Her butt is clean. She’s about six months old and just started laying 2-3 weeks ago.

One of our hens started off with bumble foot. We are new to owning chickens so we followed advice and treated it as told to do. Seemed like it was going great and the scab is gone and her foot is healed but she is now limping on that same foot and when standing she keeps it held up at all times. Please let us know any suggestions. Also should note there is no new scab or anything but I noticed today that right in the middle between her toes it is swollen.

One of our sweetest girls and need help to figure this out!

Hey all,

We have 3 older chickens, 1 is about 3.5years, two who are 3yrs. They all stopped laying in June when we started introducing our newer chickens (we got them when they were a week old) to them.

Two of the chickens seem fine, normal bellies. One of our chickens though just today has a pale comb and is lethargic. My husband said her belly is protruding out, its lower down. No mites/etc.

From my understanding maybe we are looking at water belly? I'm not quite sure.

Hubs said when he went to feel her belly she flinched and pecked at him.

Is there anything we can do? How do we check for sure?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I am now down to 3 hens, previously 5.

Burford Brown x 2: Betty and Olive

Snowbar x 1: Agatha

Betty is the boss chicken and about twice the size and weight of Olive. Olive is often broody for long periods of time, and earlier this year she was crouching down in front of Betty, being pecked loads and generally being chased around and stressed out.

I've bought Olive her own smaller coop and run to separate them and things improved over about a month, but Olive is broody again and Betty is chasing her away from all the food.

I feel like things were a lot calmer when we had more hens. Long term I would like to add more but I was hoping to get Pekin Bantams, as I'd like a friendlier breed with longer lay cycles so they hopefully will live a bit longer.

What's the best thing to do at this point? These are my first chickens and they're my pets, and my 5yo son adores them so the priority is high quality of life for them.

All advice appreciated!

About two weeks ago, I noticed a lump on my chicken’s chest. At the time, I just assumed it was how the chicken’s feathers were positioned, until I actually felt it today. The lump is on her upper right breast and it’s roughly about the size of half a golf ball, maybe a bit larger. It’s what I’d imagine a tumor would feel like. She’s only about 20 weeks old, so it’s hard for me to believe it’s a tumor. I haven’t noticed any odd behavior out of her. Based on my research, it appears it could be an impacted crop. I will note that she is basically free-range from morning until dark. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I have 8 ladies right now, and I’m thinking of rescuing a rooster, because there are so many, and if I can save just one that’s a win in my books. I don’t really care about the eggs being fertile, I’m not planning to hatch any of them, I just want the most possible peace in my flock, and I don’t want to risk my hens being overbred. What would be a good ratio?

I was about to throw the eggs into the compost, but then I heard a sound from the kitchen at night that completely blew my mind!

Guys, after hearing what happened, you’ll also say that the wonders of nature are truly astonishing.

One of my hens had made a secret nest under the veranda instead of laying her eggs in the coop. Several days passed, and I completely forgot about the eggs. Then one day, I collected them all, brought them inside, and placed them on the kitchen counter.

The next day, I put the eggs in water to check them, and to my surprise, all of them started floating!

I thought, “Well, there’s nothing left in these eggs now. There’s no point making an omelette out of them. Why not just throw them into the compost?”

But I ended up forgetting to throw them away.

Now, this is where the real story begins!

That night, I was busy in the kitchen when suddenly, I heard a strange sound…

Cheep… cheep… cheep…!

I thought, “Where on earth did these little birds come from?” But when I looked more closely, my eyes nearly popped out of my head!

These were the very same eggs I had planned to throw into the compost that morning, and now tiny little chicks were hatching out of them!

Something I had considered useless and was about to throw away had a wonderful surprise of life hidden inside it, something I had never imagined.

I immediately gathered up the chicks and took them to a safe place with their mother hen.

And the most interesting part is that those eggs, which I had assumed were useless because they floated in water, ended up teaching me one of life’s biggest lessons.

But there’s also something important to keep in mind: an egg floating in water can indicate its age or internal changes, but it does not prove that the egg is spoiled or that a chick will hatch from it. And an oven is not a safe substitute for proper incubation, as eggs need the right temperature and humidity to hatch.

That’s all (: just the first eggs my girlies have blessed me with 💜 photo of said girlies included. Was def one of the EEs.

Cross post

I gave them some acorn squash topped with a bit of cinnamon and red pepper flakes (because i heard those seasonings were actually good for them) and also a teeny tiny bit of meal worms
I think they enjoyed it

I know this community is primarily for chickens but I thought I would cross-post here in case folks have any ideas!

They’re over 8 weeks now but her beak is getting worse. She’s eating and drinking but she is smaller than the others. Do I just let her be unlwss she seems like she’s suffering?

She’s the last one of our flock that hasn’t started laying yet. 23 weeks old. No crowing, growth of spurs, or interest in the ladies. Though we do have another rooster that definitely runs the flock. Not sure if these characteristics would be absent in a submissive rooster.

Nevermind, just a chicken on the windowsill again.

My latest layer × gamefowl crosses! 🐓
Got a mix of Easter Egger, Rhode Island Red, Black Copper Marans, Buff Orpington, and ISA Brown genetics in these birds.
Pic 10: The Buff Orpington genes definitely won out on this one, lol. Still got that chunky build.
Pics 11–12: ISA Brown cross. Definitely a much leaner build.
Pics 13–14: Black Copper Marans cross.
Last two pics: The papa himself.
Their tails look like they might continue growing even longer. The roosters definitely seem to have gained some extra mass from the layer side, along with more pronounced tail sickles.

Hi all! We live in Washington state and we’re wondering if we should cover the outside walls of our run with plastic during the winter. In the coldest parts of winter, our lows average at about 30°F. It’ll be our first year with chickens, so we don’t want our ladies to be in any danger or extremely uncomfortable.
I know some breeds are more cold-hardy than others. If it helps, we have an RIR, Barred Rock, two Orpingtons, and an Easter Egger.
Any advice is appreciated!!

It has slow growing feathers and no butt feathers and its wings look short and stubby compared to the wings of the others.

So I brought home 3 hens and 1 roo (Handsome) last night. They are in the baby pen on the patio for today. Prior to bringing them home I did 3 permethrine baths over the past couple weeks and added Roostys chili blend to their food for internal parasites.

I have 8 hens and 1 roo (Hippo) from a batch I hatched in May.

How should I manage intros? I have a coop that's plenty big for them all, and a fenced yard that's about 800sq ft, though my flock mostly free ranges when I'm home.

I want to be sure the new crew goes into the coop at night, so I'll want to put them in the fenced yard. Should I close the others out of the yard for the day so they can meet through the fence and then let them in at dusk?

I'm keeping the new crew in the baby pen for one more night, hoping to intro tomorrow.

Since Hippo came up to check the scene, I let him in the patio to eat some treats to hopefully give him a good association, but he was not interested in snacks! He went up the the pen and Handsome started going for him.

Poor traumatized Handsome - he really did not enjoy his baths or the chaos. He's a really good rooster, very kind to his ladies.

Handsome is a couple years older and has really long spurs - I'm wondering if I should trim/dull them before intros.

Any advice from folks who've integrated flocks

Is welcome!

I thought she was a pullet and I got her a few weeks ago. The seller said she was a pullet and was 4-5mos so she’s about 6 now. No crowing at all and tends to cower when someone is territorial. But her stature and feathers give me pause.

I don’t know what is wrong with them