I'm wondering what on earth could be causing this type of nasty chicken poop. It's horrible sludge & stinks beyond belief 😣 only one of my chickens does this dropping. What is causing it? (First photo is posted to block the confronting poop photo shown after) #NSFW

I NEED HELP!! On day two of lockdown I’ve had about 70% of my chicks hatch this baby did pip super early this morning around like 6AM, it’s been well over 12 hours and I was worried that maybe the chicks in there affected it or killed it so I peeled back the egg shell that was already broken so I could see into it. I’m not sure if I messed up by doing that but the baby chick is alive and breathing, but it’s been no progress. I can’t tell if it’s “shrink wrapped” or just fine and I’m not sure what to do? I’m not sure if I should just leave the baby alone and see if it hatches or if I need to intervene?

Girls are about 2 months old now so I built an outdoor day pen for them around a fortified coop that is a repurposed shed. Any tips or suggestions? Anything I could do or do better with? TIA

One of my sweet hens was taken in the middle of the day a week ago and have been on high alert since, but today I had a work Zoom meeting that went past dusk. When it was over I went outside and saw one of my chickens missing from the coop, with their auto-door already closed. My heart sank, and I spent two hours scouring my property with a flashlight and found zero trace of a struggle, although I ultimately believed she had been taken and was already dead. I was heartbroken and crying to my boyfriend on the phone that I should’ve taken the previous chickens death more seriously and that I had failed my chickens. The one that went missing tonight is by far my favorite and so cuddly and sweet to people. After 2 hours with no luck, I came back inside and scrolled Reddit feeling so depressed. I came upon a post where something similar had happened and thanks to someone’s comment they found their chicken hiding in a bush along a fenceline. I almost didn’t go back out, but thought to myself, “There’s a 1% chance so go look one more time.” I walked 800’ of fence and towards the very end… there she was!!!! Words can’t describe the happiness I felt seeing my sweet chicken bedded down and alive. Something must have chased her over the fence at dusk and she managed to hide and escape. If I hadn’t gone back out and kept looking, she most likely would have been dead by morning. The point of the post is, if the same thing has just happened to you and you’re reading this, go look again. I hope you find your chicken.

My 4 month old, Cheddar, just laid her first egg three days ago. Then another today. The first egg is the lighter colored, smaller one. In the pic, Cheddar is the one in the corner surrounded by her sisters, Apples and Marion, while they support her in the laying process. Is it normal for the eggs to change color and size? Also, why won’t she lay her eggs in the nesting boxes? She sits in the boxes for a while, but then ends up laying in the corner of the coop.

Since he's been my favorite since hatch day and these are my first chicks, I wanted to be sure he's a cockerel before I give him to my friend for her backyard flock. He's 10 weeks old and his comb started turning pink around the 5 week mark. He's second in the pecking order and has been known to chest bump with the top cockerel. Facebook is divided. Someone pointed out that you can see at two ridges on his comb, but I'll need to look closer when I go out tomorrow. I see what they see in the picture, but I haven't noticed it in person.

a few months ago i took in some freshly hatched baby chicks from someone who couldn’t care for them anymore, one turned out to be a rooster and my city doesn’t allow them unfortunately. but we love him and tried everything we could to keep him. even went as far as to try to buy another house in an area that allowed roosters but the home buying process is incredibly long and he deserves a proper home and to be loved and cared for.

my last resort was finding sanctuaries but all are at max capacity anyway. my current best option is to drive my rooster to washington to someone who said could care for him, i’ve driven to washington before from california. but that was an 18 hour ride without a rooster, and i want to bring his girlfriend to say goodbye + visit as often as i can. my original hope was to find someone in the same state who can take him so i can visit once a week. but seems like my only option is a very kind lady in washington, but even so im still gonna try to visit with his best companion as often as i can.

how can i make this long car ride comfortable for them both? :,)

My daughter raised this hen from a day old ,isn't she lovely?

Made an incubator out of an old smoker I had in the barn

Got tired of the muddy run after the rain and wet poop getting trudged into the dirt so after letting it dry in the sun for a few days I cleaned everything up and covered the run in pine shavings.

When I put the chickens back in the run they FREAKED TF OUT bouncing from wall to wall trying to escape lmao. Granted, they have been in the dirt run for the past 5 weeks but they spent the first two months of their lives in a big doggy crate with the same shavings! Here they are acting like this is the first time they’ve seen pine shavings in their entire life! Silly butts!

I was too slow to grab my phone so I missed most of the chaos. 2nd pic you can see one of them frantically trying to fit on top of the feeder. Last pic the tiniest little girl was the only one brave enough to step onto the shavings.

She was given to me as a gold laced wyandotte but she is a much lighter gold than my others. One of my other gold laced is in the pic for comparison. Just a color variation or a different breed?

Please disregard Petunia at the bottom, she is going through a molt.

Yesterday....she didn't leave the run until I made her. Stood with her head down, eyes closed, very lethargic. After about an hour of seeing that, I gave her meloxidyl. About 30 minutes later, she seemed mostly normal and then completely normal all night, except for some thicker, pastier yellow urates.

Today...seems completely normal. Digging for bugs, good color to her, stool is normal but slightly yellow urates. She's eating, moving around and foraging all day long, like nothing ever happened. This morning, out of panic and because it was really early and wasn't sure what to do, gave her one dose of liquid Baytril. (Someone on BYC told me she's be dead today if I didn't and convinced she has reproductive disease) I've had her over two years and she doesn't lay eggs...don't know her age but she's at least five.

So....it's been over 24 hours since the pain med and would be due now for a second dose of antibiotic if I continue it. But....not sure if I should continue baytril out of precaution OR not give since she seems fine now and the last time she had baytril she ended up with sour crop.

So...please...what do you think? What's the smart move here and what the heck happened yesterday? Pic was her yesterday....NOT today

What dogs or lifestock do you keep to help protect your hens?

All hens hopefully??

We inherited a shed and are looking to convert it a coop after we finally move the stuff inside to our garage. Inside seems more solid than I originally thought, aside from the decent sized gap in the door that we need to find a fix for (as well as general painting and maintenance)

But we also want to make sure it's predator proof of course, make sure it's suitable for birds - and check for issues I probably am missing. The bottom as you can see is crying for some kind of filler as well.

Please let me know what you think

I have 4 black australorp hens that are a little over 3 years old now. All 4 are egg layers, I have video proof of all 4 of them laying eggs over the last couple years so I know for a fact that isn't some mistaken rooster identity thing.

Last spring I bought 3 buff orpington pullets from someone local. 1 of them ended up being a rooster, he's a great rooster, takes great care of his flock and is very kind to all of us. He was a late bloomer though, he didn't start crowing until almost 30 weeks. Around week 20 one of my australorp hens starting crowing, not your typical cock-a-doodle-doo sound more like a combination of a rooster and a goat, just screaming. She will jump on something high and "crow" every morning. As my rooster matured she slowed down considerably, however she is still the top bird. She will puff her neck feathers, occasionally correct him and he takes it, like he knows his place. She will crow a half dozen times sporadically throughout the week.

The weirdest thing too is over the last 6 months she has started growing spurs. They're about 1-1.25 inches long now on each leg.

She still lays eggs, but rarely, maybe 4-5 per month instead of 4-5 per week.

Is this some mental illness, some hormonal change, or did acquiring a rooster when she was 1.5 years old do something to her that caused her to evolve?

Has anyone seen this before?

One of my hens has yellow urates far more than white urates. Do you see this in yours? I started paying more attention a few months ago to stool in general and wondering if it's an issue or just her "normal?" She otherwise seems totally fine. Pics for examples.

My very broody hen decided she was going to be a mom. I just had surgery so I couldn’t really fight against her wishes. 😂 Found her and her babies this morning! 4/6 eggs have hatched. Hoping the last two eggs are just late bloomers.