Dee is the Buff that got herself stuck in the roll of hardware cloth from yesterday.

Just wanted to share the greeting I received when I walked out the door on Sunday. I like to tell myself it’s because they love me but I know they’re all beggars! 😂🥰😇

I just love him.

He's loud as hell but such a good boy.

He ran off a red tailed hawk the other day like a boss.

He stands guard for the ladies 24/7, and even shares all of his treats with them first before eating. 🥹🥰

He's outgrown the young pervert stage, and now he's pretty much just the best big dude ever.

My DUDE. ❤️

This is my boy Sassafras. He was originally named Sassy back when I was hopeful he was a girl, but now I’m glad he’s not.

We never planned to free range, but he is such a good protector that we started letting them free range unsupervised more and more. I watched him chase off a cat, and he always warns our girls when my husband is near ‘cuz he doesn’t trust that guy.

Sassafras does not fuck around with bed time. If his ladies are not in that coop, he will bagawk like a mad man until they finally listen. He even sometimes threatens to drag them in by their tail feathers (he’s only had to do this to my strong willed girl once or twice)

He also goes in at least once a day and makes sure the nest boxes are up to snuff for the ladies. He will move things around, fluff up the bedding, etc. Sometimes he sees the camera and sits on it like it’s an egg, or will lay down and chatter to it. He also will take the ladies in to show them what they are supposed to do. Cracks me up when I see one watching him sit in the nest box.

He is never forceful with his ladies. I was worried as we only have 4, but he takes rejection very well. He’s always finding them treats, and will take the treats I give him to his ladies (he follows it up with his dance hoping it will get him laid, but alas, it never does).

Mr. Sassafras is a Bantam frizzled Cochin. He is gorgeous, brave, and has kind eyes. The only thing he runs away from is me 😩

(Last picture is from when I was still hopeful he was a lady despite the glaringly obvious wattles and comb)

Sage and Bay are broody and don’t want to move for Paprika so she can lay her daily egg, but she’s perfectly fine just sitting on them instead. Bonus for the broods since they then get to race for the egg after until I come collect it 😂

She's fine now. She wanted to lay an egg in that particular spot so badly that she tried to climb through a roll of hardware cloth but ended up getting stuck instead.

I critiqued her choice of nesting spot and she really let me have it 😂

Not OC. Credit: https://old.reddit.com/r/chickens/comments/1rljpx2/dolores_telling_me_about_her_egg/

I collected two eggs today, my chickens just started laying two weeks ago.
One of the eggs was punctured but the sack is still intact. I’m thinking of scrambling it for the chickens to eat.

My MIL is insisting that I not do that, for she thinks they will begin eating their eggs on their own afterwards.

What do you all, expect chicken owners think?

I’m new to this as well.

Hi! After years of wanting chickens my husband and I finally decided we were up for the commitment. We are just getting our brooder set up for our 7 chicks that are coming this weekend. Any tips or advice or changes I should make? Planning to start with paper towels and then lay down hemp litter after a few days once they get the hang of their feed. Thanks!

I have 3 girls, a speckled Sussex, a buff Orpington, and a mystery girl. Color me surprised when I checked their coop today and found a GREEN egg! Is my suspected polish possibly an Easter egger?

It Hot!

It has been in the 80-90°F range last few days and noticed that one of the younger hens sounds like she swallowed a pig squeeker. Should I be concerned?

Lets say this person have A LOT of experience raising AND taking care of chickens down to the minute detail.

What would be TOO much work and stress to take care of (inert amount) of chickens?

let say that person got free time to do so with no other work.

Not sure if those experienced here counted hours, but lets say they can take care of 25 chickens, how many hours would that take per day OR week to take care of?

then 50 chickens and so forth?

Hi everyone! I’m fairly new to being a chicken parent and would love some advice from people who have experience with ex-battery hens.
About six months ago, my partner and I took in four rescue ex-battery hens. I tried to do as much research as possible beforehand, but I’m starting to realise that some of the usual chicken advice doesn’t necessarily seem to apply to hens that have spent most of their lives in cages.
We converted an old metal garden shed on a concrete slab into their coop. We’re on two acres and have fenced off roughly 400m² around the coop for them to roam during the day.
Inside the coop, we built a raised shelf for their nesting boxes and I made a roosting ladder using 2x4 timber. The ladder also gives them access to the nesting box area.
The problem is that they simply do not want to sleep on the roosts.
I’ve always read that chickens naturally want to sleep up high, but mine choose to sleep on the floor every night. I’ve tried placing them on the roosts after they’ve settled down for the night, as people have suggested, but they become uncomfortable and want to get down. They either move into the nesting boxes or go straight back to sleeping on the floor.
I’ve continued trying to put them on the roosts, but they just don’t seem to understand how to use them or simply don’t like them.

I watched a video recently where someone explained that it isn’t necessarily a problem if chickens choose to sleep on the ground, provided they have a suitable, safe place to sleep. She also mentioned that perch width is more important than simply forcing chickens to roost, which made me wonder whether I’m worrying about this unnecessarily. I’ll share the link in case anyone wants to watch it.

https://youtu.be/lideOny5C-I?si=tn0sajld5Q3feJNR

So my question is: at what point do I stop trying to make them use the roosts and just let them sleep wherever they feel comfortable?
Sometimes they choose the nesting boxes instead, which means I have to clean them out every day, but with only four hens that honestly doesn’t bother me.
Has anyone else with ex-battery hens experienced this? Did they eventually learn to roost, or did you simply let them sleep on the floor or in the nesting boxes?
Is there actually anything wrong with letting them choose where they sleep, as long as the area is clean, dry and safe?

She’s always been vocal, but this sounds different. She’s eating and drinking and walking around. Any ideas what these vocalizations might indicate?

My hens are 22 weeks old now. I thought for sure I’d have eggs by now! They have a nice big run. Half of it is covered and half is not. They are eating layer pellets. Pic of my roo and their coop so this doesn’t get lost. Wondering how much longer I should expect to wait, and if there’s anything else I should do/ if there’s any reason I should be concerned (maybe I’m doing something wrong and they are not happy enough? ) also, their combs have mostly turned a much darker red than previous weeks about two weeks ago.

Hi all,

My brahma had (has?) impacted crop. She had a hard tennisball in her crop. I think it's because I've let the grass grow too long. Lesson learned...

Anyway, I separated her with just water, couldn't check her early morning (kids, school etc) so checked her about two hours after the coop opened. She had drunk half her water bowl, had pooped all over the cage (poops look fine so the impaction seems partial, luckily) and her crop now feels like a water balloon. She also laid a perfectly fine egg yesterday.

Do you think the impaction fixed itself due to the amount of water? I really can only feel water... Her breath is fine so I'm not suspecting sour crop. I'm boiling an egg for her to give with some yoghurt, soft foods as to not harm her crop. I did massage her crop.

Should I remove the water tonight so I can check if her crop empties? She's fine in herself, was fighting the massage and is really active.

Thanks!