Recent content by koleary99

My six, three-y.o. chickens have done the same, and I have to question whether one egg every other day is worth the cost of feed.

The first time I deep-cleaned the coop, I ended up in the ER on Albuterol. Chicken dust is highly toxic, carrying pathogens that, when breathed in, can cause lung disease. This is what the ER doc told me. I couldn't inhale enough air to exhale well. I suggest that everyone should wear a mask...

You didn't say whether you had placed a cover, other than oil, over the egg container. Eggs stored in lime need to have an impermeable cover over them for that very reason. They don't need to be vacuum sealed, but a lid is necessary. I have never used oil, so I can't tell you if the eggs are...

I have stored fresh, unwashed but clean eggs in limewater for up to a year. They do not degrade badly, and liming affords you a back-up when your chickens don't lay as many eggs as they used to.

My chickens only just started laying, and occasionally, one will lay an egg out in the run rather than in a nesting box. With temperatures down in the single digits, I have found several dirty, very cold eggs intact, but wouldn't think of selling them. Instead, I hard boil them and feed them...

If you have breathing problems, like asthma or just shortness of breath, stay away from DE, or wear a mask when you enter your coop. The dust is incredibly bad for your lungs.

I filled a shallow rubber tub with DE so that the chickens could give themselves dust baths, but I have no idea whether they have lice. Originally I had dusted the floor of the coop before layering it with wood shavings, but the dust was so bad, I swept it out and have kept the dust bath outside.

How do you know that a chicken has lice?

I can't get my young chickens to use a 5 gallon nipple waterer, despite removing the gravity feed waterer. How can I train them? Also, it is soon to be winter in Michigan, and the nipple waterer is heated. Do you still find that the nipples freeze up even when it's plugged in?

Thank you. Having read some of the forum entries, I am sure this site will be enjoyable.

Thank you!

Thank you! Grandmotherhood is as fun as owning chickens! lol

I'm hoping that they are now totally buttoned up. I'm not sure whether coyotes can dig deep enough to get beyond the chicken wire we buried!

Thank you!

Hello All! (1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? Ten years ago my significant other and I free-ranged 40 chickens for several years until predation caught up with the flock. Now that I am alone during this pandemic, I needed "company," and since I find great hilarity in...