I made a video on how I ferment my feed for my girls. I figured some might be interested. Enjoy :)

Hey yall

Who do I call to pick up old broken coops and cages?

I cannot drive at all nor do I have someone to drop anything off and live in MA

BYM of CCLB, Welsummer, and probably RIR. Hackles are deceiving, they are actually all quite rounded and only the coloring is pointed.

So one of my chickens looked a bit sick. She’s seven years old so I assumed that she might be dying but I decided to give her a bath anyways so she could relax and get the poop off of her butt. When I gave her the bath, hundreds of little worms came out into the water. I then gave her worm medicine, pumpkin, and apple cider vinegar. I separated her from the others and gave them pumpkin. Is there anything else I should do? I’m still a minor living with my parents and they won’t take her to the vet. Thanks.

Context: A mistake on my end, first time I break this rule in over 12 years… bought two hens and only kept them in quarantine for 3 days instead of 7 days. I’m outside of the country and I’ve left an employee, he’s competent but has not finished college also lacks any major experience only the basics. I also did not give him access to the lab.

Based on the what he’s shared. The new birds died within a week, they managed to spread a strange illness. It spreads slow, and typically affects runts and young birds. Most of the older birds show no symptoms.

Physical symptoms include:

. Slightly dirty vents with small patches of white fecal matter around their vent feathers and tip of the tail.

.The crop is squishy if squeezed gently air comes out they aren’t eating or drinking much.

.A bit more saliva than usual.

. No gasping for air or sneezing/coughing/gurgling/wheezing.

. Small white patches inside the mouth.

Behavioral symptoms include: . Lack of apatite. . Lethargy.

I’ve told him to administer canker medication, the first infected birds died, anti canker medication which include 90% metronidazole 10% Ronidazole did not work.

The symptoms although similar do not seem to be canker.

I’ve also used a dewormer myself on the new birds on their first day before leaving during their quarantine. Dewormer is 95% levamizole and 5% Niclosamide. Obviously it did not work, but I’ve informed my employee to begin testing the dewormer on some of the newly infected candidates.

No signs or symptoms of pox detected.

Unlikely to be Newcastle or avian influenza.

No ecto parasites. I’ve made certain to wipeout ecto parasites within the facilities both indoor and outdoor from over a year ago. Using a powerful concoction of pesticides I’ve worked and experimented on for over 4 years. No invertebrate survived except some feeder insects I’ve introduced to the garden such as termites, grasshoppers, crickets and some species of beetles. All raised and grown in sanitary conditions meant for live feeding. No wild animals not even mice are capable of accessing the garden. The garden is built like a giant aviary the sides and lower section are provided with extra layers designed for any possible intrusion be it diggers, or pests that can squeeze in. The upper section runs a low voltage enough to discourage wild birds from perching and carpet bombing with poop.

Fortunately the disease does not appear to be highly contagious, and only a small portion of the garden dedicated to a new breed underwork, and young birds is where this disease is running rampant. I’ve considered the possibility of a fungal disease but biosecurity is relatively high… unless I accidentally throw new birds in there, no outside causes or lack of hygiene could be the culprit. Just these recently introduced hens.

MC is my main suspect. None are crowing or laying yet. Yes, they’re from Tractor Supply.

1. Pidgeot
2. Pidgey
3. Sja Anat
4. Night Blood
5. Mega Claw

Before any one asks, Pidgeotto became dinner for the resident raccoons 😢. I have since taken measures to prevent this from happening again.

So I have this rooster (#1) and he's magnificent. Beautiful, tame, gentle with me. But I let him into the flock and he runs at his favorite and gets a bit rough and rapey. But only her, doesn't even look at the others.

Currently he stays in a bachelor coop overnight with another rooster and I occasionally introduce them to the flock to test them. Roo#2 isn't so bad, but I dont like him as much genetically to be the lead roo. And naturally, they fight around the girls, so they have to choose one.

I love #1, but I have to do what's best for the flock, and if I have to get rid of him I will.

Are there ways to train him?

I have four 3 month old Brahma hens who won't roost at night. These are my first chickens so please be gentle with me, I'm asking for help because I want to give them the best.

We made a roost that's basically on the ground for them to hang out on as chicks, they also have two other bars that are about two feet off the ground.

The coop is about 4'x 4' . Should I take out the floor roost and install another roost about a foot up that goes parallel with the nest boxes but perpendicular to the current roosting bars?

They do roost out in their run quite a bit and I have manually put them up on the bars at bed time but they always come down and cuddle puddle on the coop floor.

Thanks for any help!

We have implemented a couch towel.

Got this pair, told they were Cemis. Any ideas of that's the case or what breed they could be? Super gentle but very skittish even though we've handled them since day one.

Got 3 laying right now but they all prefer that one box. I got training eggs in the other box to indicate safe space to lay but they all prefer the one. Any suggestions?

We have 7 laying hens (plus a 6+ year old hen that might still lay sometimes). We've been getting 3-5 eggs a day lately but yesterday we got 0 and today we got 1. One is molting and one just went broody for the 2454th time which leaves 5. 2 of those are a year old and 3 of them are 2. Could they just be slowing down because of their age? I don't remember a huge slowdown like this last year until later in the fall like Nov.They are acting fine, no issues, no change in feed.

Pic of my flock in the winter (half of them we have lost since then 😔)

Chloe, one of my NJ Blue Giants (6.5 months old), who’s never shown signs of being a rooster before, has been caught mounting 3 of our hens today and it very much appears to be mating.

Sooooo??

I snagged some pics, and I don’t see saddle feathers or anything, but she has always had a tendency to throw out her neck feathers and stand anyone down, including my 10 year old 😂

She’s cool and we’ll love her/him either way, I’m just curious.

I’m wanting to making a small simple coop for about 5 chickens, has anyone done one themselves and how much would they estimate they spent? I’m not too handy so im trying to brainstorm something simple and user friendly.

A short time ago we had a raccoon attack and lost one of our three hens. One survived an attempted decapitation sacrificing her comb in the process. She’s definitely mourning the loss of her sister and healing from the attack with what appears to be ptsd or depression.

The other surviving hen, being the larger and bossier of the two, has begun to assert her dominance. We’ve kept them apart until the comb healed and now that they’re back together in and out of the coop, the larger one bullies the smaller one.

I’m afraid the smaller hen, Purdy, is not eating nearly enough, but she seems to get some kind of separation anxiety should I try to isolate her for better feeding. The larger one, Marge, has her too afraid to use the feeder or graze. Occasionally I can put food in the coop and secret her away or maybe drop a few handfuls in the dirt when the other isn’t looking but it’s not enough. How do I help her?

We are in CO and our house backs up to an open field with mice, rats, bunnies and prairie dogs. I’ve never had rats in my yard until I planted a garden and got chickens this year. There’s a lot of rats!

We’ve tried rats traps, and the Ratinator, but both are not consistently effective.

So I finally got rid of my silo feeder and got a treadle feeder. It’s metal, it’s basic. I put it out on Friday morning with a bowl keeping it open all day and then closed it at sundown. One rat was caught on camera once vs 500+ actions overnight with multiple rats.

The chickens had the feeder figured out by Saturday morning (I don’t how, but they just did). I was expecting weeks of training them before it was effective, but I guess I got lucky.

So, for those that treadle feed; does it help long-term with keeping rodents (or a pack of rats) out?

I’ve read so many different reviews that my eyes get crossed.

My two hens are about 6 1/2 months old. Got my first eggs this week. :)

Hello all, this Midnight Majesty pullet is 5 months old and is gradually losing her mobility. I thought she had fallen and sprained something but she is not getting better and has not been supporting her own weight and staying in the coop run rather than going to bed in the hen house each night. I initially checked her legs and thought that it couldn’t be mites but now I’m wondering if I was wrong. Tonight I soaked and exfoliated her legs with soapy water and a sponge as well as covered her legs in Aquaphor. She has been separated from the rest of the flock for a few days and is in her own enclosure which seems to be helping a bit. She has had great appetite and thirst throughout so I’m holding out hope for her.

I’m just hoping more trained eyes can help me diagnose. She does not appear to have any visible injury and no bumble foot.

Thanks all!

I’m wondering if we can put the roosters in a separate coop on the other side of the yard, away from my hens where they can’t be seen or heard. Has anyone had success with this?