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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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We ordered a surprise package from Cackle Hatchery! They are shipping it Wednesday! 2 Replies

How do we prepare? What will we get? How many will we get? Has anyone here done that? After talking to the hatchery all they will tell us is. We need to separate brooders one for the dry fowl and…Continue

Started by Cindy. Last reply by Cindy yesterday.

Advice needed. I"m not sure what I should do or if I should do anything? 5 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 on Tuesday.

Chicken Behavior 8 Replies

I'm curious as to why my 3 chickens perform a "fake chest-bump" right after I let let out in the morning. Is it a form of greeting or other ritual?

Started by Erich Gottl. Last reply by Cindy on Tuesday.

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.

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Comment by Aliza Ess on April 21, 2011 at 11:36am: Yes, I'd love those tips on how to sex the ducks Meredith! (lol) When we got our chickens last year the woman who bred them sort of claimed to sex them but I wasn't really sure how she did it. We did end up getting 7 hens out of 10 bird though.

Final ducking count: 4 out of 6! One of the ducklings didn't make it out of the egg, and another one was fully hatched but dead in the nesting box. I'm pretty sure the Orpington smothered it, so awwww. But she seems to be doing a good job mothering the remaining 4. When I opened the coop this morning to feed them all the little duckies were keeping warm under the hen.

Hope to have a video posted soon!

Comment by Meredith on April 20, 2011 at 9:02pm: Typo, sorry....AliZaQ :)

Comment by Meredith on April 20, 2011 at 9:01pm: Alina, My broody buff orphington hatched 8 darling Cayuga ducklings ALL on the 28th day of sitting. THey were all perfectly healthy and happy and the mama hen did a great job of raising them up. We sold 6 and kept 2 and it makes faor an interesting backyard barnyard. My advice is to sex them right away (if you don't know how, I can advise), because by 1 week or so old, it is impossible to tell if boys or girls until they hit puberty at about 5 months. Then, you will really know the boys! I would be happy to speak more of our "ducken" adventure!

Comment by rachel whetzel on April 20, 2011 at 2:35pm: How fun!! I can't wait for one of my hens to go broody.

Comment by kristin clapper on April 20, 2011 at 11:47am: Aliza that is so awesome!! I can't wait to see the photos! We raise quail and chickens, we recently got some Bantams that will hopefully sit and hatch our quail chicks! I can't wait! Congrats and Good luck!

Comment by Aliza Ess on April 20, 2011 at 10:18am: Just had to post my excitement: we put some fertilized duck eggs under a broody Orpington, and the first little duckling hatched today! Squeee! I just got a glimpse of it's little fuzzy face before it ducked back under it's "momma." So the mothering looks like its going well! Can't wait until I can get a photo.

Any other backyard chicken and duck owners have advice?

Comment by Rebecca Tando on April 18, 2011 at 1:12pm: Meredith, I'm glad you posted again, as I can't find your first post, although it did show up in the email version!

You might consider placing your other birds on a preventive dosing of antibiotics, if you haven't already, because if this was indeed cholera or bird flu even, the others may be kept from contracting it.

This might help you diagnose.

Or this.

Best of luck!

Comment by Meredith on April 18, 2011 at 12:56pm: Sorry if this is a repeat.... I have (had) a healthy flock of nine laying hens and two ducks. I noticed one of my healthy hens developed red feet. She didn't seem to be in distress and continues her normal behavior. A few days later she seemed ill with lethargy. No cough or sneezing, eyes remained bright, she ate and walked around if motivated. I quarantined her and started her on sulfanomides, but she was dead by morning. I am keeping a close watch on the rest of the flock. One might be coming down with illness (no red feet) - so I separated her for the past few days. I am paranoid about cholera (someone put that thought in my head). And ideas?

Comment by Nancy on April 4, 2011 at 8:04pm: A week ago a weasel, or better described by my investigating, a stoat (?) attacked and killed 8 of our chickens. We have kept the rest of the girls in the coop for fear of death until we can catch this evil critter. Tried a foot trap to no avail. Found out where his scat is but can't seem to find where he is holing up and since the chickens are not luring him out anymore, I have no tracks to track. One of the traps suggested using a drain pipe for it to run through but that would be if I knew his usable trail. Anyone have any suggestions?

Comment by Aliza Ess on April 4, 2011 at 4:10pm: One of our Orpingtons got broody so we got six fertilized duck eggs for her to hatch... a friend of ours works at the zoo and showed us how to "candle" eggs to see if they are still healthy. It was a fun science experiment!

Here's a photo:

If you want to read more about the backyard menagerie! >

http://www.baltimorediy.org/2011/03/building-hutches-and-coops-egg-...