter layers in our flock? I know that some breeds won't lay in the winter but is that true whether the winters are mild or harsh? What experience have you folks had?

Hello all, I'm retiring in 1 year and then we're moving to an as yet unspecified piece of land. So looking forward to building a coop and raising a small flock of chickens. I've really been enjoying the posts here and have a ton of new ideas and plans. Spouse and I wanted to have chickens for...