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Backyard Chickens

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A place to discuss and share the joy and trials of chicken raising! Share your chicken knowledge, photos, coop plans, ask questions, anything chicken related!

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Latest Activity: on Thursday

HOMEGROWN 101: All Categories

Advice needed. I"m not sure what I should do or if I should do anything? 2 Replies

I purchased baby chicks in Feb. and thought I had a rooster with them but we sexed it wrong and so I ended with 15 girls. I Have a mixed flock of both large and bantam (more large)My boyfriends…Continue

Started by Cindy. Last reply by Sue Hogan on Wednesday.

Considering backyard chickens? Read this first! 2 Replies

In true unvarnished and awesome style, Erica at Northwest Edible Life has written this informative post:…Continue

Tags: roosters, urban, homestead, vin, au

Started by Cornelia. Last reply by Chris May 14.

"Real Talk" about chick behavior. I need insider information! 5 Replies

Hi all! I recently got my first 9 chicks ever. I had anticipated getting pullets but ended up getting much younger chicks (3-4 weeks old now). Theyve been with me almost two weeks now. I have every…Continue

Started by Michelle Wire. Last reply by Rick Nichols May 12.

Banties

Good morning.... Does anyone here know much about Banty breed hens? And yes I know its prob spelled wrong!!! Anywho, we picked up 2 hens that were about 2 days old about 2 months ago and Ive since…Continue

Started by Dawn Mezurek Apr 27.

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Comment by Rebecca Tando on March 28, 2011 at 11:04am: Congratulations, @Erin Mitchell!!! :D Isn't that a great feeling? Did you get them all in one day?!

Comment by Erin Mitchell on March 28, 2011 at 10:40am: Our first dozen!

Comment by Shellie A. Gades on March 18, 2011 at 12:25pm: New here... working out plans to build a backyard coop. I love chickens!

Comment by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater on February 27, 2011 at 10:54pm: Hello! I just wanted to share this essay I wrote a bit ago for our local NPR station...it seems to be the way of things 'round these parts! We have about 19 chickens in upstate NY. Chickens are the New Labrador Retrievers

Comment by Cynthia Morehouse on February 21, 2011 at 6:26pm: Greetings all. New here as well. So glad to find this site. We just aquired about 16 acres not too far from us now in PA. Our goal is to become as self-sufficient as possible.

We definately want chickens. Will probably be one of the first animals we get. Of course making the land livable is goal number one!!

Comment by Rebecca Tando on February 8, 2011 at 3:24pm: Hi Cheryl! Glad you're here. :)

I'm new here too.

Five acres in Tennessee? Sounds like heaven to me!

Good job figuring out how to preserve the rooster's life!

I got my chickens about 6 weeks ago, full grown from a friend. Two hens and one rooster. They JUST started laying! They chose (oddly enough) the coldest day we've had here in Texas (south east) so far... it got up to 18*F that day, whereas most of our winter has been downright balmy, in the fifties to sixties!

Comment by cheryl on February 8, 2011 at 2:47pm: Hi, I am new here. I am from the city but moved to TN on 5 acres. I have been learning to be selfsufficient by learning how to grow food, raise animals and also alittle about water catchment,solar and wind power.

I got my first hens and a rooster 2 years ago. They were 3 months old when I got them I didnt know anything about them. The 5 hens are black sex links and my rooster which turned out to be blind is a barred rock.

After 6 months the hens started to beat up the rooster so I build him his own cage before they killed him. I ended up getting 2 rhode island chicks at the store and housed them with the rooster and they are great together.

I am a work in progress with all this...lol I hope I can share and learn from all of you.

Comment by Aliza Ess on January 27, 2011 at 4:29pm: We recently have been having to do some small chicken first aid (I posted Tuesday about our White Orpington's injured comb). This morning I tried to put her back in the coop but not all the scab was off and our more aggressive Rhode Island Red started to peck at her. Good thing I'm tiny enough to crawl into our coop- I hustled in and pulled her out of there! Guess we're going to have to bring the Orpington back into our shower and work at getting all the scab off.

Comment by rachel whetzel on January 7, 2011 at 9:21pm: First of all, WELCOME, Ellen!! It sounds like you have too many roosters and not enough hens. I would choose the rooster that is less agressive with your hens. Even then, the suggested number of hen to roosters is MINIMUM 8-1. I have had one roo with three hens before though, and because he was a less aggressive breeder, they all did fine.

That might not be what's causing your laying issues though. I would think that the most likely culprit is the cold weather and lack of daylight hours. I have 9 laying hens, without artificial light, and I'm averaging 4 eggs a day. Sometimes less. In summer, I get one egg a hen every day.

Comment by Ellen Peavey on January 7, 2011 at 9:12pm: I'm new to this site, I live in southeast Georgia. I have three Barred rock hens one Bantams Rooster one Jersey Giant Red rooster and one bantam hen. None of the hens are laying, the three Barred rock hens are six months old, the little white bantam hen is older but I'm not sure how old. The big red rooster never crows but is always trying to peck the hens on the head. Should I get rid of one of the roosters?