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I want to add a couple of new hens to my flock but I do not want to go through the process of buying new pullets or laying hens, quarantine and then hope they will integrate well. I added two hens that way before but ended up having to re-home one of them. The new owner of that hen (Buff Orp)...

I have eight hens. Three RIR, three Barred Rocks, one Buff Orp and one Black Minorca. I would like to add a couple of chicks this spring. I know that some people will slip chicks in with a broody hen and they will usually raise them as their own. I would love to do this but I have no hens that...

I have eight hens. 3 Rhodies, 3 Barred Rocks,1 Black Minorca and 1 Buff Orp'n. I would like to add a couple/few chicks but none of my hens are broody. I understand that a broody hen can be used to raise chicks. But what if I do not have a hen that is broody? What are the chances that one of the...

I came across this poem and thought it was cute, especially for those of us familiar with the "egg song". A codfish lays a thousand eggs, the homely hen but one. The codfish never cackles, to tell you what she's done. And so we scorn the codfish while the humble hen we prize. Which only goes...

I am thinking about planting a fall cover crop this fall as "green manure". This mix I am looking at has Austrian field peas, Crimson Clover, Hairy Vetch, Annual and Winter Rye. These cover crops are tilled into the soil about a month before planting and they provide a nitrogen and nutrient...

I live in a suburban area. A few weeks ago we heard a large murder of crows, they were harrassing a red-tailed hawk. After some time, they seemed to tire and most of them left but the hawk continued to fly from one tree to the other. We have also had several visits from a Cooper's Hawk. The...

Last week I posted about my first foray into the world of "sourdough" bread making. Sourdough is so called because it has a much more tangy flavor than other breads. This is from the use of "wild" yeast cultures instead of commercial yeast. This is the way everyone used to bake their breads...

I have been baking our own bread for a while now. I have found that I can bake a loaf of bread for about the same as it costs to buy, or less, but without the garbage they put into a lot of bread today. Especially white bread. I have been intrigued by sourdough bread. I learned that in the days...

I have three Ply Rocks and three Rhodies. I just got a Buff Orp and a Black Minorca. I dusted them well for possible mites. I forgot the idea of quaratining them. By all appearances they are healthy. I hope I don't pay the price for forgetting to quarantine. The issue is that they are not...

I have three Ply Rocks and three Rhodies. I just got a Buff Orp and a Black Minorca. I dusted them well for possible mites. I forgot the idea of quaratining them. By all appearances they are healthy. I hope I don't pay the price for forgetting to quarantine. The issue is that they are not...

I just took in this chicken to my flock yesterday. She is a real cutie and we named her Esmeralda. She is all black with a green iridescence to her feathers, black beak and black feet like an Australorp has. BUT she has white ears which means she will lay white eggs, Australorps lay brown and...

I posted earlier. I have taken a ten month old Buff Orp'n pullet from a friend who thought she was sick. She is badly emaciated, very weak and evidently anemic. This morning I discovered that she was horribly infested with mites. I got permetherin powder from the feed store and powdered her...

At this time of year a lot of people ask what they can do about freezing water. I have a short vid on youtube that shows how you can keep your water thawed. It will cost you less than $5 but most of the materials you may have in your garage or shed already! I also made a coop heater and a...

I posted yesterday that I took over a sick chicken from a friend. She is emaciated. Yesterday after I was massaging her crop I noticed that I could feel something on the back of my neck. It was a mite. I checked her this morning and she is crawling with them! I suspect she is anemic. What can...

I took over a chicken from a friend two days ago. She is a Buff Orp and is about ten months old. The reason I took her was that she was becoming lethargic, spending a lot of time away from the other chickens and under the coop. Then they started to pick on her. When I got her home I offered her...

I am wondering if it is possible to add chicks to an existing flock. I have six chickens right now. They were all raised by us from day old so the pecking order is not particularly violent. Flogging and chest bumping virtually never happens. Sometimes my alpha hen will grab one of the others by...

I have four out of my six chickens that are moulting, two of them heavily. We live in New England and it has been rather nippy here at night. Normally my girls can handle the cold no problem. But since they've been moulting they have been a little cold. The moulting hens spend a good part of the...

I have four out of my six chickens that are moulting, two of them heavily. We live in New England and it has been rather nippy here at night. Normally my girls can handle the cold no problem. But since they've been moulting they have been a little cold. The moulting hens spend a good part of the...

This thread was inspired by another thread that was discussing the subject of hens squatting. After seeing several different names given to the behavior I had to find out what everyone else calls it. For those who may not know what I am talking about, when pullets (immature females) get close to...

I have three Barred Rocks and three Rhode Island Reds. The Rocks are all moulting but i have noticed that they are acting different. Normally they love to come out of their run and 'play' in the yard and garden. They scratch for bugs and worms, eat grass etc. They Rocks began moulting a few days...