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We got eight chicks just over two weeks ago. A week after that, we got a pair of maran chicks. One is a cuckoo maran and the other is a blue copper maran. They are much smaller than the other chicks so we're keeping them indoors for a couple of weeks until they catch up to the rowdy and spazzy...

After losing all but one of my chickens in a horrible bear attack last December, I've gone over and over in my head how I am going to rebuild my coop to keep my chickens safe. Previously my coop was covered in hardware cloth, which did a good job keeping out smaller predators but did not slow...

I built my coop in 2019 ... it's a small coop that basically just functions as a safe place for the chickens to sleep, and they have a separate large chicken tractor that they spend their days in. This has been a great coop; I never had any predators get into it until Friday when a very large...

I’m still in shock but the night before last a bear ripped the hardware cloth off the back of my coop and killed all but one of my chickens. The only survivor is in a rabbit cage in my bathroom and I’ll be putting her temporarily into a hutch in the garage until I can figure out what to do with...

The last few days when I've gone to collect eggs, there have been no eggs ... just remnants of egg shell. A couple have been almost whole eggs with the top removed and the inside gone. At first I thought my neighbor's guineas were getting into the coop while my chickens were out, so I've been...

My chickens have always free-ranged but I've lost one too many to predators (the last, a coyote, is still at large). So, I bought a very large chicken tractor to put them in during the day. Their coop where they spend the nights is very predator-proof in a shady part of the yard, but we have...

One of our pullets was bullied severely by another hen, the bully is a year old and the pullet is just around the age where she'll be starting to lay any day now. I put pinless peepers on the bully but she's still very aggressive towards her victim, though I don't think she's very effective...

A few weeks ago we lost one of our hens to a coyote. At first I thought we'd lost two, because I couldn't find our black sex link. Fortunately, she showed up about an hour after the attack but she was injured. Her toe was broken and she was bleeding from her behind -- I don't know if the coyote...

Hi everyone, I live in a rural area and have had chickens for a few years. We built them a fortress for a coop complete with a wire floor, roof, and stapled down hardware cloth. It keeps them safe from predators at night but we’ve always free ranged during the day since their coop is too small...

We have a lot of predators in our area (foxes, raccoons, coyotes, even mountain lions and bears) but they've rarely been a problem for us. We free-range our chickens but always lock them up at night. Their coop is really secure. In the few years I've had chickens I've only lost one, and that was...

I posted a photo of this chick when she was five weeks old and kind of looking like a cockerel, some of you may recall … She was sold to us as a barred rock but she has double lacing on her chest so is clearly some kind of cross. Here she is today at 18 weeks … She looks like a hen to me but...

Today I noticed our two year old barred rock was acting a little slow, still walking around but kind of lethargic. I picked her up and she seemed thin to me. When I put the ladies to bed this evening I found her in the nest box. I think it’s an odd time of day for her to be laying but I have...

At least one of our chicks is probably a rooster, which has got me remembering the roosters of my childhood. We had this big leghorn named Fred who used to always chase us kids over the fence. But he would do the funniest thing, he would start scratching and pecking at the ground but then sort...

Now that I’m overthinking whether my maybe-barred-rock is a roo I’m wondering if the other two might also be. My neighbor just told me that comb growth can be an early indicator of gender. The two white chicks in this picture are California whites. Their combs are very yellow still but largish...

I am still pretty new to chick rearing but this chick looks pretty strange to me and I’m thinking it might be because she is a he. Still has a pretty pale comb but her (his?) feathers are really bright (see pictures). Of course I’m not even 100 percent sure this is even a barred rock — they told...

We lost our poor Fuzzy to a predator a couple of days ago. The day after it happened my neighbor came over and set a trap ... we set it up near the scene of the crime and baited it with Fuzzy’s feathers and some tuna. Last night we caught a gray fox in the trap. It ate all the tuna and it ate...

Hi all, new here and hoping to get some advice now that we've lost our first hen to a predator. We've had chickens for about a year and they've always free-ranged during the day, then we lock them up at night. Our coop is very tight ... we built it from hardware cloth screwed down and it even...