Recent content by elmo

We are down to two chickens remaining from our original flock of bantams. Chicklet is 15, showing very little sign of her advanced age. She even laid an egg this spring! Ozma is 14 and is suffering from cataracts in both eyes. Because of her vision loss, she can't manage the social interactions...

If you can work out the ventilation issue and the basement as it exists today doesn't have a moisture problem, I'd say go for it. But then, we have been keeping a small flock of elderly bantams in our indoor bird room...right inside out house...for several years. It does get dusty...

Our flock is now composed of old ladies going on 13 years old. A couple of the gals are still laying an egg now and then in the spring. One in particular I wish would stop laying, since two years ago she had a bad bout of prolapse and had to go into the vet to get ..ahem..rejuvenation surgery on...

Ask if anyone ever regretted having extra space. I bet you won't find many stories. On the other hand, if you ask if anyone ever wishes they had built their coop/run larger.....

We had a similar problem with Hermione, a part Serama hen, when she was young. I separated her from the flock and gave her a nest full of eggs (5-6). She immediately went broody on them, which stopped her laying for three weeks so her vent could heal up. After she came off the nest, I was...

What is that black material covering those bottom vents? Please tell me it's not window screen. If that's what it is, they've just built an easy opening for raccoons to bust into the coop to eat the chickens.

No, with wire gauge the higher the number the SMALLER the wire. 16 gauge wire is thicker and therefore stronger than 19 gauge. I've got 16 gauge wire covering the windows and vents in my coop, and that stuff is heavy. I can still remember how much my hand hurt from making all those cuts with...

Our whole remaining flock are the original gals, 12 and 11 years old now. And in the spring, they still lay the occasional egg! Over the years we've lost one to an accident and two to egg laying disorders.

My Pet Chicken isn't a hatchery, it's just a middleman. They contract with different hatcheries to ship to you. Our local hardware store here in Texas was getting shipments of chicks through My Pet Chicken. I was there when they opened a box: lots of dead chicks. It was horrible. My Pet...

Be sure you're comparing apples to apples though. Galvanized after weld wire is better than galvanized before weld wire (which is usually cheaper). When wire is welded after it's been galvanized, the welding will burn away a bit of the galvinization, and that leaves the metal open to rusting at...

I have to say the answer to your question is no: you can't fully protect your flock from hawks if you allow them to free range. We know of someone who was about 20 feet away from one of his chickens in their suburban back yard when it was attacked and killed by a hawk. It was horrible, because...

I've heard of lipstick on a pig before, but never this!

Just don't let your neighbors see you doing this. You might get some really strange reactions from them the next time you go to the neighborhood picnic.

Sounds like a good idea. Fastening the welded wire to the outside without wood framing is a very time consuming and fiddly job. I've done it myself and wouldn't do it that way again.