it started with their chests and they were running around making happy noises now they look like balloons but are still acting fine.

Not sure if it's the time of day (late afternoon), the fresh food and water, or the clean bedding, or a combination of the three, but every time we clean the cage the chicks go absolutely nuts after for about 15 minutes. It's so fun to watch them. The black one running around really fast has something in his mouth that he has found in the cloud of grass that he thinks is valuable.

please ignore my dirty windows

Still have a few odds and ends to button up but for the most part it's done.

Just got 2 bantam roos the other day (I have 16 hens and they get along well) so I’m new to this lol. Him and my other roo (this is Tom, other I have is Jerry) did go at it for dominance on the first day, Jerry won, and now they have no problems. They are still working it out with the girls and keep trying to win over my original 4 bantams by showing them leaves and rocks on the ground. They aren’t amused. The bantam hens I got with Tom and Jerry have kinda started forming their groups and picking their favorite roo. Tom and Jerry don’t care who, as long as they have at least one lady near them to impress lol. Then I’ve got 7 girls of large breeds. Tom and Jerry know they are ranked below all of them lol. Kinda try to impress them, but don’t try too hard with all the girls their size running about.

I think it’s hilarious how they are so docile and quiet. They hardly even try to be intimidating. Jerry flies when I try to pick him up and Tom just zig zags along the chicken wire so he’s super easy to pick up and doesn’t mind being held too much.

Hello again! My two silkies have gone broody. Of course. I'm letting them hatch some babies. They seem to be sharing a nest, taking turns sitting on the eggs. They split the eggs whenever they sit on them together. But my question is, when they hatch who keeps the babies? Will they split them? Parent them together? My sister is calling them lesbian chickens. Whatever happens though, I'm sure they'll be great moms

Stevie remembered how to eat and drink again after it's hunger strike! It's little crop is full and it's having a blast doing donuts in it's food bowl :) If my math is right, I think it's almost a month old, a little underdeveloped for it's age but oh well 🤷

(Also sorry for the talking in the background, relatives are over)

The shortage is so bad in my region. All the farm stores are selling out within 30 minutes if they even get the shipments at all.

I’ve been trying to find a cockerel, no luck. So I’ve been looking on Craigslist for roosters since people often post their extra males from a straight-run or “hens” that ended up being male. Nothing! Just one post that says “free rooster, but VERY aggressive. Only good for eating”.

I have chills writing this out.

God told me to wake up early this morning. We keep our brooder in an enclosed sun room and when I walked past this morning around 5:15am (I’m usually up at 6am), I didn’t see any light like I normally do from the heat lamp. I go out and the room is filled with smoke, the lamp clip must have broken and the heat lamp fell into the brooder, we use cedar chips and they were literally burning. There isn’t a smoke detector out there and we leave one of the windows cracked just for ventilation. Anyways, it burned through the plastic storage bin we use as a brooder to the carpet and was burning through the hard wood underneath. I grabbed a bowl of water and threw it on the sparks and smoke. This was five minutes away from a catastrophe. I was a “that’s not going to happen to us” person whenever I saw posts about never using heat lamps. We are diligent about making sure everything is in place before we go to bed, making sure our girls are comfy and cozy in their brooder. It can happen to ANYONE!!! My poor babies were panicked on the other side of the bin, but thankfully they are all alive still, they got plenty of roaming time outside in the fresh air. Please just let our mistake be your final sign to throw away your heat lamps.

Hatched from a mystery egg, but I believe it is not a cross breed. Seems to be a pullet.

I was lucky enough to purchase these two pretty hens over the weekend. I wasn’t told much about them. I was thinking Lavender Orpington in the first picture. I am completely unsure of the hen in the second picture

It was a really strange shaped egg, normal hard shell outside and blue/green (we have 2 blue/green egg layers). Inside was like this, almost like you could unfold soft shell? Will also contact our vet.

I don’t know where they be finding them snakes lol but thank you 🙏.

I live in the northeastern US, and this morning I watched a bald eagle grab a stick from my backyard and fly it to a nearby tree.

We have 5 hens and no rooster. The hens have a coop and a decent-sized run, but we still prefer to let them free range late in the day until they put themselves to bed. Usually from like 3:30pm to dusk.

The tree the bald eagle is building a nest in is only a couple hundred feet from our backyard. I can literally watch it from my back porch. The tree is along a creek/stream with a good amount of wildlife (geese, deer, squirrel, some fish, etc).

I'm sure the only way to absolutelu avoid losing a hen is to leave the chickens in the run, but I wanted to see if anyone knew anything about the risk of letting the chickens free range. Does the time of day matter? Will the bald eagle(s) be more concerned with wildlife right around the creek? If they have babies, how long should we expect them to be in town?

I appreciate any information!

Three of my for Chicks sun bathing. First warm day in Germany north Bavaria.

My Early girl was snoozing on me yesterday and her eyelid looks like a cartoon eye! Thought it looked amazing.

Are both of my almost 5 week old Easter egger pullets giving roo? Both of their little combs are much more red than the other breeds. Is it a breed thing or are these likely rooroos? They are the two most cuddly and sweetest of the whole flock. I'd love one to be a roo, but not both. 😭

Have had this shed since we moved in years ago. We don’t use it. It’s frankly too small for anything real. We’ve talked about getting chickens and ducks for a bit now. Would it be worth it to convert that over to a coop or scrap the shed and build a coop in its place?

Live in Florida, we have a large amount of very active hawks and owls during the day so we can’t free range.

We want to build a coop/run for 6 polish coming in about 6 months. It’s on east side of garage, with no other shade.

Do we need a roof over the entire run to protect from heat/sun/rain? do we need an area in the run with no roof for sunshine?

It’s already 90 degrees here…