xtry51
NES Member
Our 3 new cats are now acclimated to the chickens. I saw Arnold sitting inside the coup waiting for chipmunks today. Chickens pay them no mind now. It's honestly pretty amazing how easy it is to teach animals to coexist.
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Chickens 2023/2024
- Thread starter Knob Creek
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2021
- Messages
- 114
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- 151
Hey Guys, what do you think if this to deal with a broody chicken. one that is sticking in the nesting box all day and night...
purchase a few chicks and stash them under the broody chicken durring the night.
whatcha think ?
purchase a few chicks and stash them under the broody chicken durring the night.
whatcha think ?
ChevyGuy91
NES Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
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- 22,932
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If it's warm enough, go for it. My neighbor usually gets to trattersupply at the end of chick season and buys up all the left over chicks on sale and just puts them in her coop.
That’s pretty funny…but I don’t think you’ll get your nesting box back any time soon.
Why not let her be a momma and MAKE some chicks for you?
I've read that chickens can be house broken?
kiver
NES Member
Litter Box Training for Chickens
Chickens are easy to care for. They're entertaining and energetic. All chickens need to roam outdoors for exercise and well-being. If you're going to allow a pet chicken to roam indoors, too, you'll both benefit from house-training. You can do so at any age.
Maybe?
I'm not volunteering to try!
lancecolonel
NES Member
One of my girls was pecking at my door today. Funny as hell to see but no way I’m letting them in. They crap on my back deck when they get up there. This will be my first full summer with them and I’m hoping they don’t end up in my pool. Lol.
I haven't seen that one I saw come back and it seems to be a one time thing. I took the opportunity to get a chicken run off of amazon and stop doing free range after speaking to a few locals who warned me even about letting cats out here. In fact, someone said their 20 pound dog was pounced by a mountain lion and never seen again. A lady at work said she actually saw a mountain lion walk across a beaver pond behind her condo recently.
Any chance that was a chicken's first egg?
I've seen that before when my young ones first start laying.
It might be a double yolk!
NHCraigT
NES Member
You should get some heavy gauge hardware cloth around the entire lower portion of that run, and make sure you have something to inhibit predators from being able to dig under it.
I was thinking that same thing! I bought some of this for the lower sides that I still need to install https://a.co/d/4qXBVPY
I have some chicken wire underneath the coop for night time but I wasn't sure if the whole run needed to have it. I guess if I did then I would need to worry about closing up the coop at night?
NHCraigT
NES Member
Chicken wire's purpose is to keep chickens in, but it cannot keep predators out.
NHCraigT
NES Member
Chicken Diapers 101: Should Your Chicken Use One? - The Happy Chicken Coop
Keep reading to learn all you need to know about chicken diapers including how to use them and which is the best type for your chicken’s health.
www.thehappychickencoop.com
lancecolonel
NES Member
one of my girls laid one just like that a couple weeks ago. it had a double yolk.
Romokid
NES Member
Our Golden Comets did that. The first egg from the first 4 comets was real big and a double yolker. We have 6 and the other 2 laid regular (lg size) single yolks. Damn slackers haven't laid a double yolker since.
Chickens can be very aggressive towards chicks. You should separate her from the flock to see if she takes to the chicks. Other wise gat some fertilized eggs to hatch or get some fake eggs until she gives up.
lancecolonel
NES Member
One of my 9 month old hens has a bare bottom. Feathers all gone from vent area. Hen is eating, drinking and pooping just fine. I have not observed the other birds picking on her. I have been spraying the area with vetricide for a couple weeks with no improvement. I have one hen laying “soft” eggs and I suspect it’s her. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions for helping her? I’m putting her in isolation today but don’t want to leave her there too long.
xtry51
NES Member
Sometimes it's like a heat rash. I've never had a hen lost due to it. The feathers will grow back. Make sure your chickens can dust bath. If you keep them penned or don't have good open dirt for them to bath in, provide a kids sandbox filled with s mixture of fine sand and diatomaceous earth. They don't do well with constsnt moist/wet skin.
lancecolonel
NES Member
They do have plenty of room for dust baths. I did try at one point to give them a dedicated dust bath set up but they only pooped in it. Lol.
I’m just worried about the bare bottom/soft egg connection. Girls aren’t sick, have free choice calcium, room to roam…..i can’t nail down what’s causing it.
lancecolonel
NES Member
yes. i called to verify that they had pullets around noontime on 4/10. i drove an hour to find out they had sold out. i was there by 10:30am on 4/17 and there were already 15 cars waiting in the lot for the chicken man to show up. i was lucky enough to be 2nd in line in the yard when they started passing out pullets. they sold out in 15 minutes on that day.
pullet deliveries generally arrive ~11am, the store has a strict "no holds" policy. gotta get there early and watch for a pickup truck backing up to the yard gate. run over and get in line in front of the coop. i was picky about what breeds i wanted so i was lucky to get the 3 birds i desired. some people were just buying 8 of whatever they had. it can be very aggravating to drive a long way to leave empty-handed (i made the most of my trip down that way on 4/10 by going to treehouse tewksbury and coming home with a trunkful of beer, lol)
fencer
NES Member
Rats! Yes Rats!
I don't have chickens, but 4 out of 9 of my neighbors do. And its a very country type of neighborhood. Most lots are around 1-2 acres but have one neighbor with 15+ acres that has always kept chickens, goats etc and has a 1 acre garden as well as several bee hives. Last year they harvested 600lbs of honey.
Most of these chickens are free range and allowed to roam the neighborhood. It's not a subdivision by any stretch and it's very common to see chickens in my yard.
Well last year I found a giant dead rat right in the middle of the yard. Thought it strange but scooped it up with a shovel and got rid of it.
Last week was mowing when my next door neighbow Bob flagged me down. Just wanted to let me know that he has been working with an exterminator to get rid of RATS that made a nest under his 4 season sun room that they added 3 years ago. His wife saw one and freaked out so he called 2 separate exterminators. Gotta either trap em or poison them, but if you poison them, they will die under there and maggot, flies and stink will result. Both exterminators said that during covid, with restaurants shut down, the rats that lived off waste, started looking for other food so spread out. The closest restaurant is over a mile away.
So he mentioned it to the closest neighbor with chickens, who answered kind of matter of fact " Oh yeah, we have rats. I put out poison when they get bad" Really bud? I guess that explains the dead rat I found.
I have also seen weasels in the neighborhood. Lived here 32 years. Never saw a rat or a weasel. I have not seen any sign of rats, and the exterminators both said dog urine is a deterrent and I have a 125lb dog, but advised my neighbor against coyote urine as the rats will likely nest further into his house.
I don't know a lot about chickens but would guess that some neighbors are not keeping coops as clean as they should.
I don't have chickens, but 4 out of 9 of my neighbors do. And its a very country type of neighborhood. Most lots are around 1-2 acres but have one neighbor with 15+ acres that has always kept chickens, goats etc and has a 1 acre garden as well as several bee hives. Last year they harvested 600lbs of honey.
Most of these chickens are free range and allowed to roam the neighborhood. It's not a subdivision by any stretch and it's very common to see chickens in my yard.
Well last year I found a giant dead rat right in the middle of the yard. Thought it strange but scooped it up with a shovel and got rid of it.
Last week was mowing when my next door neighbow Bob flagged me down. Just wanted to let me know that he has been working with an exterminator to get rid of RATS that made a nest under his 4 season sun room that they added 3 years ago. His wife saw one and freaked out so he called 2 separate exterminators. Gotta either trap em or poison them, but if you poison them, they will die under there and maggot, flies and stink will result. Both exterminators said that during covid, with restaurants shut down, the rats that lived off waste, started looking for other food so spread out. The closest restaurant is over a mile away.
So he mentioned it to the closest neighbor with chickens, who answered kind of matter of fact " Oh yeah, we have rats. I put out poison when they get bad" Really bud? I guess that explains the dead rat I found.
I have also seen weasels in the neighborhood. Lived here 32 years. Never saw a rat or a weasel. I have not seen any sign of rats, and the exterminators both said dog urine is a deterrent and I have a 125lb dog, but advised my neighbor against coyote urine as the rats will likely nest further into his house.
I don't know a lot about chickens but would guess that some neighbors are not keeping coops as clean as they should.
