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Hi there! One of my girls appears to have a very small cut on the top of one toe. Pic attached. It’s dry, and I don’t see any swelling. I read some posts that advised soaking in epsom salts, applying triple antibiotic and/or wrapping in gauze and vet wrap. I can do those things…but I wonder if...

Hi, fellow keepers. I’m sad and confused, and I hope some experienced folks will offer an opinion about my situation. Bird: 2.5-year-old Ameraucana Origin and environment: Purchased from Chickens for Backyards, arrived via mail a couple of days after hatch, vaccinated for Marek’s. Closed...

Hi, everyone, Hoping for some advice. I have a 2.5-year-old Ameraucana hen named Sunny Side Up who’s been going through a hard molt. She feels thin and appears to have lost weight. About a week ago, I noticed that she was spending some of her day looking puffed up and squinty eyed—like she felt...

Hi, fellow chicken keepers. I’m hoping for some advice about next steps after my first loss. Grit, my 2-year old olive egger, died suddenly 3 days ago while I was out of town. When my pet sitter went out just after dark to lock up the coop, she found Grit lying on her side in the run, dead but...

Hi, folks. I’ve got a challenging situation and would love your advice. My hens are about a year and a half old. They grew up together as chicks and have lived in harmony. A few months ago, they stated to molt for the first time. They didn’t do it all at once. The later molters are almost done...

Hey, Wise Chicken Peeps! I live in NC, up in the mountains, at a high elevation. It’s been a mild winter—until NOW! It went from a low at night in the 20s (F) to, tonight, subzero temps (-6 to -9 degrees). It was about 10 last night and it’s now 1. I have breeds I believe are cold-hardy...

Hi, wise chicken friends! I’d love your 2 cents about a first for me: a rat coop intruder. I have a small-ish coop and 7 chickens. I modified the coop with a crazy amount of thick hardware cloth and thought I’d made it virtually impenetrable. No holes anywhere wider than 1/4 inch. (I’ll put a...

Hi! I’ve noticed an odd recent change, and I don’t know if it’s normal or indicative of something wrong. I have an Easter egger and an olive egger who used to have yellow beaks. They’re 11 months old now. I noticed a few weeks ago that their beaks were no longer yellow. I’ve attached a file of...

Hi, everyone. I’ve recently moved my birds outside to an enclosed run, and I’ve noticed that one of the seven is pooping black cecal and non-cecal poops. I know birds can sometimes eat stuff that causes color change, but all the birds have access to the same stuff. They’re 19 weeks old, and I...

Hi, chicken peeps! I’ve recently moved my girls to a new coop and run. There are seven of them, and they’re 19 weeks old. They have a coop with an attached run. Inside the coop, they have roosting bars about 50 cm above the ground (2x4 boards with the wide side up for perching). Six of the...

Hi, everyone. I’m embarrassed to ask my question, but I’m gonna do it anyway. Due to a series of unforeseen challenges, it took me way, WAY longer to finish building my chicken coop than I planned. I’m finally finished (woo hoo), and the “chicks” are ready to go outside. They’ve been waiting in...

Hey there, everyone! I’m attaching hardware cloth to a Rugged Ranch metal chicken run. I started using self-tapping screws and washers to affix the cloth, but I quickly noticed that the process was generating a bunch of tiny metal shavings that flew everywhere, including into the run area. I...

Hey, BYC folks. My brain hurts. I’ve been trying to sort out all the new info about chicken-keeping I’ve been sponging up as a newbie. One of the seemingly most debated topics is what’s safe/best to use in a run. Here’s my tale of woe: Had to put my run on top of a gravel driveway, so I’ve been...

Hi! I’m new to chickening. One of my 16-week-old pullets, an Olive Egger, appears to have a kinda crusty comb. I know it’s normal for it to be pinkish at her age, not red yet—but does the white stuff look like dry skin, or should I be worried? She seems to be eating, drinking, pooping and...

Hey, chicken peeps! I’m trying hard to finish constructing my chicken coop and run. I decided to dig out most of the pointy gravel in the run area and ordered a couple cubic yards of screened topsoil to fill in the run area instead. A company came and dumped a huge pile of the topsoil on top of...

Hey, chicken peeps! I’m choosing a place to put my new chicken coop and attached run. I have three options, and they all seem less than ideal: 1. In front of house, on gravel (which I could cover with dirt and mulch), close to water and electricity—and me (very close, in fact, to my porch) 2...

Hi, chicken folks! :) My chicks are getting bigger by the second, and I’m getting their new coop ready for the transition to outdoor life. I have hardware cloth to bury and to use as a skirt, I’ve got a Chicken Guard door and a sturdy coop connected to a welded wire run. I’ve also got some...

Hi, chicken peeps. I think I screwed up. I lined the bottom of my brooder with puppy pads and then put pine shavings on top. Today I watched the chicks, now three weeks old, pull up a pad from underneath the shavings and then one bit off a few small pieces of padding and quickly swallowed them...

Hello, chick whisperers! I want your guidance! I’ve explored similar posts, but I’d like to ask my chick handling question and provide specific deets. Here’s my challenge: Chicks are 2.5 weeks old: Welsummer, EEs, Olive Egger, Ameraucanas, Black Copper Marans. All come bustling out of the...

Hi, fellow chicken peeps! A friend referred me to this awesome place, and I’m excited to get to know y’all and sponge up info! I’m very new to chickens—just got my first chicks 2 weeks ago: 1. Louise Henny (Black Copper Marans) 2. Dot (Welsummer) 3. Roo (Olive Egger) 4. Camilla (Easter Egger)...