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I lost one of my best Copper Marans roosters last night
I had two of these but had uses for both come spring. One was to go with my blacks and one with my blues. They were perfect. Heavy, good shape, great coloring, everything. I am pretty frustrated (angry) right now. These are very hard birds to find good specimens of, especially now with stupid covid interference. They were…
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NY legislators propose mail order chicks ban
Can you imagine the chaos this would cause in the poultry community? It would affect us up here too as some breeders import Greenfire Farms imports and buy from others south of here (in normal years of course). I can't imagine it going through.…
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Questions about homemade chicken feed.
We have really weird chickens! These chickens have NEVER eaten crumbles, layer mesh, anything that looks like groundup mushy food. From day 1 of bring them home from the feed store where they had chick feed (which is ground up stuff) they have just dumped the dishes, stood on the feed trays, played queen on the top of the…
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Hen Pecked Chicken again...
I have written about this poor chicken before. She seemed to have recovered ok but still preferred to hide all day in the hay and come out to feed after the others either go out to free range or after they roosted for the night. With this unbelievable winter weather the chickens are not going out so they found Brownie's…
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Chickens and toxic plants
Do you have any of these 14 plants where your chickens range? Better safe than sorry.
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Fighting chicken boredom
We are finally getting a long cold snap. Luckily we are going to miss the snow dump but I think its 6 days of cold. My chickens have become spoiled this winter so I figured I need to go the extra mile to keep them happy. All outdoor animals have been deep mulched to hold in warmth. Waterers have been filled and placed in a…
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CHICKEN QUESTION
Does anyone know why chickens sometime scratch the bottom of the nesting boxes? Mine sometimes scratch really hard and I was just wondering why.
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Rubbery Egg Texture
Has anyone noticed a slightly rubbery texture in their farm fresh eggs? Our girls started laying in the winter, and they're just eating grain now because everything is covered in snow. We think maybe the rubbery texture will go away in the spring when they start eating grass. We'll have to see. Any thoughts? Thank you!
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Will your chickens go out in snow?
We live in Southwest Colorado, so we get less snow than some, but we do get snow. When it snows, my chickens absolutely refuse to leave the run. It's gotten to where I don't even bother to open it up for them in the mornings when the ground is completely covered with the white stuff. Keeps me from having to trudge out in…
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Christmas Chicks! Serama eggs have been set, now hatching!
I have 7 eggs set. I will add one tomorrow if she lays. Lockdown will be Dec. 15th, with hatch to follow Dec. 16-18 if all goes well. Pure serama eggs are not known for their great hatch rate nor chick viability in the first 24 hr. My hen still doesn't know what the eggs are. She announces & so does the rooster (in a lot…
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INJURED CHICKEN
So, a night or two ago, we had a chicken go missing, and also saw a possum around the place. We looked all over but couldn't find the lost hen or any signs that she had been taken away by an animal. The next morning I found her under our van. I started to lure her back to the coop with some feed. It wasn't until after I…
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OUR FIRST EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This morning I found TWO beautiful eggs! Our first two from our girls!
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WEIRD ROOSTER BEHAVIOR
So, I have these two roosters that, every time I let them out to free range for a while, go to this little mini shed I built and do this weird squatting thing. They make a clucking noise while they do it too. Is this normal? Thank you!!!!!
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retraining chickens to nipple waterer
My heated chicken nipple waterer got unplugged and froze solid. Thankfully, I noticed and replaced it with a small waterer, but once the heated nipple waterer thaws out, I would like to put it back in the coop. Is there any way to convince the chickens that they can access water from the heated model? They took to it quite…
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Chickens/Ducks
When I first began raising chickens and ducks, I cooped up the chickens with a large run and collected eggs. Ducks roamed inside a large fenced area, and went into the ducktory (my "duck factory") at night, and I collected eggs. Now, I move both around the farm and let them work, so I don't. They don't seem to mind at all,…
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Sick Rooster. I think it is Wry Neck. Ideas?
Our Rooster was starting to act odd. He was wobbling and tucking his head into his chest. While our hens run the roost, he shows not signs of pecking or injury. I checked him for mites (thankfully, none). We feed the chickens organic food, scratch, and throw in greens on regular occasions. All of the other chickens are…
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Not an egg in sight.
So a friend of mine moved and asked if I would take her 4 month old hens; of course was my answer. This was Sept. 5 and these girls still are not laying eggs. Any ideas on why? The girls did not socialize very well with my flock so I keep them in their own run which abuts my flock's run. When they free-range during the day…
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Hemp Bedding, Grow Mats & Blocks
We changed the serama bantams' bedding. It is now hemp instead of clay. Our last clay litter (a different brand) was so very dusty and it made them itchy, so they would dust bathe, which made more dust and round and round it went. It was not as good at keeping the smell down either, even though it was 100% bentonite like…
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How do I know that I'm feeding enough?
Does anyone have any tips for how to know if you're feeding you're chickens enough food? Thanks!
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Eggs as fresh as they come!
It’d be hard to match the excitement of watching chicks develop into hens! Such a joy to collect tiny nuggets and note each day as they increase in size. Almost 100% are laying and some of the eggs are extra large already! Funny how they seem to want to lay in the same nest box at the same time. How they untangle…
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Collecting "weeds" for chickens
Does anyone else collect the "weeds", anything with seeds on as your cleaning the garden, around the chicken coop, etc. ? I cleaned a bunch of ragweed from an area yesterday, just pulling it up, tied in bundles and hang in the feed shed. I put a box under them so any seeds that fall will fall into it. I save these for…
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cooking a heritage breed turkey
I bought a heritage turkey from a local farmer for this Thanksgiving. I wish that I could remember the breed; they have predominately white feathers and I believe the name starts with a "B". I have cooked many fresh, pasture-raised turkeys, but never (to my knowledge) a heritage bird. It weighs 13 lbs. (dressed) and has…
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Silkie/Salmon faverolle mix chicks - would you call these "splash"?
Hello all chick and chicken lovers! I have been hatching out silkies and silkie mixes and have seen some cute outcomes so far. The picture is if 4 week old chicks. What color would you call these? Splash? I think it is funny to note that when the faverolle chicks hatched their legs were not blue, they have pigmented as…
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Call duck condo
It is a spacious yet cozy 8 square feet. Open concept. Carpeted with a layer of fresh straw. Food delivery right to the door. Fantastic air conditioning. Duck balcony & pool spa to be added at a later date. We started with a large shipping crate and used a door off a broken animal carrier and the grate off of an old air…
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Fall moulting in full swing with my chickens, who else will admit to collecting feathers?
This is the first year since starting with chickens that I am saving the moult feathers. Our little mix of 13 birds are PETS and so we do not butcher and have feathers that way. Who will admit to collecting feathers too? What do you plan to use them for? Have you created in the past with them? Have pictures to share? What…
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Heritage Birds: How to "Get Into" Them
I am posting this to answer a question that @Angel asked. It deserves it's own space. I am a promoter/supporter of heritage breeds in all animal categories. I think keeping these traits available is important for future generations. Here, I will discuss heritage chickens specifically. A great definition of a heritage breed…
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Sick Rooster--I think it is Wry Neck. Ideas?
Our Rooster is somewhat low on the pecking order. Our coop is rules by a group of big hens. We noticed we started lowering his neck and wobbling. All of the other chickens are healthy and show no sign of stress or pecking. We checked him for mites (none). I separated him and have given him greens, fresh mealworms, and Ropa…
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GUESS WHAT????!!!!!!! I Got Roosters!
We got roosters! they are supposedly lacey Wyandotte. Full grown and respectful towards humans! We're really excited to have some baby chicks in the spring! Hopefully.!
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Clipping Chick's wings????
Can anyone give me some advice on when to clip my chick's wings? P.S. For those of you that have been following along on this chicken journey with me first of all thank you, you have all been so helpful! Secondly, they are growing so fast and are soooooo cute!
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Gender Ratios in new Chicks
The hatchery catalogue said no guarantees, but that the ratio is usually 50/50 male/female. Before we found a decent meat bird, we would buy unsexed chicks and cull the roosters later. The ratio was always bang on 50/50. We were content with the high number of roosters to fill our freezers while the girls laid beautiful…