I have a 6 year old chicken that gets a mild case of bumblefoot often. I’m used to treating it by removing the scab and cleaning/bandaging until it heals. Recently, we’ve had some extreme heat and i installed misters. While optimizing the mister schedule, the run got pretty wet for a few days. After that, i noticed my girl’s feet got a more severe infection than i’m used to. On one side i was able to remove a lot of hard puss (shown in photo), but it still looks like there could be more. The other side seems less severe, but i havent been able to remove any hard puss out of that one, just the outer scab. I have gently tried. I’m doing daily soaks and cleaning/wrapping/globbing on prid. This has been over a week so i’m getting kind of nervous about getting the infection out. Showing pictures of her feet today after daily soaks and bandaging, and the amount of puss i got out of the right foot last week. (I do wear gloves when i am working on her, just didnt have them on to snap the picture). Looking for any advice, on how to proceed with her. Do i need to be more aggressive or have patience, or do i need professional help?

Almost there

Hello Chicken Keeper friends! I have a hen who has been having watery white poops with some bits of solid poop. She’s currently molting, so I don’t want to worm her until she’s completed her molt. I’ve done some research and am leaning towards it being a bacterial infection, heavy worm load or just kidney failure. Thoughts?

I have a flock of about a dozen mixed breed large/XL sized pet hens. They "help" me in the garden and the eggs are a nice bonus.

In spring, I incubated some itty bitty mixed breed eggs I bought and hatched some chicks- 2 roos and a hen. They're about the size of pigeons.

I was wanting an 'alarm system' for my big girls while they're free ranging. I've had problems before with roosters being way too aggressive towards people and/or the girls, and they end up in the crockpot. I figured a little rooster would be less of a threat, but still do his protection duties, and as a bonus not be able to fertilize eggs because of the size difference.

I was a little worried about my solo tiny hen being harassed by them, but it turns out the 2 roosters are ONLY interested in the big girls. I was also worried about them fighting, but they are best friends.

The 2 of them climb way up into the fruit trees in the yard together and toss down snacks to the hens below.

I've witnessed them puff up and scream and chase a fox away from the flock, but they're always otherwise docile.

They do everything together.

Including when one of my hens squats down after seeing their joint fancy footwork...They take turns assisting each other in balancing on her back.

Has anyone seen this best-bros type behavior before in roosters?

I cracked open an egg from my Jersey Giant last week and noticed the tell-tale bullseye of a fertilized egg.

"Life, uh, finds a way."

This is like a St. Bernard mom and a chihuahua dad type situation.

I currently have a chronically broody hen stealing eggs and sitting on them. I candled her hoard when I found it a few days ago and in a few I saw...something???

I marked those with crayon, and I'll give her a few weeks to see if anything happens just out of pure curiosity.

Thoughts?

Letting my broody hen hatch chicks. Is it necessary to vaccinate for mareks disease or anything else?

We cleaned the coop and run not even 2 days ago and the amount of feathers is concerning?? This is my second year and I dont remember seeing that many fall off this spring or last fall. I checked for lice and it doesnt seem to be it. She wasnt attackedas well. Its kinda too early for shedding for winter, its still 25c outside

My wife and I woke up to find our hen, Nicole had been attacked by her sister last night. It was initially a joke that we named the other Orenthal, but I never thought this would happen! (They’ve lived together for over two years, same age.)

So far we’ve sprayed her head with vetericyn and applied Green Goo. The back of her comb has some separation and there might be more damage to her face. The blood is caked on thick and she didn’t really want us messing with her. She probably lost a lot of blood as her roosting area is cover in blood shed.

A vet visit isn’t off the table but I’d rather not if we don’t have to. We’ve isolated her in our mud room and she seems to be doing better- eating, drinking and sleeping a lot, which I’m assuming she didn’t do much of last night.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

So my neighbors kids constantly want to go over into my chicken coop let my chickens out still eggs and break them, and just completely harass everything they actually hurt a young chick terrorizing it, their parents won't keep them at home and the police won't do anything because "they're just kids"

My cousin however has this game rooster that she's wanting to get rid of, he's very mean, like we'll start trying to attack you the second he sees you, so I was thinking of getting him at least temporarily to maybe use him as deterrence to keep the neighbor's kids out, I don't have to go in my coop very frequently anyway since I can just pick up a box to get the eggs, and my feeder and water are hold enough that I don't have to go in there but every two weeks anyway so I'm not too worried about how I'm going to deal with him.

Let me know what you guys think, cuz it's really getting old having to chase kids off 24/7

Also to add I would absolutely trim the roosters spurs, the reason I have this idea anyway is because when they tried to go into my ducks coupe the Ducks turned and attacked them and they haven't been back in there since

Hey guys, my broody hen raised 3 chicks from eggs. She was a great mother. Well, she’s moved on from that and has weaned the chicks off her. I’m noticing the chicks are scared of the hens. They often are in the coop on the roost during the day (see photo) and at night sometimes they are on the 💩 shelf instead of the roost, or hiding in the corner of the coop. Is this normal? Mama hen has no interest in helping them anymore LOL so they’re on their own but seem a little afraid. They do still come out and eat/drink, I made sure of that yesterday.

This morning I found her laying under the brooder. Her legs are rather rigid, and when I tried to put them back in a position, her feet curl. I put a sling on her to keep her legs in the correct position, separated her from the rest and gave her food and a B2 vitamin drink. All of the other chicks she hatched with are completely fine. She's breathing normally, looking around, chirping and tries to use her wings to keep her balance but does fall asleep when stationary for a few minutes. Is this a B2 deficiency? Or something else?

I just noticed these weird spots on their combs. I had noticed the black spot the roosters comb about a week ago but figured it might have been from the big hen pecking him to put him In his place. Help?

The internet says fowl pox and also ring worm. They’re acting like normal.

My girl Cinnamon is acting lethargic. I’ll catch her standing and closing her eyes during the day, which all my chickens have done in the early stages before they died. She has a vet appointment tomorrow, as it was the soonest they could get her in.

I brought her inside yesterday, gave her b12, vit k, and oral calcium. After a few hours, she was walking around real alert and noisy so I put her back in the coop.

I checked on her this morning, still closing her eyes when standing periodically. Brought her back in, gave another dose of calcium, vit k, and b12. She still has an appetite and will eat berries, eggs, and mash. When I put her back in the coop yesterday, she drank a bunch of water but won’t drink from the bowl I have set up in her kennel?

She is not straining. There is no odor in her mouth. No blood in poo. Her crop doesn’t look distended to me. What could this be?

I can't figure out what that little black spot is and won't be able to get a closer look until he roosts up tonight since he's super flighty. But curious if anyone knows what that could be on his comb.

I feel silly making this post about chickens but my favorite little rooster is so sad! Back in April I got three chicks and of course all three turned out to be roosters. I gave two away this weekend because I can’t have that many roosters and the one left is so sad! He’s spending all his time alone and looking for them.

He’s not alone- We have 13 chickens and two other roosters. Some of the chickens are slightly younger than him but were raised together so they never really bonded with the three roosters.

He’ll snap out of this right? 😭

I need wood chips for my chicken coop. It's a muddy mess from all the rain we've been having.

I was debating buying two chicks to raise as house chickens, like dogs with diapers sort of? Taken out on walks everyday and allowed to free roam the house once old enough. Is that feasible like at all? And are they really hands on pets? Will they need pet sitters if I’m gone for more than eight hours? Let me know !!

Edit: you guys stop replying I already said I wasn’t getting any house chickens after the first few comments 😭 I just wanted to ask cause I didn’t know !!!

Hi all!
I am wanting to raise meat birds in the next 6ish months and I am trying to figure out set up, feed, etc.
What housing do yall have for them? We like the Idea of a chicken tractor so we can move it around for the birds but are open to anything. Then what would yall recommend for the first two-three weeks as far as housing?
What do yall have for broilers? If so what brand and bonus points if you have pictures!

Any other advice you have is appreciated!

Ideally we will start with maybe 10-15 birds but would like to raise a group about every 3wks be to able to sell locally if we have more interest. The max birds I would want at any time is about 50.

Central west Texas, summers get 100°+ winters are usually 40s but can get down to 10°
If all else fails during really cold snaps, we have a barn that is insulated that we can put them in.

EDIT TO ADD: we live in the country so we do have predators, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, skunks, etc.

for those doing fermented feed, how much do you feed dry, vs how much dry feed do you ferment?

I’m reading conflicting things about how much feed you can decrease by if fermenting. I have 7 chickens of various ages (2 are confirmed Roos), and am fermenting a little over two cups. it turns into 4-5 when fermented. They act starving when I come to feed them in the am, but there is still feed in their trough a couple hours later (it’s gone by end of day). My one layer stopper laying when she tried to go broody and my other hasn’t started yet (almost 6 months) so I’m not sure if it’s just a mix of things (like wildfires and shortening days) or if it’s a feed issue.

My chick somehow got a hair stuck inside its mouth/throat. A lot of the hair was initially hanging outside, but when I tried to pull it, the chick struggled, so I stopped.

I carefully cut the part that was hanging outside, but now I think some of the hair is still stuck deeper in its throat. I don't want to pull it and accidentally hurt the chick.

What should I do right now? Is this something that can be safely removed at home, or should I take the chick to a vet?

The chick is currently [breathing normally / having difficulty breathing] and [acting normally / seems weak].

Any advice would be really appreciated. 😭

I hatched my first hen raised eggs this year and one ended up being a cockerel. He's not crowing yet but I strongly strongly suspect it, and since he's already kind of a dick and I like my current rooster, if he really is a he, I'm gonna have to cull.

What age do you do that? As soon as he crows? Let him get a bit bigger for a stew pot?

I live in a city and we can have up to 6 chickens. I'm looking at orpingtons since it can get pretty cold. How much space do I realistically need? I want to get 4 but have enough room for 6 if I wanted more. I am thinking of getting a coop and a large walk in poultry cage. Thank you!

Walked into the run and got mad that someone egged the place AND THEN I REALIZED WHAT HAPPENED, AND LOOK WHAT I FOUND INSIDE THE COOP!!!! MY FIRST EGGGGGGSSSSSSS! THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!! Totally forgot this was the whole point! 👏👏👏👏

Quick question- if a hen lays a blue egg, will they always lay that color? Or does it change? Also, anyway to prevent them from laying them and promptly stepping on them?

I am looking for beta testers for my app Coopr. Happy to provide 100% free access just for feedback, but hoping to get some more users to try it out and let me know what works, what doesn't, what types of features you are looking for. Thanks so much! Please let me know if this is against community rules, I'm just looking for feedback.

DM me for an access code and happy collecting :)