Recent content by Bella Dominique

My 2 Barred Rocks will peck me if I’m standing still. Not hard enough to break the skin but more like a pinch. Harder than I like but they’re very friendly girls so I just avoid it if I can by watching for it. My brother had a Barred Rock that did the same thing.

I asked my vet about this and she said it could be too much calcium, but could also be caused by viral or bacterial infection. If the other girls start doing this it may be cause for concern even if it’s nutritional. Mine only happened for a few Times so not worried about it.

A lot of people don’t use Vaseline. I know when I put it on my chapped hands and go outside in the cold it makes me feel colder. Might just be me but you might try it on your own skin and see if you have the same results as I did.

I have an area where they can get completely out of the wind. Last year we had snow and 17 degrees with heavy wind. The girls that were still molting usually stayed in the this area. I had one that would just hunker down in the cold so I would entice her into the enclosed area and she would...

I find that these coops look OK until you build your own and have some experience with chickens and their needs, including predator proofing. Then these coops look completely silly at best and worrisome as to keeping the ladies safe and healthy.

Normally they have a large area to run around and at times I open up so they can have free run. Now with avian flue they have a smaller covered outdoor run and a large enclosed run, but they are frustrated because they can see the green grass where they normally forage Been growing sprouts and...

When it snowed this year there was also a heavy wind and temperatures in the teens so they stayed inside the enclosed run most of the time. For about an hour in the afternoons the wind would calm so they came out and ate snow. I put some pallets down so they would have some earth to scratch in...

I have 7 girls and I section the yard area they’re allowed in so the grass can come back in the area I’ve blocked off. I’ve never reseeded but might be the grass that’s grown here Pacific NW. Maybe all the rain helps regrow it too.

I have a barred rock whose very talkative. I usually think its cute, but during the summer she’ll follow me around talking so much I’ll have to go inside to get some peace. It cracks me up when after laying she’s singing away while eating her feed, which of course makes her feed fly all over the...

This year we had just under a foot in two days, temps went down to 17 degrees (cold for Pacific NW). Our property gets heavy winds coming off the water. One of my girls was in a heavy molt, so on the worst days they stayed inside the enclosed run pretty much all day. Times when sun peaked thru...

We had the same problem. Not only poop everywhere but once the spring rains started they completely denuded our lawn, they were pretty sure the begonias in the pots were wasteful and tore them out so they could sit on pots. The poop on patio was gross even though I picked up daily. I finally...

Great suggestion on using bike inner tubes to wrap roosts.

Yes. This was my worry too. Also getting messy from dirty feet. I only sanded the roost really smooth and wrapped the girls feet each day until they were healed.

My vet suggested wrapping the roosts to help after a couple of hens got bumblefoot from hardware cloth edge that got exposed. I do sand the edges of 2x4’s. Since the pandemic the wood available isn’t as well milled as it used to be so lots of rough edges.

There’s so much conflicting info on feeding chickens oats I just don’t bother. Sometimes I think if you’re going to raise chickens to eventually butcher for food it’s probably less of a problem then if you’re planning on keeping them as long term pets.