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Hello again! As others have attested, it's been busy here, too. Hens are doing fine -- a bit broody (but they are all still laying a couple times a week). I've been dealing with serious health issues for one of my furry pets, though. So, it's helpful to have the feathered girls doing their thing...

Thank you so much for that teeter totter visual. It made me laugh! And, to Coopcheney, it sounds like you've covered the basics: dirt/sand with plenty of grit, recreation, plants for shade and shelter (try patio umbrellas if they need more shade). Logs are good perches, although they can...

Hens: My three (very spoiled) girls get mixed layer feed+wild bird seed plus mealworms daily, and usually some wet cat food (they love the seafood flavors). Every now and then, they get salad fixins, apples, tomatoes, or other similar things that need to be used up before going bad. Cats: Two...

Welcome, and greetings from across the globe!

I have watched my girl for several days, and she seems fine -- even giving us an egg here and there -- except for a brief bout of diarrhea. The "lump" is still there. Other than that, I have nothing to add. Thanks for your insights!

Thank you, I'll keep and eye on her and post any significant findings.

Is there an update on your hen's status? I'm curious because one of mine is developing a lump -- about nickel- to quarter-sized -- in roughly the same area. Thanks for any follow-up information.

I've tried to get a good picture, though I'm not sure how much you can really see. I would categorize it as a hard lump, and about the size of a nickel... maybe? It's not on the outside, nor just under the surface of her skin, but deeper inside. Similar to feeling your rib cage, I guess. Yes...

Welcome, and good luck!

One of my 2-year-old Australorps has a slight lump ABOVE her crop on the left side of her neck. She seems fine/eats/etc., except that she hasn't laid an egg for 3 days now. She is the alpha, and our power egg producer. She skipped a couple weeks in winter, whereas my other two skipped a couple...

Welcome! Hope all goes well with your brood.

Update: Since the weather will not allow me to try the dog cage today, I left my broody hen on her nest all morning, tending those wooden eggs. That freed up the bottom of two vertical nest boxes, so I placed the last of the wooden eggs there (all of which I'd removed yesterday morning in an...

I haven't seen signs of that yet, but I will definitely keep an eye out, and provide the supplemental shells.

I do try to mark the eggs accurately, and even keep an egg record book (for health monitoring, mostly). Although we have a camera pointed at the nest box, I will often go out to do a head count anyway, especially if I can't tell who is in there. Fortunately for me, they each have a particular...

Yes, I several options to choose from, depending on the expected weather.

They are all fake eggs -- white wooden ones to distinguish from the real brown ones. I've looked all over the yard, too, and haven't found any.

The answer to all of those is "yes". She is in there as I type, sitting on a pile of fake eggs. We have no rooster, so no chance of hatching. Thanks so much for the pic of the dog pen! That helps a lot. I will have to place it outside of the coop (we have a smallish one because only 3 hens). I...

After reading posts on broodiness, I am certain that is what my #3 Australorp is doing. However, I have gone a few days in a row now without ANY eggs, from any of my girls. Why are the other two not laying either? #3 barely eats. I have taken her out a couple times a day to make sure she gets...

My year-old girls have recently had that, too. To be on the safe side, I gave them crushed eggshells. I can't say for certain, but I suspect that those soft eggs might involve the hormones of young layers and the onset of their first spring as adults. It could also have something to do with the...

Greetings from the Plano, Tx area! My family had poultry when I was very young, but not after our first move. The one exception was when, as pre-teens, my siblings and I each had a pet chicken of a different breed. Mine was a smallish Leghorn named Sweet Pea who loved to fall asleep in my...