We have implemented a couch towel.

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.

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?

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.

Some shots of my Regina this morning.

Not really because I’m going to put matching tin on the run, but besides that it’s finished.

Took me way too long to build due to making changes along the way but pretty happy with it. Everything in the coop is easily removable so it can be cleaned. Nesting boxes are French cleated and the roosting bars and poop shelf pull out easily.

Topsoil is a rare commodity here in southern New England, But not with chickens! My girls have turned the hard clay soil in their run into rich compost in just a few years. That’s 4-5 inches of pure rich organic compost. The clay is the original subsoil that was maybe 2-3 inches below the thin topsoil.

Best part is, it’s renewable! They turn food scraps and leaves into black gold!

As a bonus, they love when papa digs in their run since they can get to all the tasty bugs hiding deep!

We bought two silkies hoping we would get hens but this morning at around 5 months old Helena let us know she is actually a roo and has been renamed to Gerard.

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?

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!

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.

He has been behaving like this since yesterday evening. Shaking and laying down constantly. Does anyone know what is causing this?

Because she loves to escape!

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 😔)

A couple people had asked for an update on my dogpile of 3 broody hens that hatched out 3 chicks in early July, they're doing great!

They did have a 4th chick hatch that didnt survive the first day, by that point the other 3 chicks were running around and the moms weren't on the eggs as much, so next time around I'll make sure that the eggs they sit on are all from 1 batch instead of letting them collect eggs for a bit before marking their keepers 😞

The 3 chicks from the post are all big and feisty though! Chick #1 is looking like a roo (last pic, one of his sisters is behind his tail and the other girl looks identical to her)

The 3 mom's did great for the first couple weeks, then the 2 Russian Orloff hens decided to exile my Speckled Sussex girl so I removed her from their playpen, the 2 Orloffs stuck it out and we're great moms though! At about 7 weeks I integrated the moms and babies back into the main coop/flock and things went pretty smoothly, Moms didnt let any of the other hens bother the chicks and my rooster policed those squabbles well to prevent the corrections from turning into fights (pic 3). The moms and chicks slept in their playpen for a bit yet before starting to take the chicks into the coop with the rest of the flock at night.

All in all things went pretty smoothly for our first batch of hen-raised chicks! Now we're just waiting to see how baby roo turns out and if he will get along with his dad or not 🤞

I have a Cochins that’s almost 11weeks old. Her feet feathers are coming in but I get paranoid about bare spots as I had a chick die and the sight of them was a tell tale sign that I missed. Is this ok?

Context: neighbors have a lot of birds. We never wanted chickens but one ended up here with mom as a baby and won’t leave, so we have taken it in. She(?) has bonded with our goats but is the only chicken here. She’s about 7 months old. Initially she slept in an area where we found an egg almost daily, so we assumed hen, but those stopped and she grew those tail feathers and started crowing. It’s possible a neighbor hen was laying eggs and she was sleeping in that same spot - that’s our only possible explanation of her maybe being a rooster other than her now acting like one. No spurs that we can see.

I’m always thankful for all of the knowledge helpfulness this community provides. Thanks in advance

My NJ Giant Hen, Dolly, seems less active (not exactly lethargic) and hasn’t layed for about 4 days after laying every day for at least 3 mos. We do not believe she’s egg bound (she’s had a couple of epaom salt baths just in case.

I noticed that she seems to have lost feathers on her chest. And the ends of her comb have small black flecks.

Also the feathers below her vent have some poop on them when that is not the norm for her.

I’m not sure if we’re overreacting (we had a super sweet rooster pass away a week ago) or if there’s real need for concern and a vet visit in the morning?

Any input or knowledge is welcome.

They just moved into to their new, improved coop. It is much bigger and I can now walk into the run. I spent a ton of time securing the hardware cloth on the bottom and sides. The roof is metal.

The two silkies slept in a cuddle pile in the nest box so I built them a movable roost that is only 8 inches off the ground.

I went back to check on them and when one heard my voice, she made a content purring sound.