Recent content by blutenstaub

Yeah, when I kick her off the nest she runs over to the water, drinks, and scratches around eating for a while. Does a little preening. Then sneaks back into the coop... that's the only new behavior I'm noticing. She does have a little weird head shake thing she does that I don't see with the...

Well, she's been sleeping on the floor near the roost the whole time I've had her (three months), which is also where both the ladies lay. She never really was interested in roosting on the branch with her big sister, and before I got her she was broody for "months straight." Maybe that put her...

My secondhand showgirl lays double eggs every couple weeks. But also goes a few days a week without laying, averaging 4-6 eggs a week. She's already over a year old, and I was surprised the first time she double laid since silkies are supposed to lay less than the real layer breeds. She laid a...

Haha yeah sheep are pretty insane.... Do your neighbors that only free range get more eggs than you? And if so, what else is different over there? (Breed, age, stocking rate.....) Chickens can survive on only/mostly free ranging, but they're more likely to stay at a less nourished state where...

I was having the same kind of guilt (and my wife was scared the neighbors would get annoyed despite there being no rules against roosters), until at once about 3 am I heard my dude crowing and went outside (this was in his first few weeks of crowing and I was scared it meant he was being...

I've been wondering the same thing about my silkie fancy girl. I kind of feel like she's only weakly broody. She'll puff up if I go at her while she's on the nest, but she's not incredibly defensive. I can very easily steal an egg from under her or kick her off the nest. (It's been 4 days since...

There are a couple methods from UMN at the link below, as well as videos. The more sensitive method requires a centrifuge, which most of us don't have at home. Besides maybe a salad spinner or a washing machine but idk if they'd reach the correct RPM. There are alternatives (for ex. table salt...

I've got some possible worm problems, too, and I'm trying to figure out how to treat a couple of mostly wild cockerels that live in my hedge. No worms seen in their poop, but one has occasional mildly foamy orange diarrhea, and both have slightly pale combs. Acting normal, eating and drinking...

Haha I haven't been hugging any of my chickens. Just crouching down and staring at them. I don't have any traps, either.... I was imagining a giant butterfly net or a box propped up with a stick and some food underneath... cartoon style.

Well, everything is going fine with the "patient" (silkie) and she is back to laying regularly. Still curious about what caused it, but so far so good. It does seem like she's constantly clenching and unclenching her cloaca as she walks around, and I don't notice that kind of movement on the...

I'm not sure if this thread would be better in the chicken behavior section. I'm wondering how I should be interacting with some cockerels that I might end up selling to someone interested in gaming with them. If one or both of them ends up playing nicely with the girls I might keep him/them...

Isopropyl is a different kind of alcohol than ethyl alcohol (which is what was in the article). Both types of alcohol are used as rubbing alcohols, which generally means it's diluted to a concentration safer to use on skin. I'm pretty sure I've seen 100% isopropyl alcohol labeled as "rubbing...

Ok so I tried the epsom salt bath. It's definitely the silkie feeling sick, the wyandotte laid an egg today, and the silkie is butt out squatting. Bathing her, I noticed her cloaca almost constantly spasming. I tried to put a finger in, but I could only get my pinkie up to the first knuckle...

Is it a medicated feed? Confused why else there would be a withholding period.

My little cockerels were on the cat tree in the yard making a racket, and I thought maybe it was because of one of the cats staring down on them from the roof, and who do I see on my neighbor's antenna...... I am not in an area you would call wild at all, the houses barely have a space you can...