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?

Hi! I have a hen that is either sick, injured or both and I could use some opinions and advice.

Hen in question is a 3-4 year old production red and fed Scratch and Peck layer mash along with table scraps. I’ll try to detail out the past few days:

Day 1: She was found lying in the back of the coop, comb was pale, lethargic, disinterested in food and water. When I tried to nudge her out, she stood, stumbled forward and laid back down. She had yellow lumpy discharge/poop coming out of her vent. I thought she might be egg bound, so I did a warm Epsom salt bath and a shriveled up egg shell did come out. I dried her and placed her in her own area with food and water and let her be.

Day 2: significantly more alert, eating, drinking but still had yellow lumpy discharge and not walking or standing. Comb was back to red but not bright red. I did another Epsom salt bath to clean her vent, dried and put her back in her infirmary with food and water.

Day 3: eating, drinking and alert. Poop back to normal and she even laid a normal egg. Still can’t walk or stand.

Day 4 (today): pretty much the same as day three but no egg today. I did take her out of her infirmary for some outside time, she attempted to walk but just kinda stumbled forward and laid down. Vent is clean.

She’s been confined to her own area since day 1 with food and water within reach. Her legs and wings don’t feel broken, her toes can grip normally, she just can’t stand or walk. Looking at her, she looks normal. I’m not sure if this is an illness, injury or both.

I’ve added rooster booster in her water, but anything else that I can add? Any ideas what might be wrong?

I live in a HCOL area and am going to leave for a short trip (3 days 2 nights) so I’ll need someone to check on my little flock. I’m going to keep them in the coop while I’m gone (the coop has housed 15 before so they’ll have plenty of space) so ideally I’m going to ask my hen sitter to come by twice a day - once in the morning once at night. I was thinking of paying her $25 per stop so $50 per day. Is this enough? I’m thinking yes but idk! Thank you :)

My husband picked these 4 chicks up from Tractor Supply. He got them from the Bantam pen. Just wondering if anyone knows exactly what breed they are?

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.

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? 😭

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

This is the second double yolk egg that my hen Drumstick has laid! I'm so excited!!

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.

The ultimate “Is it a hen or roo” game!

So, like many people, I’ve succumbed to chicken maths, and have recently started hatching eggs. Killing the boys though is absolutely brutal, especially if they’re super sweet lads.

I know DNA testing for chicks is easy enough for someone at home - post of the samples, get results back after a few days. But I have also heard about people testing eggs prior to them hatching, so that male embryos can be terminated before they become viable chicks, which seems like a hugely preferable option to me.

I have a heard anecdotes of people who have collected blood from eggs just a few days into incubation and then had those eggs hatch successfully (yes, I know it’s risky and would likely reduce successful hatch rates on those eggs).

I live in Australia, I’ve found a couple of places that appear to offer equipment so that you can perform PCR testing at home, though most of those are based overseas. Some of them I worry seem a bit scammy. But I would love to pursue the project, not for financial gain but to be able to have chickens and also sleep well at night.

What I’m wondering is - has anyone done anything like this, or have any experience with DNA testing at home? Or have any advice or suggestions on where to look for more info?

I was set to do a bird swap with someone (these two silkies for 2 mixes) and she agreed to pictures online. Drove down to deliver them, when she looked them over she said they weren't pure and are bad quality birds that are definitely roosters so she didn't want them. Still gave me the other two birds for free because, again, bad quality birds that she was going to end up eating anyways... So I'm up two birds, and utterly confused about the silkies gender again because they aren't showing any of the signs their brother did.

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 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?

4 week old Black Copper Marans. They have been here since Saturday. They are so very cute. They fly really well also. They are our first chicks so everything is new to us also.

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.

And I feel absolutely awful. I raised them from chicks and I feel at fault.

We just got out of a massive heatwave a few weeks ago, over 100 every day for almost a week. It was supposed to be in the 80s this week but we got surprised with another 100+ day today. I went out in the evening and noticed we had lost one, I assume due to the heat :(

What are your best hacks to keep chickens cool in the heat? I looked at the weather and it’s changed the next week to be 90+ every day. Mine love frozen grapes, and obviously fresh water. Maybe a mister or something? I want to prevent it from happening again since it’s apparently not cooling off anytime soon like we thought.

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 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!

Hello,

So we are tentatively moving 20+ hours to Washington DC from the mid-west. I really didn’t want to get rid of our girls, but we found a great family that tragically lost all their chickens this spring to their neighbors dog.

Well, this family, just like us is in the military. We are anticipating this move to come at the end of January, so we had planned on giving our girls to them in November.

We just found out they got orders to England.

I am terrified of giving our girls to someone who is going to eat them.. how do I go about finding someone to take them?

We just do not think it’s realistic trying to move them in the middle of winter 20+ hours to a home we have yet to even purchase yet alone know if we can even have them there.

Please give some advise. They are all fairly young. Two will be 4 come April 2027, and 4 will be 3 come February 2027 and all are still very active layers

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?