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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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HOMEGROWN Discussions

Sudden Chicken Death? 8 Replies

Just checked on my small flock of silkies and found one dead:( She was still warm no blood or feathers missing. She was only 1 and I haven't changed their food or environment. We have received a lot…Continue

Started by Lizz. Last reply by Cindy yesterday.

New summer home for our small flock 2 Replies

I put together a small animal pen 10' x 10' with a shade. We moved our four chickens in, and the first night something climbed the pen and wiggled in. It killed and partially ate one of our hens, so…Continue

Tags: Coop, Chicken

Started by Rick Nichols. Last reply by Rick Nichols yesterday.

Banties 1 Reply

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. Last reply by Cindy Jun 8.

Advice needed. I"m not sure what I should do or if I should do anything? 6 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 Cindy Jun 8.

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Comment by Erin Mitchell on April 27, 2011 at 4:22pm: Hope Friday to have a set of 4 (supposed pure-bred) 10 week old hens to add to the coop... I think we'll be done for a while after that, lol.

1 Lakenvelder
1 Buttercup
1 Silver Wyandotte
1 Blue Andalusian

I'm always excited to get more chicks! We might look more seriously into chicken farming, lol

Comment by Meredith on April 27, 2011 at 1:55pm: All this talk of broody hens and ducklings somehow psychically provoked one of my YOUNG (the girl just started laying) into broodiness (grrrrrr). And after a not very committed try to break the broodiness failed, we decided to place the duck eggs from their daily hiding place (it's like an Easter egg hunt EVERY SINGLE DAY) under her and see what happens. Last time we ordered a clutch of fertilized duck eggs, this time we are hoping our insatiable boy duck is properly fertilizing our poor resolved girl duck and a few ducklings will come in a month or so.....

Comment by Erin Mitchell on April 25, 2011 at 12:47pm: currently its 5 to 2, lol. Don (our Silkie roo) has no problems with them, Stevie (austrolorpe) however, does... I think she's just trying to make sure they know she's the head girl :) My son, Liam, was a little put out that we were putting his chicks out with his chickens. Now he can't go feeding them his leftovers with out mom knowing, lol

Comment by Rebecca Tando on April 25, 2011 at 12:39pm: Too cute. The baby is adorable too!

What was the ratio of chicks to adult chickens?

Comment by Erin Mitchell on April 25, 2011 at 12:15pm: We introduced the chicks to the coop... Stevie is the only one having issues. She'll get over it

Comment by Aliza Ess on April 22, 2011 at 2:03pm: Good to know Meredith- we're on day three of the duckies so we'd better get on that! Although I"m not sure if we actually have the room to keep the ducks once they become adults, so they might be headed out to our friend's farm anyway. Sounds like a fun blog post though :p

Comment by Meredith on April 21, 2011 at 11:09pm: There are several youtube videos too. That is how we learned, and it really did work!

Comment by Meredith on April 21, 2011 at 11:08pm: To sex the ducks, you MUST do it in the first 3 days or so. Beyond that, it is difficult to impossible to tell! You turn em upside down, pull apart their "privates" (chloaca?") and if a whitish thing pops out, it is a boy (duh). No protrusion, girl. We tried to mark them with fingernail polish and then by tying a string around their leg, but they thwarted us! We sold them at two weeks and it was IMPOSSIBLE to tell (no more popping!). We wanted two girls and boy, ended up with two boys and girl. The two boys were way too much testosterone for our backyard hens (ahem).