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Yesterday my daughter took a rooster and a hen from my flock to join her chickens about 1/4 mile up the road. They had never been on that road, which winds through forest, and our place isn't visible from there. Today she couldn't find them and they showed up back in our chicken pen. I was...

I often take early hatchers out of the incubator so they don't injure, peck at, or bowl over newly hatched chicks. I have a brooder box ready with heat lamp and wait for at least two chicks to be dry in incubator so one is not alone in the brooder. I try not to open the incubator (foam...

One of my best broodies is setting and I'd like to give her some eggs of a different color. She has hatched typical 'barnyard brown' and green eggs before. The new ones would be dark 'chocolate' eggs. Would she be likely to reject such dark eggs? I'm not sure how well chickens see color.

Correcting myself: actually the white and yolk do not LOOK the same in any egg! There can be variations in color, texture, and fluidity, and there can be spots in there too. But generally most eggs are very similar with clear/opaque albumen and a yellow yolk.

Aliprowl--I meant that the white and yolk inside are the same in any egg. I guess I could have made that more clear! Kerry Harrigan--I have never raised ducks and I don't know the answer to either of your questions. This would be a good question to post in the duck secion of the BYC forum! Find...

@Kelley Farms--There is a lot of variation in egg sizes. Some pullets seem to start right out with large eggs while others take a while to get it down. Most often the first eggs are small and they gradually increase in size. Your pullets are still young and it sounds like they are right on...

We have a doting mama with three 6-week-old chicks. One of the chicks was injured by a thorough licking from a dog (and possibly something else had picked on it before the dog took it in). The down and feathers on the chick's back are gone and there are some abrasions where the skin was broken...

To ADozenGirlz and other readers: I apologize if my culling suggestion came across as insensitive. I had never noticed that BYC was mostly pet chicken owners, as most of my communication here has been with those who, like myself, raise chickens for eggs and meat. ADozenGirlz has some great...

GG--I can totally relate to that. Even though we don't think of our chickens as "pets" I was hesitant to butcher them at first. Fortunately other family members and friends were okay with the killing part. Is there someone who can help you the first time? Hunters and people who grew up on farms...

We are thinking of giving that a try this year. We are raising our first two Buff Orp roosters right now (they're 7 months old) and they seem more docile so far. Definitely big enough to make a nice dual purpose cross with a meat bird.

We will be raising FRs again this year. Every year I check into other colored broiler options but for us the shipped price to the west coast is always best with Freedom Ranger Hatchery. We really like the FRs for meat and enjoyable raising (they forage, have personality, etc.). We also kept...

We have been feeding our chickens and pigs locally-grown non-GMO ingredients including several cereal grains and cull peas. We've also fed the chickens bulk grains from Winco and from the local Latter Day Saints Bishop's Warehouse. We use the Pearson Square to figure proportions, buy a mineral...

KristinLLB--I'll see if I can add to the article. For now, here's some info: It is not necessary to wash eggs, but I usually do--especially soiled ones and those with debris on them. Eggs have a protective coating that prevents bacteria from entering, and washing can remove that. So I recommend...

Is there any reason to use 1/8" hardware cloth (rather than 1/4") on a chicken tractor? With dogs on duty we haven't had anything get in even through chicken wire, but we want to make sure we could put our next tractor outside the dogs' domain and keep most anything out. I'm wondering about...

I know this thread was originally about Rainbow Rangers specifically, but I just wanted to mention that I've found a few hatcheries that sell their own "colored broiler" that is not a Freedom Ranger. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I remember right Noll's, S&G, and Mt. Di have their own breeding...

I have four broodies, three of which have been on the nest for around four weeks with no hatches. It was kind of iffy all along since they went broody about 10 days after the rooster left so I'm not too surprised. I've ordered 25 chicks from a hatchery and I'd like the girls to brood them if...

I have several brown-egg layers and four White Leghorn hens. The WLH are always on the go foraging around everywhere, first out in the morning and the last in at night. The others are a little less active but they all seem to like being out and about. This spring as the yolks in the brown eggs...

Valeriekasnick: The only way I know of to encourage a hen to go broody is to start a batch of eggs in the incubator! That has happened to me twice. Seriously though, it's a hormonal thing that just happens. Some breeds tend toward broodiness (for example, Silkies, Brahmas, Orpingtons) and some...

These two banty hens have gone broody independently before...but this time they are sitting on four eggs together. The Dark Brahma was first, and I gave her two marked eggs. The white Silkie joined her a day or two later, and I gave her two marked eggs. I check daily and notice that they mix the...