She decided to sit on fake eggs in the nesting box forever, but yesterday morning I found all 12 girls had laid by 10am. Has anyone else had a broody hen just snap out of it overnight for no obvious reason?
It started Monday morning around 6am, Jake my Barred Rock rooster just lost it every time the guy next door stepped outside. By Wednesday the neighbor left a note asking if I could 'do something about the noise' which fair enough. I tried keeping Jake in the coop for two days but he started pacing and wouldn't eat much. Finally on Saturday I let him out and showed the neighbor how to toss him some cracked corn from a distance, now they're basically buddies. Anyone else had a rooster that just picks one person to hate for no reason?
Last Tuesday all 8 of my hens escaped through a gap I didn't see under the fence, and they spent the afternoon digging through old veggie scraps in my neighbor's open compost bin. I spent a solid three hours chasing them down, covered in mud and rotten kale, while the neighbor stood there with his arms crossed. He said I needed to keep my birds contained, but his compost pile has no lid and it's basically a free buffet for any critter in a five block radius here in Boise. I get that I'm responsible for my chickens, but I think it's unfair to put all the blame on the keeper when someone leaves a mess like that out in the open. Has anyone else dealt with a neighbor who won't secure their yard or compost?
I stopped by a place called Valley Feed out near Eugene and saw they were selling bags of layer pellets with an expiration date from 2022. The owner said it still works fine but I'm not sure about that. Anyone else run into old feed at their local spots and is it actually okay to use?
The farmer said it helps with digestion and egg quality, but I'm wondering if that's just another trend or if it's worth the extra effort for my little flock of 5 Rhode Island Reds?
She said all I need is a coop and some feed, but I spent $300 on a proper ventilation setup after losing two hens to heat stress last summer. Is there really any such thing as too much care for these birds?
I was cleaning out my coop yesterday and noticed the handle on her old wicker basket just snapped. Must've been from the 70s or 80s, she used it every morning to collect eggs. I've been looking online and all I see are these plastic bins or metal wire things. None of them have that same gentle weave, you know? It held like 18 eggs without cracking one. My neighbor suggested I try a local craft fair but I dunno if anyone even makes baskets like that anymore. Has anyone found a decent egg basket that actually lasts or am I stuck getting something modern?
Found her last Tuesday morning under the overgrown rose bush near the fence with six tiny peepers trailing behind her I have no idea where she hid those eggs for three weeks because I checked every nesting box daily has anyone else had a hen go completely MIA and then reappear with a surprise brood?
Back when I started with 4 hens 3 years ago, I just tossed leftover veggie peels and old lettuce into a single spot and called it good. Then I noticed they'd scratch through it fast and leave some to rot, attracting flies and a smell that had my neighbor complaining. Switched to rotating 3 small compost piles, moving them to a fresh area every week, and the chickens actually eat everything now with way less waste. It took me about 6 months of trial and error to realize the spread-out method keeps the flock busy longer and keeps the yard cleaner. Anyone else stick with one feeding spot or did you switch it up too?
For the first two years I kept chickens I just grabbed whatever bag of layer feed was at Tractor Supply. Then I switched to a local mill in my town called Greenway Feed last spring after a buddy told me their prices were way better. Turns out I was paying about $4 more per 50 lb bag for stuff that sat on a pallet for months. The mill's feed is fresher and my hens seem to lay more consistent eggs since the change. Anyone else notice a difference switching where you buy feed? My girls are picky eaters so I'm curious.
I was setting up a brooder for 6 new chicks last spring and couldn't decide between the old school heat lamp I'd always used or one of those newfangled brooder plates. The heat lamp was 15 bucks at the farm store and I knew how it worked, but I kept reading about fire risks and chicks getting stuck under it. I went with the brooder plate despite the 50 dollar price tag because I liked the idea of them being able to snuggle under it like a mama hen. First few days I was nervous they'd be cold, but they figured it out quick and actually seemed calmer than past batches. The real test came when we had a power flicker at 2 AM and the lamp would have been blazing hot suddenly - the plate just slowly cooled off. I still keep the old lamp in the shed as backup, but I'm converted now. Has anyone else switched and noticed a difference in how their chicks act?
I swapped out my old heat lamp for a ceramic heater in the coop about two months ago after a close call with a near-fire. My hens are way less stressed and I'm saving around $15 a month on the electric bill since the ceramic one keeps the heat more steady. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed their chickens acting calmer?
I was reading a backyard chicken blog last night and saw that a single hen produces about 1 cubic foot of manure every 6 months. That means my 4 hens are packing in 8 cubic feet of poop a year and I never really stopped to think about that number. How do you guys handle all that waste without it taking over your yard?
Ngl I was about to re-home my whole flock because they stopped laying back in June. I checked for mites, changed their feed to a higher protein layer mix, even added oyster shell - nothing worked for 8 weeks. Then my neighbor chuckled and said "check your water nipples." Turns out the little red rubber gaskets inside two of the nipples were stuck closed so they could only get a few drops a day. Popped them out, cleaned them with a toothbrush, and within 4 days I had eggs again. Has anyone else had waterer parts just fail like that out of nowhere?
Hit 95 degrees last Tuesday in Austin and I came out to find my hens panting with no water. The valve on my big plastic waterer had a piece of shell stuck in it. I spent 20 minutes taking it apart and cleaning it with a toothpick. Now I check every single waterer the night before any hot day. Anybody else have a cheap waterer fail at the worst possible time?
Everyone says you want high production but when I got 12 eggs from my 6 Rhode Island Reds in a single day last spring it felt overwhelming. I ended up giving away 8 of them to neighbors who didn't even ask for them. Anyone else think people overhype the need for max egg output?
Turns out the new LED light I installed was flickering at a frequency only chickens can see and it stressed them out so bad they wouldn't even go near the nesting boxes has anyone else dealt with invisible light issues messing up their flock?
For two years I thought fermented feed was just fancy hippie stuff. Waste of time and money. Then my neighbor's flock survived a three day freeze while mine got sick. She swore by her fermented bucket. I tried it last November with 5 hens. Their egg shells got noticeably thicker in 3 weeks. Anyone else have a skeptic story about this?
I bought one of those timer-based automatic chicken doors off Amazon thinking it would save me from waking up at dawn. First night it worked fine, but on the third night the timer glitched and the door stayed open until 2am. I woke up to feathers everywhere and two of my hens missing, luckily the rest hid in the coop. Has anyone else had bad luck with these automatic doors, or is there a brand that actually works?
I piled up about 8 inches of pine shavings back in February thinking it'd save me on bedding changes for months. But by week 5, it was so damp near the bottom that my girls started getting stinky feet and one even got a little bumblefoot spot. Learned the hard way that deep litter only works if you stir it every few days and keep ventilation high... Has anyone else had moisture issues with deep bedding in a humid area like Virginia?
They had the whole thing covered in those green tarps from the hardware store. In my experience that traps way too much moisture inside and can lead to respiratory issues. Has anyone else seen folks doing this and had to gently suggest they switch to something more breathable?
So I started keeping chickens back in March and I kept noticing my girls were getting these weird little respiratory issues. Not like full blown sick but sneezing and kinda wheezy. I was cleaning their coop every week with fresh pine shavings and thought I was doing everything right. Turns out I was buying the cheap dusty pine shavings from the big box store instead of the kiln dried stuff. That fine dust was getting kicked up every time they scratched around and it was irritating their lungs. Switched over to the screened coarse shavings from a local feed store about 3 weeks ago and the sneezing stopped completely. Anybody else run into this or am I just the only one who didn't think about dust?
All my hens laid like clockwork for 7 days straight last June (which felt amazing at first), but it turned out they were stressed from a hidden mite infestation that I only caught because one girl started losing feathers, and now I actually worry when I see a super consistent lay rate - has anyone else had a great laying week that was really a health red flag?
Last week it hit 95 degrees here in Ohio so I thought my girls would love a frozen watermelon to peck at. I tossed it in the run and within 2 minutes all 8 of them were fighting over it like it was the last snack on earth. Feathers flew everywhere and one hen stole the whole thing and ran behind the coop with it. Lesson learned next time I'm cutting it up first or at least hiding from the pecking order drama. Anybody else have a treat go totally sideways like that?
I keep seeing new folks in here posting photos of their runs with hardware cloth just laid on the dirt inside the fence. That's basically a welcome mat for predators. Last spring up in Portland, a raccoon dug under my coop in one night and got three of my best layers. The wire needs to go out at least 12 inches horizontally from the fence and then get buried 6 inches deep. That creates an L-shape barrier they can't tunnel past. I learned this the hard way after losing 75 bucks worth of birds and spending a whole Saturday reinforcing everything. Why do so many tutorials skip this part?