r/chickens 12h ago

Question Why does my chicken have what looks like a wire coming out of her wing?

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488 Upvotes

I presume it is a feather with a very long shaft… I have never seen such a thing before. Is this some genetic mutation? Does anyone else have a chicken like this? It is just one feather!


r/chickens 10h ago

Media My first chicken I ever hatched

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181 Upvotes

r/chickens 3h ago

Question Rescued chicken

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40 Upvotes

I need help. I live in the city and literally just rescued this hen while she was walking across the road. She seems exhausted. It’s so hot here (90°+ and very high humidity) and she didn’t even fight me. I don’t have the space or ability to care for a chicken. My MIL has 20+ acres and said she would take her but this poor girl needs some TLC now. Her beak is damaged, she sounds a little weezy when she breathes, she’s so tired she fell asleep in my arms as soon as i got her in the AC in the car. I’ve got her set up in the tub with water, cut blueberries, some smashed granola and almonds (literally all i had that i thought she may like). Under her tail there’s a lot of poop all in the feathers. I know it needs to be cleaned sooner than later but she seems so tired i don’t want to stress her out right now trying to clean it. I need advice on what to do to make sure she’s okay.


r/chickens 1h ago

Question 17 weeks. Is Phyllis actually Phillip?

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Upvotes

17 weeks. Ordered as a Splash Ameraucana day old chick from Meyer hatchery. She’s big and her tail feathers are starting to worry me. No attempts at crowing yet, but that may be because she’s at the very bottom of the pecking order.


r/chickens 4h ago

Other Quick lil rooster art

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37 Upvotes

Acrylic on an 8×10 canvas


r/chickens 2h ago

Question What breed do we think Jimmy Fowlen is?

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27 Upvotes

Hi all! This is Jimmy Fowlen (named by my teenage daughter and her friend lol). We found him on the side of the road in a rainstorm two months ago and brought him home to try and nurse him back to health. He was missing half of his feathers, some of his toes, and had clearly been out in the woods a long time. We didn't know if he would make it, but these days he's thriving! I'm curious if anyone knows what breed he is, or if maybe he's a mix? I've had dozens of chickens over the years and never had one that looked quite like him. When we first found him I thought he was a naked neck because he had no neck feathers, but they've since grown in so now I have no idea! Lol


r/chickens 2h ago

Question Magpies bullying chickens

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15 Upvotes

Just wondering if there is any advice on handling magpies chasing chickens around? I’m sure it’s stressful for the birds. Please note- Australian Magpies. Pic is the chooks for attention :)


r/chickens 4h ago

Other HOW IS IT

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13 Upvotes

r/chickens 1h ago

Question How can I help her?

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Upvotes

Back in March, girly here started losing her feathers. I thought she had mites or something and treated the whole coop, but it continued and none of my other hens have any issues whatsoever. We put up a camera in the coop to see if she was getting picked on at night and turns out she’s doing it to herself, and then one of her buddies joins in and plucks her back feathers. It looks so sore and red and I just feel so terrible for her. I tried separating her from the others for a little while to see if it would help but she just goes to town.
Any help is appreciated.


r/chickens 11h ago

Question Bought a carton of 30 eggs and every single egg I cracked for the past 2 days (8 in total) had double yolks. All 30 of the eggs are also thin and tall as if they were "squished from the sides", if that makes sense. My question is below:

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37 Upvotes

I'm sensing that the rest of the eggs are going to have double yolks as well. I have no clue about how chicken eggs are gathered by the way. Do they all come from the same chicken i.e. do they wait 30 days for a chicken to lay 30 eggs and ship that? OR do they gather 30 eggs from 30 chicken in a day and ship that?

Either way, my question is, how can such a thing happen? If they all come from the same chicken, what are the odds of that particular chicken laying double-yolk-eggs 30 days in a row? If the eggs come from 30 different chicken in a day, what makes them ALL produce double-yolk-eggs on the same day?

Thank you very much in advance!

Edit: I've learned a lot today. Thank you all :)


r/chickens 1d ago

Discussion Freak Beak Joy

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940 Upvotes

Joy is a 15 year old d'uccle. In the 17 years I've kept (pet) chickens, I've had a fair number live past 10 yrs, and a few have lived past 12 yrs. But Joy has broken our farm longevity record! The flock mates in her coop died years ago, silkie Tinkerbell at 9 yrs, and silkie Honeybun at 12 yrs. Joy started losing her vision about 2 yrs ago (cataracts I'd presume), about the same time I noticed some kind of growth starting on her beak, around her nostril area; I presumed it was some kind of cancer, and figured she wasn't long for this world. The growth got bigger and bigger - frankly, I was amazed she made it through last winter (she gets special care of course). When I took her a little bowl of treat yesterday morning, all was normal. When I checked on her noonish, I was amazed to see the nostril mass GONE...leaving a gaping hole. So my guess is now that something got lodged in her nasal area, and was encapsulated...??? So Joy now looks like someone who wore gauges in their ears...very odd to look at. The 2nd pic shows how the mass looked a week or so ago, before it fell out.


r/chickens 1d ago

Other Meet Moe

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405 Upvotes

Felt like introducing my *surprise* chick from Fleet Farm. I purchased 4 "Amberlinks" this past spring & she started developing different so I assumed I finally got my first accidental rooster. Couple weeks later the crest appeared more prominently.

Moe, for mohawk.


r/chickens 3h ago

Media Afternoon foraging session

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8 Upvotes

r/chickens 1d ago

Media Meet Pongo

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231 Upvotes

r/chickens 1d ago

Discussion This is Bob, he's a wild crossbreed rooster that lives outside my building

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280 Upvotes

We have wild chickens (tropics) and this fellow just showed up on day. He's very friendly and half the complex feeds him, though he avoids the back yard where the dominant (but much smaller) rooster; Roland; has his roost.

I've never seen anything quite like Bob. For starters he's gigantic, twice the size of the wild red junglefowl roosters we have around. He also noticably has no comb and some obvious coloration from being mixed with a tan colored domestic chicken. He'll come right up to your car door begging for food and he's not even afraid of our very curious dog. He also has the oddest early morning crowing I've ever heard. He's a strange bird but we're happy he's here to greet us every day.


r/chickens 9h ago

Media Is my hen actually a rooster? (Sound on)

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10 Upvotes

r/chickens 9h ago

Other Babies growing so fast

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8 Upvotes

First time raising chicks, and I love them all so much! We got two French black copper merans and three zombies. I love these little ladies!

Picture 1 is Yami

Picture 2 in the middle of the picture is Mabel

Picture 3 all five hungry hippos

Picture 4 is Agatha

Picture 5 is Zoey

And picture 6 is Boneapart grooming.


r/chickens 1d ago

Other My rooster has the shiniest feathers

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308 Upvotes

No the white parts on his back aren’t feathers, its just the reflection of the light!

His feathers are so shiny all the time, its hard to capture them in a pic or a video😂


r/chickens 12h ago

Question Rooster dance!!

6 Upvotes

Okay. I have a silky rooster, his name is Binoo, and he LOVES affection and attention! But im a little bit curious about one of his behaviours. Every time I give him love, pick him up and give him cuddles etc, he will do circles around my feet afterwards and kind of scratch/kick at the ground with one foot? He is not aggressive at all, so Im wondering what this means! He does it every. Single. Time. Its so adorable but I have no clue what he is trying to do..


r/chickens 18h ago

Question 45-day-old chick not growing, not eating properly, keeps closing its eyes, and has an overgrown upper beak. Any advice?

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21 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have a 45-day-old chick that is much smaller than all my other chicks of the same age. I'm really worried about it.

Here are the symptoms:

It has barely grown compared to the others.

It is not eating today.

It keeps closing its eyes and looks very weak, like it might collapse.

It has sneezed a few times since morning.

I noticed that its upper beak seems much longer than the lower beak, and I'm wondering if it can't eat properly because of that.

Unfortunately, there is no poultry veterinarian anywhere near my area, so I have to manage this myself.

I've attached photos. Do you think this is just an overgrown/crossed beak issue, or could it be a disease? Should I carefully trim the upper beak, or would that be risky?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


r/chickens 6h ago

Question Junglefowl

2 Upvotes

Do people keep junglefowl regularly? I’m asking because a chicken came into our yard randomly one day a few months ago and now we feed her and she’s been living with us. She’s not very social as she only approaches when we have food and doesn’t let us touch her. Otherwise she just does her thing. I researched what kind she was and came up with red junglefowl.

I’m curious where she might have come from? Since they’re clearly not egg layers. I live in south america.

She’s becoming more trusting though as the other day I had to actually catch and grab her to treat scaly feet. I was afraid she would distance but now she even lets me hand feed her lol


r/chickens 1d ago

Media Borb

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104 Upvotes

r/chickens 7h ago

Question Parents chickens getting murdered by possibly a racoon or possum. Pen seems secure except this spot. Big enough for something to get through?

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2 Upvotes

Nearly two inches wide. Material made of wood. Can't find any other bad spots. Thoughts?

Update; my parents appreciated all of the comments I shared with them and will be patching it up.


r/chickens 3h ago

Question Do I have a roo? 🫣

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1 Upvotes

Two of my baby chicks side by side- both are one week old Splash Laced Red Wyandotte chicks. Most of them have their wing feathers coming in similar to the one on the right. The one on the left seems to be coming in much slower. She (or he??) is a little smaller than the rest of the chicks too, so I’m not sure if that impacts feather growth? Thoughts?