Honestly I was always against giving my girls any scratch grains because I thought commercial feed was all they needed. But last Wednesday I collected a full dozen eggs and one of my Easter Eggers looked a bit pale in the comb. A neighbor who's kept chickens for 20 years said try mixing in a handful of cracked corn with their evening scratch. After 5 days of that I'm still getting 10-11 eggs daily and they seem way more energetic. Has anyone else seen a big jump in production from just adding a little scratch?
For 2 years I kept my flock locked in a 10x10 run because I was convinced free ranging would end with a hawk or fox eating them all. My neighbor, who has kept chickens for 15 years in Portland, kept telling me it was fine if I just supervised the first few times. Finally gave in last spring and let them out for an hour a day. After 8 months now, I've lost exactly zero birds to predators. The eggs actually taste better (maybe because they eat more bugs and grass) and my girls are way less stressed. Has anyone else been scared to free range and then found it actually works fine most days?
He said 'your birds are getting fat and lazy, cut the scratch to twice a week and watch 'em free range better.' I slashed my feed bill from $25 a month to $12 after that, and my eggs got way bigger.
I spent way too long buying those big bags from Tractor Supply, but when prices jumped to $18 a bag last spring I started mixing my own scratch grains and layer pellets. Got a used grain grinder off Facebook Marketplace for $40 and now I just buy corn and oats in bulk from a feed mill in Marysville. My hens seem perkier and I swear the yolks are darker, but man does it take more time every Sunday. Anybody else tried this and gone back to bags?
They had a whole section of heated chicken waterers that looked just like the ones at Tractor Supply but for half the price. The owner said they source directly from a small Amish metalworker nearby. Has anyone else found better deals buying local instead of the big chain stores?
Last Saturday I made the trip out to Critter Creek Feed in Boulder because I heard they had dried black soldier fly larvae. My girls turned their beaks up at it and walked away, then went straight for the cracked corn I spilled on the ground. Anyone else have chickens that won't touch the expensive stuff?
Two weeks ago I came out to the coop and found four of my Rhode Island Reds dead in the run. The automatic door I got off Amazon for $60 had jammed halfway open around midnight. A raccoon figured it out and went to town on them. I had to dig a grave and explain to my kids why their favorite chickens were gone. Now I'm back to closing the door by hand every night like my grandpa did. Has anyone else had one of those automatic doors fail on them or did I just buy the wrong brand?
I got one of those wifi ones from Amazon after losing 3 birds last winter to a random cold snap. It texts me if the temp drops below freezing in the coop at night. That was 4 months ago and it already warned me twice when the heat lamp bulb blew out. Has anyone else tried those or do you just trust your gut on coop temps?
I bought one of those solar powered auto doors off Amazon back in April. Worked great for like two weeks, then it just stopped opening one morning and I didn't notice until I came home from work. Poor girls were stuck in the coop all day with no water in the July heat. Ended up having to tear the whole thing out and go back to my old manual door. Has anyone else had luck with any automatic doors that actually last more than a month?
One of my barred rocks, Gertie, was looking really rough yesterday with her crop all puffed up and she wasn't eating. I remembered someone on here mentioning a warm towel wrap for shock, so I grabbed a clean bath towel, wet it with warm water, and wrapped her up in a cardboard box with it for about an hour. She perked right up after that and started pecking at some scrambled egg this morning. Has anyone else tried the towel trick for other chicken problems like bumblefoot?
I was reading this poultry science blog last night because my Buff Orpington hen Betty has been acting weird around my neighbor. Turns out she just doesnt like him. The article said chickens remember who was nice or mean to them for months. So when Betty hisses at the mailman shes actually holding a grudge. Has anyone else noticed their chickens acting different around specific people?
I've had my Rhode Island Reds for about 8 months now. Their eggs started out as a nice medium brown, but around month 4, they got noticeably paler, more tan than brown. I thought it was just age or stress, but then I switched my feed from a generic store brand to a higher-protein layer feed three weeks ago. Now the eggs are back to that rich, dark brown color, almost like when they first started laying. It's wild how much the feed seems to impact shell color. Has anyone else seen their egg shades shift after a feed change?
I used to think chickens just needed a quiet dark spot to lay, but my neighbor Mary from down the street pointed out my boxes were like little caves. She said hens prefer a bit of light so they can see where they're going. I cut a small window in each box lid and covered it with clear plastic, nothing fancy. Now I'm getting eggs more often and they're cleaner too since they're not all huddled in one corner. Anybody else try brightening up their boxes and notice a difference?
I spent months scooping out wet bedding with a pitchfork every weekend, and it took forever. Then this crazy squirrel kept stealing bits of straw from my compost pile, and I noticed the pile was breaking down way faster. So I tried tossing the dirty bedding straight into a separate bin with some grass clippings and letting it sit for 3 weeks. Now I just swap out the bin once a month and the compost is ready by spring. Has anyone else had random animal behavior accidentally fix a chore for them?
For two years I scrubbed every egg with soap and water before putting them in the fridge, thinking I was being clean. Then my neighbor in Boise told me that removes the natural bloom and actually makes them go bad faster. Has anyone else tried leaving the dirt on and just wiping them dry before cracking?
Bought this automatic coop door off Amazon because I was tired of getting up at dawn to let them out. Seller had great reviews, said it was heavy duty and weather sealed. Second big rainstorm we had, the slides got all gunked up with mud and it wouldn't shut. Came home to find all three hens sleeping in the run overnight, and a raccoon had dug under the side. Nobody got hurt luckily, but I had to manually override it every night after that until I just took the thing down. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand of automatic door that actually holds up?
I kept wondering why my eggs were going bad after just a week in the fridge. Turns out that natural coating (the bloom) keeps them fresh for weeks on the counter. I used to scrub em clean right away like a dummy. Now I just brush off dirt with a dry paper towel and leave em unwashed until I'm ready to cook. Been storing them on the counter for 2 months now with ZERO issues. Anyone else make this mistake?
Bought a plastic heated waterer from Tractor Supply in January and it split right down the seam during the first hard freeze. Has anyone else had better luck with metal ones or am I just picking the wrong brand?
Everyone talks about getting more eggs like it's the ultimate goal, but when I collected 12 in one day from my 6 hens last Tuesday I freaked out a little. My barred rock, Mabel, was laying almost one every 24 hours and I worried she was overworked or stressed. I checked her for mites, adjusted their feed to add more calcium, and even skipped giving them treats for two days. Turns out she's just a beast of a layer now that she's a year old, but I'm still paranoid something's off. Has anyone else had a hen hit a weird high count and then crash hard?
I went out to collect eggs last Tuesday and came back with 14 eggs from only 8 birds. That's way over what you'd expect on a normal day and I honestly thought I was losing it. Two of my hens are young layers, just started about 3 weeks ago, so they might be pumping them out fast. But still, 14 felt like winning some weird chicken lottery. I checked the coop three times to make sure I wasn't grabbing doubles from yesterday. Has anyone else had a crazy day where your hens just went full production mode for no reason?
Last month at Tractor Supply in Springfield, a woman in her 70s saw me buying layer pellets and told me to switch to fermented feed. She said her hens have laid bigger eggs and had way fewer health issues since she started doing it 3 years ago. Has anyone else tried fermenting their feed and seen a real difference?
That old wooden nesting box I built back in 2017 finally split right down the side last Tuesday. A hen was sitting in there and the whole thing just collapsed under her... she was not happy about it. I grabbed some scrap plywood from the garage and patched it up temporary, but it's got me thinking about switching to plastic ones. Has anyone else had luck with those molded plastic nesting boxes holding up better than wood?
I got this fancy heated dog bowl for the chicken coop back in December because I was tired of breaking ice every morning. Cost me $40 at the farm supply store. Worked great for about two weeks until the heating element just quit on a 15 degree night. Came out to find the water frozen solid and the bowl cracked from ice expansion. Has anyone found a heated waterer that actually lasts more than a single season?
I bought one of those treadle feeders last spring thinking it would stop the squirrels and rats from stealing my layer feed. The thing cost me $80 and my hens just stared at it for two weeks. They're used to scratching in the dirt for food, not stepping on a metal pedal. Ended up giving it to my neighbor and went back to a basic hanging feeder for $15. Anyone else wasted money on something that sounded good on paper but your flock just ignored?
I thought my coop was secure but that raccoon just popped the latch on the run door like it was nothing. Woke up to feathers everywhere and four of my best layers gone. Anyone else had a predator figure out a latch they thought was safe?