Old guy down the street saw me pouring out layer pellets and said I was ruining my flock. He told me to switch to a fermented grain mix with oyster shells on the side instead. I was skeptical but tried it for 3 months and my chickens at 123 Oak Street lay way bigger eggs now. Anyone else got told they were doing something basic completely backwards?
Old guy named Hank next door said I was treating my chickens like indoor cats, so I let them loose in the backyard for a few hours last Tuesday, and now they follow me around like puppies. Has anyone else had a bird that suddenly gets attached after you give them more space?
I was out back with the brush pile I'd been putting off for months, had the lighter fluid ready, and then I heard that soft little clucking sound. Three of my buff orpingtons had burrowed under there and were sitting on eggs they'd been hiding. I almost had chicken soup for dinner but not the way I planned lol. I spent the next hour carefully pulling apart the pile by hand and moving them to the coop. Has anyone else had birds pick the worst possible spot to go broody?
I spent $90 on a fancy heated waterer last winter and it cracked within two weeks. The plastic just couldn't handle the freeze-thaw cycles here in upstate New York. I went back to my old method of using a rubber bowl from Tractor Supply that cost me $12 and a simple heated base that was $25. The key is to wrap the cord in that foam pipe insulation so the chickens don't peck it. That setup lasted me through two full winters now with no issues. Anyone else had bad luck with those all-in-one heated units?
I live in Ohio and it gets cold. Last January I forgot to open the coop door before work and my girls were trapped inside for 8 hours. Felt terrible. Bought a Run-Chicken auto door off Amazon for $80. Works with a timer and light sensor. Has not missed a single sunrise or sunset in 6 months. I can sleep in on weekends now. Has anyone else found a brand that holds up in snow storms? Mine gets a little sticky when ice builds up.
I had to choose between a Sapphire Gem and a Silver Laced Wyandotte for my new coop in Nashville. Went with the Sapphire because I read they lay more eggs, around 5 a week. She's friendly but the eggs are smaller than I expected, maybe medium at best. Anyone else find Sapphire Gems lay smaller eggs than advertised?
Came out to let the girls out this morning and found the door wide open from the night before. Turns out the track got jammed with a little bit of ice from the cold snap we had. Anyone else had trouble with their auto doors in winter?
I had a big Rhode Island Red rooster named Rufus for about 2 years. Last month I noticed he started acting really weird around dusk. He would herd all the hens into the coop way earlier than usual and stand by the door looking nervous. I thought maybe he was just getting cranky with age. Turns out he was trying to warn me that a raccoon had been scoping out the run at night. I ignored him for a week until I found claw marks on the hardware cloth. Now I listen to my rooster way more than any book or forum post. Has anyone else had a rooster predict a predator attack before?
I was stuck between a simple manual latch door and a solar automatic one for my backyard coop. Finally dropped $80 on the auto door from a local farm supply in Walla Walla. Best decision I made this year, my girls are safer from predators and I get to sleep in. Has anyone else made the switch and had trouble with the sensor in heavy snow?
I was at the feed store last Saturday and this guy told his friend that chickens are fine down to 20 degrees with no heat lamp at all. My coop has a small heater and I keep it just above freezing, but now I'm wondering if I am babying my birds too much. Has anyone actually lost birds to cold because they skipped the heat?
I came home from work and found my Buff Orpington dead in the run and my Rhode Island Red missing. Turns out a raccoon dug under the fence during the day. Has anyone else had luck with electric fencing or is hardware cloth the only real solution?
So last week I let the girls out for their usual morning scratch around 7am and everything seemed fine. Then around 10 I go to check on them and half of them had squeezed through a gap in the fence I didn't even know existed into my neighbor's garden. It took me a solid 2 hours to round them all up and patch that hole with some scrap wood and zip ties. Has anyone else had a day where your chickens just turn into escape artists out of nowhere?
Came home from a weekend trip to find all 5 of my girls huddled under the coop in the dark. The timer on my auto door glitched and never opened in the morning. Temps dropped to 38 degrees that night in Portland. Lucky they all made it but one had some frostbite on her comb. Switched to a basic photo sensor door now. Anyone know if these sensors hold up better in rain vs the timer models?
I swapped to hay last month because it was cheaper, and my hens started having breathing problems after 3 days. The mold spores in hay are way worse than straw, learned that the hard way - has anyone else dealt with this?
I thought my new Buff Orpington was just a good layer, but I started counting after she laid twice in one day last month. She hit exactly 50 eggs in 30 days, which is way above the usual 4-5 per week for her breed. I had to double check my calendar and egg basket to make sure I wasn't messing up the count. Turns out she's getting extra oyster shell from a local feed store that I switched to in July, and it's really boosted her production. Anyone else had a hen suddenly hit a crazy high number like that?
I used to think my run was big enough and that letting them out for a few hours each afternoon was fine. Then last October a Cooper's hawk got one of my Silver Laced Wyandottes right in the open while I was hanging laundry. Now I built a covered run using 2x4 welded wire and some old PVC hoops with bird netting over the top. The girls still get dirt baths and bugs but they're safe, and honestly they seem just as happy. Has anyone else here done a covered run and noticed their birds still scratching around normally?
I always kept my chickens in a fenced run because I was scared of hawks. Then my neighbor Debbie lost 3 hens to a fox that dug under her fence last spring. She told me her free range flock never had that problem because they could run and hide. Now I let my 12 birds roam my yard in the mornings while I'm home. Has anyone else switched between these two setups and seen a big difference in safety?
I thought I was doing them a favor. They were getting too much afternoon sun so I shifted the whole setup maybe 10 feet under a bigger tree. Next day, no eggs. Then a week. Then a month. I tried switching feed, adding calcium, everything. Finally a friend said maybe they just don't like the new spot. So I moved it back and boom, eggs the next morning. Has anyone else had chickens get weird about a small change like that?
So I've been keeping a small flock of 6 hens in my backyard in Fort Collins for about 3 years now. Last month my neighbor who also keeps chickens stopped by while I was rinsing off some eggs and she just stared at me. Turns out I was using cold water straight from the tap, which she told me actually pushes bacteria into the egg through the shell pores. I had no idea. She showed me this whole thing where you're supposed to use warm water like 90 degrees or so, and dry them right away. I felt pretty dumb standing there with a dozen wet eggs. Has anyone else made this mistake or have a weird egg washing tip I should know about?
I had this one hen, a Buff Orpington named Butter, who kept scratching up all the dirt around my lavender plants. Every morning I'd find a crater where my seedlings used to be. So about 3 weeks ago I took an old kiddie pool, filled it with play sand and a little wood ash, and put it in the corner of the run. I swear within 2 days all 5 of them were using it instead of my garden beds. No more wrecked flowers. Has anyone else had luck with a specific sand mix? Mine seems to get clumpy after rain.
I bought this auto door from Amazon back in March because I was tired of waking up at dawn to let my girls out. It worked fine for like two months, then the sensor got all messed up during a rainy week and it wouldn't close at night. I came out to find a raccoon had gotten inside and killed two of my hens, it was awful. Now I'm back to manually opening and closing every day, has anyone else had bad luck with those auto doors?
A neighbor told me her flock got picked off by hawks every year until she built a covered run, and I used to think that was cruel until I lost two of my best layers to a Cooper's hawk last month. Has anyone else found that supervised free ranging works better than full-time roaming?
Straw always got damp and stinky after a week, but pine shavings have kept my coop fresh for almost three weeks now with way less effort. Has anyone else found a bedding that just doesn't work for your setup no matter what you try?