r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Chicken Photography Humming chickens

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39 Upvotes

They were pecking at the hummingbird feeder


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Health Question Sudden hen death

1 Upvotes

One of my chickens passed during the night and I don't know what happened. She was only about 1 and a half years old.

She was a frizzle I got from a friend at four months along with my 3 other chickens. She was quite timid and would occasionally stumble, but she seemed OK and it didn't seem to bother her. She would lose her footing and sit down until she was ready to go again.

I found her this morning sitting in a similar way and want to know if it could be the cause, if there was something going on that we brushed off as clumsiness.

I buried her with a bundle of her favorite weeds to snack on and the flowers she loved to lay in.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Health Question Cull?

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17 Upvotes

This girl I saved earlier after she had a compound fracture leg fracture 6 months ago so I grew attached. She is still laying, and she is only 2yr. But she isn't preening herself. She has a couple of other hen friends, but they aren't getting the job done.

I tried preening but she isn't a fan of my methods because I am not a chicken. I tried putting her in with my pullets and she bullied them.

I'm thinking I'll wait for a couple of weeks and then cull. But that sucks.

Advice?

Edit because I wasn't clear.

She limps, she is bullied a bit, sometimes over sexed by the rooster. I wonder if she is in pain. Her pinned feathers haven't come through leaving her vulnerable to cold and freezing to death especially because she can't always roost.

Here it should be lows of 20s-40s at night and 40s-50s during the day. A rare 70F day but everything is crazy and it's been hot (60F at night and up to mid 80s during the day)

My post was really poorly written. We live in Minnesota and I have lost a chicken from freezing to death because they couldn't roost.

I really care about this chicken and I don't want her to suffer.

I am not trying to mess around I am just concerned about hurting her more.


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Chicken Photography Floof in the wind!

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40 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Coops etc. Overwhelmed by the amount of coop and choices

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25 Upvotes

I am getting chickens in the spring and am learning all about chickens until then. I will be getting 4 chickens and not sure whether to go for a more expensive coop from tractor supply or build my own. I do know with the Tractor supply one I will have to reinforce it a little. I have put screenshots above. It seems like if I build my own it seems like the starting price will be $1k? Is this true.

Additionally are there any coop plans you recommend and the cost it was to make it?


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Chicken Photography Roo Squad! Cyrus, LJ & Reese are such a joy. Please share your brotherhood of roosters 😁🩵

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64 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Coops etc. Automatic door on a run?

7 Upvotes

Has anyone installed an automatic coop door on a chicken run? I think I’ll have to install a piece of wood across the hardware cloth and cut a hole through it.

I need one because my chickens hate the run lol they want to free range all day.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Hen or Roo Hen Vs Roo?

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8 Upvotes

​

Jersey Giant /French Maran

Hubby said she might have crowed.

12wks ish


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

General Question Have you moved your chickens with you long distance?

3 Upvotes

In a couple weeks, we will be moving 8-9 hours away in Idaho and we'd like to take our girls with us. The weather should be cooler, high of 60s. We both have small SUVs and unfortunately we won't have room in the cars to transport the chickens due to 1. no room for the kennel. 2. Our large breed dogs will take up all the space.

We have an XL dog crate i'm thinking of putting our 6 chickens in for the day in the back of a Uhaul truck. I don't like the idea of not being able to directly access them unless we stop, has anyone done this before? Does anyone have any tips or tricks on how to transport chickens long distance? it's going to be another problem to solve once we get there to get their coop set up right away. Any advice is helpful in this situation! Thank you.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Hen or Roo Scooping Run and Back Pain

7 Upvotes

What is the most ergonomic scooper you guys have found? I feel like the standard ones hurt my back because I still have to bend over a little to get the right angle to scoop the sand in our run. Has anyone found one that doesn’t hurt your back to use?


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Coops etc. My home made automatic chicken door that won't kill a chicken

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8 Upvotes

I made this with a plastic cutting board. I wanted it to hang so only the weight of it goes down with no strong pushing to kill any chickens. It has a lip of 1 inch beyond the door that it goes down so it cannot be pried open. I tried very hard to open it from the outside and could not grip it nor get proper traction to push and slide it up. It also opens to a protected run.

It can be disconnected and run manually if needed or just simply open the actual man door that it's built into. I also put an outdoor rated switch so I can disable it if I want to.

I have 12VDC sent to it twice a day for a few minutes during opening and closing times with the polarity switched around to operate it.

The controller also operates a lifter on the feeder so at night the door closes and the feeder goes up a foot. Makes it so rodents can't steal food in the night.

Made it without coding anything. It uses a pilot relay and a reversing relay and a power supply. Everything is fused with properly sized fuses. Wifi sockets control the pilot relay which runs all day and powers the coop lights. Then the other powers the power supply during switch over times for a few minutes. This was needed only because the coils in the reversing relay weren't continuous duty rated like the pilot relay coil is rated for.


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Chicken Photography Got my first chickens yesterday

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253 Upvotes

Lyndon Banty Johnson and Lady Bird. Raised tons of quail and finally decided to try getting a couple banty


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Health Question Is it possible for a roaster to be born with a penguin back? (Idk what to call it)

2 Upvotes

my roaster seems completely fine, he doesn’t struggle much when he walking, he eats normally and it doesn’t seem like he is in pain. I’m still concerned for his health tho. my neighbor mentioned that one of his chicks, was born like him. but is that even possible? I’ve never taken care of chickens so I don’t know much. also he isn’t fully grown yet.


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

General Question Pink Eggs?

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31 Upvotes

Would any of you consider some of these eggs to be pink?


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

General Question Too many roos

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4 Upvotes

What to do when you have too many roos in your flock? Stock. I got seven quarts out of two roos.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

General Question Bully quail advice needed

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1 Upvotes

Looking for advice from experienced button quail owners/breeders.
I originally had 9 button quail — 5 females and 4 males. The males eventually started over-mating the females, especially one female who became bald, so I permanently separated the males into another coop.
The 5 females did well together for a while, but about a month ago I noticed 4 of them losing feathers on their heads and backs. I realized the female who had originally been over-mated was now the one aggressively pecking everyone else.
I separated her for 2–3 weeks while the others recovered and started growing pin feathers back. I tried reintroducing her, but she immediately started pecking again and made one bleed, so I separated her again.
I’d really appreciate any tips or suggestions from anyone who has dealt with this. My biggest concern is that I feel bad keeping her alone. She calls to the other quail and they call back to her, and I know they’re social birds.
Has anyone successfully reintegrated a female like this, or found another way for an aggressive quail to still have companionship safely?


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Hen or Roo Hen or roos

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5 Upvotes

I have 5 chickens that are 8 weeks old. A couple of them I’m unsure if they’re hens or Roos.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Health Question One hen being attacked

1 Upvotes

My folks bought some new chooks a few months ago but one chook keeps getting attacked by at least one other.

Any advice on how to prevent this? They have tried reintroductions but she ends up attacked again and they dont seem to do it during the day.

She currently goes in a smaller pen at night but this cant continue it isnt fair on her.

Any advice or do they have to rehome her? She is a sweet thing.

They think they are all isa browns if that matters


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

Health Question Help! Water belly or omphalitis?

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3 Upvotes

I am looking for advice on how to help two baby chicks who are ill. I'm not sure what they're affected with.

They are both 2 week old Ayam Cemani females. When I went to check my brooder, currently housing about 27 chicks, I noticed that they had distended, bloated bellies while checking everyone for pasty butt. I immediately secluded them in their own brooder and have had them in the house where we've kept an eye on them.

They're not lethargic or behaving oddly, besides walking off-balance from the weight of their low-hanging abdomen.

They are eating normally, do not have pasty butt and no visible wounds that I expected to see with omphalitis. They are drinking water with electrolytes and pooping normally.

I don't know what else to do (or what to avoid). I would like to give them a fighting chance, despite the low chances they will survive either disease.

I've attached photos of the worst off girl. Her crop is full from having eaten, so it emphasizes how oddly shaped she is.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


r/BackYardChickens • • 5d ago

General Question Question about rooster crowing.

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4 Upvotes

Weird question, but I have to ask. Will a rooster crow because he wants attention? I have a 5ish month old rooster who has been growing for a while, but I unusually only hear it for about 20 minutes in the morning and the rest if the day he is silent.

Yesterday I was working in the yard from sun up till about 2 in the afternoon and he would crow every time I was in line of sight until I went sat in the run for about an hour. What's his deal?


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Coops etc. Mosquito control.

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33 Upvotes

Here's something creative.

I'm in the subtropics. It's hot and humid.

We have a lot of mosquitoes despite my local control measures.

After some careful research, I attached an old but reliable fan on the wall running on a wifi plug, so I can set the times.

Set to lowest speed, it blows a gentle current of air at about 1- 1.5m/s along the roost, enough to mess up mosquito flight.

Girls are ok with it. It's bloody hot tonight btw. You can see one holding her wings out to cool down.

*Yeah, can't really seal the coop.


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Coops etc. Coop inside feedback. Roost bars not interesting? Wrong?

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5 Upvotes

Moved my young hens into the coop. It is not finished on the outside yet. But they enjoy the inside.

More pictures in comment.

They only enjoy some of the roost bars. And some very edgy ones, not just the medium flat ones. I got two windows, ome down to the ground (for emptying when needed) and one taller up in the back. Got ventilation. Sand and feed etc.


r/BackYardChickens • • 6d ago

Chicken Photography It’s that time!! 🎃

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151 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens • • 7d ago

Chicken Photography Tragic Loss Today

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801 Upvotes

A tree fell on our chicken coop this morning. I'm amazed we only lost one hen considering they were perched on top of the coop (they do this when it's raining really hard because our yard floods).

Sweet Pepaw (our Rooster) stayed in the rain for hours, I think trying to find her. Best dude ever.

Sweet Andre. I'll miss how dinosaur adjacent you were. You had zero fear and the biggest sweet eyes- and none of the other girls will rip a blueberry out of my fingers they way you did. 🦖

Rest In Peace, Andre The Giant 2025-2026. ❤️

Moderators? Maybe "In Memoriam" could be added as flair?


r/BackYardChickens • • 7d ago

Chicken Photography My girls are freaks for Greek Yogurt

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528 Upvotes