So here's what we're asking, "What would you do ..." if you were in some of the following situations? What would you tell our readers? What is your best advice?
YOU might be the best person in the world to answer someone's question ... and we want to provide you with that ability. So, go for it!
If you'd like to respond to a question, leave a comment, and be sure to indicate to which question you're responding: (e.g., Q1: This is what you should do ...)
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Q1: Harvey writes: My chickens stop laying eggs in the winter. I heard that it is because of the shortened daylight hours. Will they continue to lay eggs in the winter if I kept a light on in the coop throughout the night?
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Q2: Darlene writes: I have a hen that is brooding again, after 2 months, is
there anything I can do to stop her from this behavior? I don't
want anymore chicks at this point; she just loves to just sit on that
nest. What can I do with her?
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Q3: Jodie Westwood writes: Our chicken house has an indoor/outdoor playground. With so much rain, the outdoor part is beginning to stink. I put down fresh straw
and hay, which the chickens love. I was told to sprinkle some lime
powder on the ground. Will this hurt the chickens? Does that work to
help with the odor?
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Q4: Susan Smith writes: I have been given a blackish/green--rooster? with a white dredlock looking mop on top. he loves me , he sort of coos and crows like a
rooster sometimes. It kicks and struts around and seems very
curious. It lets me pet it. What is it, a male or female? And how on
earth do I take care of it. I went to the feed store and was told to
buy some chopped rough corn, will it need grit like other birds? Can
I feed it scraps of fruits and vegs, like I feed my cockatiels?
HELP!!!!! Thank you; a new fowl mom.
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Q5: Joyce Poelsma writes: I have three hens, approximately nine months, and a rooster of an unknown age. My coop is 3' x 4' x 8' surrounded by a 20' circle fence. I let them out on the acreage every day. I am getting a new hen, approximately 10 months old. What is the best way to introduce her?
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Q6: Sally Thie writes: I am about to inherit 4 lay hens. I have never had
chickens before and I'm told that one of the hens picks the feathers
off the other three's hineys. What if anything can I do to get her to
leave the other three alone???
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Q7: Judy B. Jacobs writes: How do I prevent new chicks from eating layer ration (offered
free-choice to the flock) and adults from getting into the
starter/grower high protein feed that's for the chicks? Chicks in
brooders do not have this issue, obviously, but I have broody hens that
are being permitted to set clutches for the first time.
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Q8: Michael Stephens writes: Will Rhode Island Reds get along with a sex link in a chicken tractor?
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Q9: Jennifer A. Shepherd writes: I would love to hear suggestions on how to deal with free-range chickens and perennial beds. I have most of my beds fenced off from
the girls, however I don’t like the look of it. Does anyone have tips
on how to make the plants seem less appealing? Maybe powdered garlic?
Some kind of organic method?
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Q10: Cindy Robinson writes: I have a chicken that has a large growth on the front of
her. It is very moveable, and it has a spot that is pink where it looks
like she has rubbed it raw. I was told it could be a spider bite and to
try to drain the fluid off. Has anyone else ever experienced this
problem before?
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Q11: Pacia A. writes: My friends dog killed 27 of his chickens the other day. It was
horrible. It was also the first time he has done such a thing. Any
suggestions on how to break a dog of chicken killing would be
appreciated. I don't believe he wants to close-in the birds. It needs
to be a dog-based remedy. To my knowledge the choices are: 1. close in
the chickens, 2. tie up the dog (this is a farm dog), 3. get rid of
the dog. Any insights?
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Q12: Judith writes: I have a leg horn with a blocked egg duct. She poops, but no eggs. Any thing I can do to free her up? Thank you.
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Q13: Spence Ralston writes: 1. I have 6 hens and a rooster and have food and water both in the coop and outside in the run. Is it best to only have food and water outside? Is there a difference in the winter?
2. At least some of my hens poop in the nesting boxes. Is there any way to discourage that?
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Q14: Kristin writes: How should I build a chicken coop for Minnesota Winters? I don't like the idea of using a heat lamp 24/7 because that sounds like an expensive electric bill to me! We're talking about insulating the walls. What else?
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Q15: Colleen writes: I have a chicken whose eyes have gone slightly milky/cloudy and she seems to not see the best. The other chickens were picking on her and made her bleed quite a bit and kept her from the food and water. She would try to run away from the other chickens and would run into the walls and feeder and waterer. I seperated her from the rest of the flock treated her wounds and gave her access to her own food and water. Her wounds have healed, she put on weight and lays an egg a day. She was hatched in March of this year and at this point seems to be quite healthy except for the fact that her eyes are a little cloudy. I can tell that she is lonely in the pen by herself and seems to cry for the other chickens. I'm unsure if I should try to re-introduce her to the flock though as I think that the other chickens will just attack her again. Is there is anything that can be done about her eyes? Any advice for what to do with my "visually impaired" chicken?
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Have a question of your own?
Post it in our forum - or shoot it over to editor@communitychickens.com
19 Comments:
Q1: I think it is hilarious when I hear these talk show hosts and home farm experts (ie: Martha Stewart) tell people to put chickens free range in the garden. BAD MOVE! They will tear up your garden and flower beds and eat your crops. The best remedy for natural garden pest control is DUCKS (not geese), especially the little call ducks. I've been raising poultry for 40+ years and ducks rarely eat any of your vegetables or fruit and they do not scratch up the ground, but will hunt down insects, worms and slugs. Plus they produce eggs. If you must free range your chickens then fence the garden!
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:05 AM
Q3: Using lime is the lazy solution and doesn't solve the problem for long. When manure, straw, and dirt are mixed it makes a layer that prevents the water from being absorbed quickly into the soil (In Africa they make their huts with it). If you are using straw, hay, or chips it needs to be raked up and removed, frequently based on how quickly it accumulates. This material can then be added directly to the garden or compost - don't waste it.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:12 AM
Q5: When introducing a new hen, put her in a separate cage and into the pen where the others are. For a few days so they get used to each other and can start to establish a peck order. Introduce one of your hens to her cage each day and let them get used to each other. After a few days release hen and they should get along fine, but will still establish the peck order.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:19 AM
Q15: Keep her separate. Chickens establish a peck order and any that are unable to defend themselves will eventually be picked and killed. Get a couple of chicks to raise with her and when they are grown they will be OK with her. For now just keep her in a separate cage next to or in with the others so she can be with them but protected.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:23 AM
Q7: You can't prevent it. Hens will eat what's available, especially the higher protein and the chicks will eat what the hens show them to eat. You can partly prevent the chicks from eating hen ration if you buy the pellets because it's too big for the chicks to eat. When I have a hen that hatches a clutch, I take the chicks away after a day or so (let mom get them eating good), and raise them separately. Then mom can resume laying eggs sooner.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:30 AM
Q13: No! Some will poop in their nests, just man-up and clean it out (put it in the garden). As far as feed and water - Only put food and water outside, unless they have to be "cooped up" like sometimes in the winter. Chickens will spend most of their time outside and come in only to lay, get out of the weather, and to roost. Besides, food in the hen house attracts mice and insects.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:37 AM
Q14. We have very cold winters here in central, northern NY, that are close to what you have in Minnesota. Right now, my eight chickens are wintered in an insulated coop in a large outbuilding, however, I have to leave the window open all winter long as it gets too warm and humid in there! They don't seem to mind the cold. I bring them fresh water in a hanging bucket twice a day in the winter, while in the summer I use a waterer that has a nipple (this freezes in the winter). I do use the deep bed method of litter (straw that I add to occasionally, when it seems damp or smelly, and I have never had any health problems with my hens. I clean it out in the spring, and start again - they are outside most of the summer, so not much is accumulated until later in the fall/early winter. At our old house, our chickens were in an old, leaky shed. I covered the screen window with plastic for the winter to reduce the drafts and they were very happy, no frostbite. I do use a low level light on a timer to help keep egg production up and make sure that they have plenty of feed and calcium, as well as food scraps in the winter, which they devour.
By
elemiller, At
September 20, 2011 9:39 AM
Q11: Unfortunately, my experience with dogs is that once a dog kills one chicken, you can never trust it, let alone 27! I have tried many different methods you can read about, such as tying the dead chicken to the dog's neck, but nothing worked besides keeping the dog tied or the chickens fenced. It is a dog's nature to hunt, and once they do it, it is very difficult to break them of it. Sometimes, if you catch a dog when it is first showing the wrong kind of interest in poultry, you can redirect and correct it, but I don't know of anyone who has successfully taught a dog not to do it, once it already had. Good luck with this problem.
By
elemiller, At
September 20, 2011 9:44 AM
Q14: Chickens are able to tolerate cold fairly well as long as there are no DRAFTS. Insulating the coop will help a lot and you can use regular bulbs, they do not need to be kept hot, their feathers insulate them very well. You can make a self heating chicken house by building the cicken house a foot or two off the ground and pile horse manure under it. You must keep the manure moist so that it decomposes and produces heat. Add manure as needed. I even do this in my greenhouse.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:44 AM
Q8: All chickens can get along, but some have different dispositions and may be more aggressive. A sex link is nothing more than a RIR and white rock cross. Slowly introduce her to the flock, don't just throw her in. Put her in a separate cage beside or in the tractor for a couple of days so they can get used to her, then put her in. They will "attack" her to begin establishing the peck order.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 9:49 AM
Q11: This may sound harsh to some readers and may not work on every dog, but it worked on two dogs (a three year old weimaraner and a 2 y/o mut) that I introduced to my property. An old farmer told me to tie one of the dead chickens around the dog's neck so he can't get to it and leave it there for several days (let it rot and fall apart). Of course the dog must stay out side. Then remove it and clean him up. They will not have anything to do with birds again. My weimaraner follows me into every cage and pen now and wanders the property freely and ignores the birds (but still hunts the mice). Now his game is harassing the goats.
By
Rattlerjake, At
September 20, 2011 10:10 AM
Q1: You only have to leave the light on for your hens for 14 hours a day, to keep them laying all winter. A $5-$10 timer from home depot will allow you to do this easily, without having to make sure to be in and out of your coop at certain times to turn on and off the light. Leaving the lights on 24/7 will stress your hens terribly (this is the practice used in large-scale egg farms, and it is very bad for the health of the hens - but they don't care). 12 - 14 hours of light a day of bright full-spectrum light is what a hen needs to tell her system to continue making eggs.
By
Kestryl, At
September 20, 2011 10:40 AM
Q1-Harvey-We added a light to our coop using a CFL bulb mounted at the ceiling where the chickens cannot reach it. With the aid of an inexpensive 120V timer, we provide "light" 12 hours a day with the combination of daylight and the bulb. Our chickens provide eggs all winter. Cost to to operate is pennies.
By
PeteA., At
September 20, 2011 10:45 AM
Q8:Will Rhode Island Reds get along with a sex link in a chicken tractor?
A- I have a small flock of 4 chickens- 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Black Sex Link, and 1 Silver Laced Wyndotte. They are all around the same age, only a few weeks apart at most and are now about 1-1/2 years old and about to go into their 2nd fall/winter. As Rattlerjake wrote above "All chickens can get along, but some have different dispositions and may be more aggressive. A sex link is nothing more than a RIR and white rock cross." This is very much true and what I have seen as well. I would take all her/his suggestions and slowly introduce her to the flock.
As far as my girls go, it took a while for them to establish their pecking order, or truly, it was more me understanding their pecking order they figured out. To my surprise, my Silver Laced Wyndotte is the head of my flock, but she is also my most standoffish hen, my Black Sex Link is next in line and my favorite chicken as she covets my attention as she loves to push around and keep my RIR's in line whom are both at the bottom of my flock. But my RIR whom is at the bottom of my flock is also my most aggressive chicken when it comes to food and people, but she is always getting pecked back into line by the other 3, especially when it comes to my attention.
But the most important fact is again what Rattlerjake wrote about all chickens having different dispositions,some being more aggressive than others and the slow introduction of any type of new chicken to your flock.
By
Gracie, At
September 21, 2011 11:49 AM
Q1:If you would like better production from your flock you should get a timer for your CFL (costs a lot less to run) light. I prefer a digital timer rather than a "pin" timer. The poultry dust in the coop will cause the pin timer to malfunction.
I found out the hard way that leaving a light on 24/7 is not good. My flock started having aggression issues. This first started with missing feathers then it progressed to large bleeding wounds.
For my flock I program my light to come on at 4:00am and turn off at 8:00am. This allows the hens 12 hours of "day light". Then the hens roost when the sun sets.
I start using a light AFTER they complete their molt. I continue to use the light on the schedule described above until the middle of June. At that point I discontinue the light to allow them to molt naturally during the fall.
This has worked well for my flock. Give it a try and you can expect the highest productivity without causing unnecessary physical or emotional stress to your flock.
By
JS, At
September 21, 2011 4:56 PM
Q6: Blood-feather plucking is a sign of a protein deficiency. The birds need more protein. Here are some ways to increase their protein: feed a bit of game bird feed daily; treat them with kitten food (approx. 44% protein); supplement their feed with yogurt, milk or cottage cheese; give them scrambled eggs; all of these are perfectly acceptable ways to increase your birds' protein intake. I noticed once I switched from a generic 16% feed store layer feed to a 20% feed that the feather plucking stopped almost immediately.
Q2: Some hens just like to go broody. There are many suggestions for shortening the broody period like hanging a cage and putting the hen in it, dunking her in cold water, putting her in an area where she has no nesting materials....they go on and on. Basically, unless it's causing harm (if she's losing weight from not eating), it doesn't really hurt her to sit. Pick her up and put her on the floor a couple times a day so she can eat and move around....other than that, she's just going to be who she is. Think of her as a woman who wants a big family. (grin)
Q7: It won't hurt mama hens who've set on eggs to eat starter food. In fact, they can use the extra protein. I've always allowed my setting hens to eat the starter feed. If you want to keep the babes out of layer feed or maintenance feed, simply hang it or sit it high enough that the chicks can't get to it. If there's a concern about other hens or adult birds getting to the starter feed, put it behind a piece of chicken wire small enough the big birds can't get through but big enough for the chicks to get on the other side of - or put it in an area blocked in some way where the big birds can't access it but the small ones can. Our coop was divided by a piece of plywood that fit between guides my hubby had fastened to the wall where the cubby in the back of the coop was....I raised that piece of plywood on a brick so the babies could get through but the ladies couldn't, and put the starter food on the other side. Our big birds' feeders hang from chains, so I made sure the layer feed was hung high enough that the chicks couldn't reach it.
Q9: The only way to keep the girls away from what they like to eat is to make it inaccessible. Fencing, netting, rock walls....if they can reach it, they will eat it. They may start by looking for bugs, but if they find a leaf or fruit they like, they're going to eat it. They scavenge in the wild so it's just part of their nature. Oh and about the garlic....they'll eat that, and then you'll taste it in your eggs. Ewwww.
Q14: We live in Missouri so it's nowhere near as cold as Minnesota, but it's nasty windy. I have our heat lamp plugged into a Thermo-cube (http://www.thermocube.com/) -- it turns the power on to the items plugged into it when the temperature drops below 35, and then turns it off when the temp rises past 40. It really doesn't add much to our electric bill. We also use a heated base for the waterer (they carry them at Tractor Supply and most local farm stores) - this keeps the water from freezing. I'm disabled and can't get out several times a day to freshen the water so with this item I can put out fresh water twice a day and we're set.
Stack bales of hay around the outside or inside of the coop. It's tremendously insulating and doesn't draw parasites or bugs like straw does.
Okay I'm done....I probably said too much. Sorry.
By
Trisha, At
September 29, 2011 2:08 AM
Q1 --you need to have 12 hours of light on your chickens in order for them to keep laying eggs. I have heard all kinds of silly things lately--some from the local extension agent--feed them cat food, put vinegar in their water--please don't--none of it works. They are light dependent--if you do give them 12 hours of light to insure they keep laying please make sure you check their feed so that they have a complete layer pellet or crumble that is high in Ca otherwise the constant laying will deplete their Ca and you will wind up with soft shelled eggs--not always but since they are designed to lay based on number of hours of light per day it would stand that the winter would be their rest time to recover lost nutrition. We as humans have altered that so we need to support them nutritionally and no, basic corn or scratch is not enough.
By
Cherie, At
October 9, 2011 11:48 PM
Q12-First what makes you think that your hen has a blocked egg duct? Hens lay an egg a day for about 12-14 days then they take a few days off and start again--unless they are setting on eggs in which case they won't start again until their chicks are on their own. Please don't put oil down the chickens throat to "lubricate"--the food tract in a chicken is in no way shape or form connected to their reproductive tract. This will only serve to irritate your poor hen. Hens generally are "Ronco machines" when it comes to egg production. Feed them well, make sure they have fresh clean water and they will lay eggs until their hours of light per day drops consistently below 12 hours--then they will stop, molt (is she looking a bit scruffy lately?) and then restart again. It takes 24 hours for an egg to go from ovulation to the hen box. To be honest, after years of working at the university I have never seen a chicken with an "egg blockage"--only those that take a few days off or who molt/ stop for the winter. If a chicken gets sick then they will stop laying but you will have many other signs and fortunately with home flocks they are generally very healthy much more so than commercial flocks.
By
Cherie, At
October 10, 2011 12:01 AM
Q1 - OK so everyone is giving you advise on how to get your chickens to lay during the winter with shorter hours...no one has answered your question as to why they stopped. Hens have to rest, this normally occurs during their fall molt. As much as we like our eggs...the gals have to rest. Happy eggs days!
By
Chickmom, At
February 7, 2012 2:09 PM
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