Thread 4986617

>be me, bantamchad
>lost some of my tail feathers but still alpha
>see cute red cochin
>fuck yeah, gonna make some schmedium chicks with her
>approach her confidently
>apply the lessons learned from roostersphere influencers
>she just stares me down
>get scared and spill my scratch
>run away
>later see her go off to the coop with a full-sized rooster
Bantambros....is it just fucking over for us?

>>4986617 (OP)
Based general.

Bantams are hilarious. They definitely have the attitude of a large rooster. One of mine has a couple full sized girlfriends. It's pretty funny.

>>4986617 (OP)
you should tell that huge gigantic person that feeds you that the full sized rooster is attacking his young, that should get him out of the way

Look at this surly chad
God I love chickens so much

>>4986617 (OP)
I got a few ducks and they figured out how to dislodge the cups on the automatic waterers...
I've now replaced it with a "water trough" style waterer and they're absolutely loving it, dunking their entire heads in and preening.
I still haven't finished building their pool but it's coming along somewhat...

>>4986713
>mfw he just tosses the hen more grain and says "when a manlet approaches you"
If I press the issue I'll probably just get thrown in the goat pen with the duck he calls "dick ass"

>>4987018
Nice one. We have around one hundred roosters on our ranch. We gotta kill most of them and sell their bodies at the farmers market sadly. There's even a tranny rooster. He has no saddle feathers and his tail looks a lot like a hens. It's funny. We will spare him.

This one sorta gives off bin laden vibes.

One of our minis

And a very goofy looking hen. If you hatch out a bunch of eggs from a random assortment of chickens you get some pretty funny ones.

The 20 Piece are about two weeks from Destiny.

They’re just regular broiler crosses, but it’s been fun. I have 8 mixed layers that are ~3 years old now. It used to be an even dozen, but the eagles ate 4 of them.

>>4987029
>mfw being a troon saves my life

>>4987109
We keep him with the hens instead of in the rooster colony. I think he would get bullied lol.

I'll try to get a picture if him today. He's a really pretty blue and brown rooster actually.

>>4987118
what is his name and do you know what breed he is?

>>4987128
We have too many to name and he's a mutt. Maybe a mix between ameraucana and something else.

>>4987128
This is one of our named birds. Her name is Turkeysha. Our only turken hen.

>>4987141
TURKEYSHA!!! I love her. I have a hen named Turkey, but she's not a Turken. And he looks to be some sort of EE to me lol. Do you have any other named birds?

>>4987198
Hah yeah the turkens are pretty fun birds. We hatched like 3 or 4 roosters and just one hen.

The only other named birds are a couple muscovies. Cami on the right and his son cami jr. on the left. We have had cami since he was a chick and he is pretty friendly.

Apparently the trans rooster has been on trt. I think he developed his saddle feather and tail a bit slower than the other birds.

>>4987250
Cami sr is on the left actually.

Cock fight.

>>4987252
He does not look like a girl at ALL here. Very handsome. Definitely a weirdo EE cross. What a comb!!

>>4987254
fucking fantastic pic holy shit

>>4987442
Yeah... I wish I had a pic of him when he was younger. Oh well!

>>4987443
So bummed I missed this one. Another day.

>>4987457
Dude woah!! What are you taking these pics on? They look amazing!

>>4987473
Galaxy s24 ultra. Midday so you can use a really high shutter speed.
I need to bring out my real camera to catch them fighting one of these days.

>>4987475
It’s time to switch phones.

>>4987475
this is glorious

Gosling review of waffle: unimpressed

Supervised pool party

>>4987996
Ty. Have a miniature egg.

>>4990373
>>4990370
Terrific. Is it worthwhile having a few geese in the flock?

ominous.

>>4990373
why do they have three dads

How do I get the ducks to get in the pool? It's on a platform so they're scared to go in... Or they straight up don't know there's water there
I'm hoping some feeder goldfish could do the trick, idk

>>4991287
Pick them up and spike them into the pool.

>>4991237
DEI mandates

All my chickens are hens but 1 of them has a huge fuckin spike on one of her legs. WTF? Is it trans???

>>4990373
Do geese really protect your chickens or do you house them separate? Hav thought about having a couple as guardian stock but idk.

>>4991568
When they don't have a roo hens will develop male secondary sex characteristics, some reports of them even crowing. IIRC birds suppress testosterone and when no male they dont suppress it as well and start growing spurs/mounting other hens

>>4991586
Lesbihen.

My chickens keep laying eggs in the grass and a handful have gone broody. I collected over 100 eggs in the frass today. I think the last time I had an easter egg hunt was 4ish days ago. Annoying because we can't sell the grass eggs.

Broody jail has worked well. You elevate a cage with a grate bottom and then lock the broody hens in the cage with food and water. Apparently the airflow on their bum makes them stop being broody because they can't keep eggs warm or something idk..

"why are you black"

>>4992661
dumb chickens

Lost our rooster today, his name was Socks and I will miss him dearly.

If I urinate near my chicken coops will it deter predators from visiting? I know it won't work on hawks but I think it might work on coyotes and foxes.

>>4994668
In my experience that attracts coyotes especially if you eat a lot of meat

>>4994668
Too diluted, what you need to do is piss on your chickens directly - should keep them safe

>>4994532
Sorry for your loss. He was very handsome

>>4996216
thanks bro

My depressed pekin, waiting on some new hens for him after they all croaked within a month.

>>4996862
I'd be depressed too, were I half-australian

I killed a skunk that was trying to eat my broody hen's eggs last week and she hatched out 6 baby chicks today! Yay! I'll try to get some chick pics tmrw. It was my first time murdering wildlife. Not fun.

This hen jumped in our truck when we were at the chicken ranch and we didn't notice until we got back home. We decided to keep her as a free range hen at my place with the 3 free range roosters we already have here. The skunk killed one of the roosters, so hopefully a couple of the babies are his. Rip rooster #3

>>4996862
How did all your hens die..?

The chicks I saved.

>>4987604
>it's time to CONSOOM
How about we don't do this?

>>4993649
What does eyeball taste like? I know the texture is supposed to be like a weird jelly.

>>4999134
In sheep, they are mostly watery with a nauseating mucous-y undertone. Idk why animals like them so much.

I’ve not eaten any other kind of eyes but fish eyes, which are almost tasteless and only slightly fishy.

>>4999147
Lmao

>>4999147
kek'd heartily

It is my belief that the chicken is the single funniest animal in the planet

>Get into fermenting chicken feed at the start of spring
>They went nuts for it and gobbled every bit of it
>Started getting less interested in it over time
>They barely look at it and only pick at it now when bored

What'd I do wrong? It smells fine, it has no mold or anything growing on it. I've had cats get bored of being fed the same thing, does this happen to chickens? I thought farm animals were less picky than your typical pet store animal.

>>5000511
My hens barely eat any feed at all when there’s bugs to chase and such. They absolutely get picky about such things.

Haven't been on here in a while but my 3 buff orpington hens are all doing great, had a little frostbite on their combs in the winter but otherwise no health problems. I'm averaging 14 eggs a week this year, no issues with brooding or predators. With only 3 hens they really are more pets than livestock: I give them 10 minutes of supervised free range time each morning, after they (mostly) follow me back to the coop for treats (if they don't, I can just pick them up to bring back).

>>5000875
Also recently drilled 1/4" holes in the back door and around the nesting boxes for a little more airflow. Not enough to compromise security (or heat in winter) but hopefully helps them a little bit, because of the location and breed the summer heat is a bigger issue than the winter cold.

>>5000875
>>5000877
I love my cute little chickens. I have collared tags on their right legs but at this point I don't really need them. I can identify them by their combs, overall size, feather color, noises, personality, even their eggs. I'll get another 4 next year or the year after, but I'm in no rush since I don't think I'd be able to treat 7 like pets as much as 3. On a different note, does anyone else put ice cubes in their water during the summer?

>>5000878
>On a different note, does anyone else put ice cubes in their water during the summer?
My hose water is like 45°f, and I sized the waterer to require daily fills just so it can’t get skunky, so I don’t need. It is cool enough to sweat basically all day anyways during the summer.

>>4997701
>I killed a skunk
you stinky

Hey ferment your chicken feed anon! Check this one out. Roughly 200lbs of chicken feed we are fermenting! This will be 2 days of feed for our flock. We are going to keep this fermented feed thing running with 2 totes that will be replenished every other day. Wet food like this makes it easier to add supplements.

Added some DE to it, and we will be adding herbs and chili flakes once we get our bulk shipment in. I found a website that sells 50lbs of chili flakes for 140 bucks.

>>5001365
Suprisingly it did not spray me at all, but after it died it definitely released some stink juice. It was very weird because the juvenile skunk feared nothing. You would think it would try to run away when two humans were yelling at it...

>>5002454
Skunks normally don't fear anything except other skunks, stomp your feet from a distance next time.
Also the sounds they make while fighting is something demonic.
I have a video, but my friend wouldn't shut the fuck up while I was recording something so rare to see.

>>5000875
>>5000877
>>5000878
Another fun adventure that I should have taken care of sooner: Hard balls of poop on their toes! Took a couple hours of soaking in warm water (with treats and frequent check-ups). Two hens down, one to go tomorrow.

>>5002785
Going to change the floor of the run from soil to pea gravel to hopefully prevent/delay this in the future

Friends asked me to look after their chickens, one they said had diorhea.
On inspection bird is exhausted, struggles to get to perch, tries to nest on ground when it's freezing and they said it's been sick weeks. Which made me a bit cross because I'm no chicken doctor
Can't tell what's wrong with it other than it being exhausted, it's below freezing tonight so I moved it inside which stressed it a bit.

Any advice appreciated.

>>5003781
Feed it oregano, chili flakes, and some crushed up charcoal.

>>5004488
That's terrible advice. No offence.

>>5004505
Why? All those things can help with the problem. What are you going to suggest?

Chicken is now barely moving and can only stand for short periods.

Poo is normal, no sign of blood or mucus not sour crop/ blocked gullet, doesn't seem egg bound, not in distress, but not eating or drinking

>>5004508
Well need some indication of what the actual problem with the bird might be. Can't just feed the bird random things without a clear reason, and the bird won't eat at all.

I'm rehydrating the bird orally at this stage, and it won't take sweet mash

>>5004519
Sometimes chickens just die "randomly" Whatever ailment it was suffering from was not acted on quickly enough. It can be very hard to tell sometimes, so providing it with medicinal feed and additional electrolytes is really your best option aside from taking it to the livestock vet.

>>5004520
All the things I suggested will only provide a net positive for it's health and the charcoal may actually save its life.

Give it some electrolytes in the water unless you think that's too much because you don't have a clear indication of whats making it sick...

>>5004521
>>5004522
Well that's the problem, because the bird wasn't diagnosed when it first got sick, getting it two weeks after I'm just looking at an almost dead bird.

So I'm giving it oral fluid and could force feed it, but neither would resolve the primary cause of the illness which the bird isn't recovering from naturally

I have a broody hen, I've been letting her sit on the eggs for a while with the intention of giving her some chicks soon. First time I've tried this. I tried transferring her and some of the eggs she had been sitting on to a separate pen today. She very quickly escaped out the top and went back to the spot she had been sitting.

The nesting area is very small and doubles as the roosting area for the other birds. This is not a suitable place for the chicks. What should I do?

>>5004801
Deal with it. You cant move them once they are there. Build a thing to make it safe for her.

>>5004816
>Build a thing to make it safe for her
Not an option, there's no space. What happens if I just give her the chicks anyway? Are the adult hens going to peck them to death?

>>5004866
Are they hatched chicks? You can cage them all until the youngins grow up some. Less than 2 week old chicks will get murdered by the other birds.

>>5002785
Not so fun adventures...found a snake in the coop yesterday morning and killed it, only to have one of my 3 pet hens die of heat stroke that afternoon before her first birthday, my first chicken loss. I was putting ice cubes in their water around noon each day and got a small solar-powered fan to give them more air when they rest in the shade under the coop, but it wasn't enough. I'm sorry Daisy, rest in peace. Going forward my plan will be to alternate frozen water bottles in their waterer on days where the high is in the 80s, and 90+ they come inside to the small basement coop I set up this morning.

Why did he do it?

>>5006106
Like this. Misters work well for larger flocks.

>>5006216
>Like this
What is that?
>>5006106
Doubled the size, added an upside-down stool for roosting, and different feeders/waterers with stands so they won't get shavings in them as much, the other feeder/waterer are more designed to be hung off hardware cloth, instead of being on the ground.

>>5006182
kek
>>5006551
cute

Please enjoy this fine video of Turkeysha and friends enjoying their fermented slop. We feed about 25 gallons of this a day to the birds and they love it. We combine 30 gallons of organic feed pellets with 45 gallons of water and let it sit for a day before feeding.
We are going to start mixing chili flakes, vit c powder, charcoal and diatomaceous earth and maybe oregano in with it as well. I just need to find a 50lb bag of chili flakes that isn't over 200 dollars.

>>5007470
That is a little feed tray thing with bricks and ice cold water. Chickens cool very efficiently through their feet. If you have one of those in the coop they'll stand on it to cool off.

>chicken acting very sluggish, wings drooping, can't walk straight
>She's about 4 years old, weather has been hot but all the other chickens are ok
>Look up symptoms, think she might be egg bound
>Isolate her in a dog crate in the garage, keep a fan on her, do a soak in warm water once a day
>Get her to drink some sugar water with electrolytes
>Online it says egg bound chickens will die in 24-48 hours if they don't lay
>4 days go by, she's still alive, no egg laid
>After a full week she seems back to normal but still never laid an egg
>Let her back with the flock and she seems to be acting normal again
Not 100% sure if she's laid yet but she's not sluggish or holding her wings down anymore and seems to be acting normally. Wtf happened?

>>5007723
very nice

>>5010318
kek

Bump

Im getting another 600 hens this week.

672 chickens shipped. 510 delivered. I want to start buying sexed chicks or hatching my own instead of getting pullets. :(

Does any anon member' the time there was some thread about giant chickens or something similar, and people were posting bears to make some anon go full schizo? I am pretty sure he made hate threads too because of how pissed off he was. If so was it the Indian Giant or the Brahma the guy was ride or die on? I think it was the Giant because at one point it was revealed the schizo was indian or at least esl during the whole shit storm

>>5014927
Anon was claiming, falsely, that indians had the largest cocks and got pissed because it turned out that indians had relatively small, comically long and thin cocks that have to be stretched out all the time to look bigger. He was fanboying the asil, iirc.

Brahmas are not an indian chicken breed. They're an american breed developed from domestic, malay and chinese stock.

The #1 and #2 big chickens are the jersey giants (american) and brahmas (american). They're big, they're thick, they tick all the boxes. America has the best big white cocks on earth.

>>5014930
This made me laugh more than it really should have

>>5014927
>soup cock

>>5016537
hue

>>5016537
The amount of expression in this photo is unbelievable.

>>4987250
I fucking hate these god damned things like you wouldn't believe. I want to shoot everyone that keeps the god damned menaces. They will destroy a garden faster than an iguana and they breed like literal rats.

>>4990594
Those chooks would fuck that hawk up.

>>5016915
Bump

>>4986617 (OP)
My Batam mounts bhramas.
His dick doesn't even reach. He just cums all over their backs.

>>4990370
I just switched over to geese away from ducks so I kill less, get more meat, and they grow on grass.

Any of those tips no one ever thinks about? I started with 3 Africans geese and if I like them I will start to phase out the ducks.
(100 chickens, 15 call ducks, 4 rouen, 1 pekin (pardoned), like 20 Batam chickens and and 20 guinea fowl on occasion for context.

>>5019120
I LOVE tiny eggs!

>>4999147
hue
>>5019117
KEK, based amazon-lover

Made some solid upgrades to the chicken coop over the weekend: Tarp for shade, replaced their toys with nicer ones (mostly for looks), replaced one of the waterer cups (new one is blue), and added a new solar panel that will power 2 small fans: the top-right takes hot air out of the coop while the bottom-left brings fresh air in for a bit more circulation.
>>5006216
I've been giving them bricks in ice for a few weeks now but so far I haven't seen them use it at all, any advice? I've been picking up them and placing them on it so they can feel for themselves.

>>5020384
My entire flock is fucked up. He cucks the biggest chickens I got. My main rooster like 15 lbs of pure bitch until he literally has to deal with it.
I got 2 silkies who decided they were both coparenting a single chick. So these two lesbians are just constantly overbearing a single chick and I can't wait to see how entitled he becomes.

>>5020414
What if the biggest juiciest bug is outside the wire....

>>5014927
>people were posting bears to make some anon go full schizo
How does that work?

>>5020803
That's hilarious
>>5020804
I give them some free-range time each day, in the mornings during summer and in the afternoon during winter, under my supervision because no rooster. Only 2 hens atm so they basically have a giant penthouse apartment all to themselves. I can't call them livestock at this point, they're outdoor pets.

>>5020836
I appreciate it.
Im a liberal hippie communist socialist when it comes to animals having good lives in our service.

I kill and eat them but God damn if I'm not up ever single day to let goober into the bathroom to lay a egg on towels.

>>5020825
Found it
https://desuarchive.org/an/thread/4824846/#4824977

>>4986617 (OP)
Check out my new flock of breakfast-shitters.
Once they’re grown I’ll have 25, assuming I don’t lose any this fall. Next spring I’ll be egg heavy.

>>4986617 (OP)
This is the first time I’ve set up the baby chicks in the back run of the coop.
Usually I keep them fully separated until 4 weeks.
Check out my super-reinforced dog crate lmao.

>>5020994
Good luck. Do you have a heat source for them?

>>5020998
>a heat source
It's 100F during the day and 80F at night.

>>5021005
Oh shizz

>>5021006
Yep. Atmosphere has me covered.

>>5020997
Cool looking coop, I dig the foliage

>>5021284
Thanks that's actually just the back run I built out of scrap wood.
The front is a pretty standard Tuff Shed coop.
I can't take credit for the vines but yeah they've made it cozy in that back run for sure.

Ey dis guy seems alright. Apples, bread, wata, corn. What else does a small time guy like me need in dis big ole’ city?

We were going to quit with our backyard chickens and so we were just waiting for the last one to keel over.

She lived to be like 17-18 years old.

>>5021494
Dang what breed?

>>5021496
No idea, I hardly know anything about chicken breeds. They mostly resembled French Marans (image). Then two years later we added a duo of smaller blonde hens with socks, no idea what breed they were. Then out of those two species we ended up with two specked blonde hens with socks. One of those managed to get so old.

Ah wait, the two blondes looked like cochins.

my photo of the year

I have a 2 acre yard and I have one chicken who spends all day outside, haven't fed her any chicken food cause in all my years of having her she hasn't needed any cause until this year she was popping out eggs, then had 2 eggs without shell and since then she hasn't laid any. I checked up on her tonight and there was a small bit of poop and a bean thing that was next to it.

This is what it looked like

https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatisthis/comments/n873zg/brown_bean_looking_things_found_inside_of_an/

>>5022858
The difference was, besides it being next to poop, was that it looked like a Kidney Bean

>>5004906
I did not click on this thread expecting to see the similarity but I'm glad I have

The new hens are starting to warm up to us a bit more, which is nice.

>>5022703
Very nice and cute dog.

>>5022869
Beautiful, what breed is that?

>>5022869
>hellooooo ladies
>who wants some of this cock

>>5021509
Is that a heckin' blonde hen?

>>5022703
I think the dog is hungry and looking for his next meal.

>>5023301
Big black beautiful hens are built for Leghorn cocks! Kek.

Look at this lonely australcel waiting to get dominated by jersey giants.

>>5022946
Hyline brown. Commercial laying breed. They are very good layers.

>>5024001
>>5024003
>>5024005
kek

>>5024002
Picture aside she gets along with them really well, mind you she's less than 20 lbs herself and quite timid, so she only wants to sniff them
>>5024149
Nice, I really like the color on them. How's their temperament? I've only ever had Orpingtons, partially for their look but also for how friendly they are.

>>5024199
They're really friendly and do not peck when you grab eggs. Our first batch was unbothered by us and some were jumping on us. The second batch is a little more skittish. They're warming up to us after about a week. Pretty decent foraging instinct.

>>5024199
I had a pet Buff and she loved to come up on my lap and snuggle. She loved pets and being around people. She was an angel.

>>5024325
Where did she poop? Your mouth?

>>5024326
Hens don’t poop when they’re sitting down so that was never an issue

>>5024308
Nice, they sound great
>>5024325
Yeah I love my little Buff Orpingtons (literally, both fully grown and not quite 5 lbs lol), I pick them up and pet them pretty much every day
>>5024334
Good to know

Bad news, last chicken died.
Called out too late to mostly dead laying hen, backyard farmers so they had no idea what was wrong with it. Not bound or clutch, still no idea.

Called out again today, possible bound hen.
Not laying, visible muscle contractions, feathers puffed. Gave warm bath and rectal oil on a speculative basis but I'm not convinced the bird is bound. Still eating, still defecating, not in visible pain, not adopted the typical penguin posture. They say the hen was off the lay, had low energy in the day, lethargy. But when I saw the bird it was up and about so I don't know.

>>5025048
>>5025051
are you a vet?

>>4986617 (OP)
My rooster that I've had for almost 10 years died Wednesday night, I lost my best friend. I just wanted to share how beautiful he was.

>>5025266
Majestic black bird

>>5025139
If I was a vet I'd know what was wrong with these bloody birds

>>5025051
Does the poop look normal? Have you listened to their breathing? Maybe Coccidiosis??

I recently had to get chicken antibiotics from a mexican boot store because my birds were sick and they couldn't see us for two weeks. They smuggle them across the border to sell in america. The antibiotics worked a treat and our chickens are healed now. Lol.

>>5025373
What do you mean by "called out"? It sounds like someone else called you out to come take a look, like a vet

>>5025266
F

I've got a four year old silver laced wyandotte whose health suddenly took a nosedive. She doesn't have any injuries, isn't acting like she's hurting and doesn't seem to be bound up, but she seemed to just stop heating out of the blue. She putters around looking at stuff and pecks and scratches a little, but she feels like she weighs a pound and she' so weak she can barely stand steady.

The only thing I've found 'wrong' with her is I've noticed she kind of shakes her head like she's trying to get dirt off, but nothing seems to be wrong with her head/ears. Is there anything I can do to help turn her around, or is she just fading out?

>>5025671
Check what her poop looks like.

>>5020414
How many hens do you think I could fit in this coop/run? It only has 3 nesting boxes and 2 roosting bars. I think 12 would be the absolute limit (6 could fit on each roosting bar if they're all right next to each other) but what do you guys think?

>>5025749
I would say 6 to 8 depending on size. Move the coop to new grass every 3 or 4 days.

>>5025915
That is not something easily moved, it's been there for about a year now but I let them out to get some free range time each day.

>>5025730
It's almost completely white, and it looks what she's been eating is barely getting digested.
Have her in a dog crate for now with food and water, and she's drank a little water but ate literally no food all of yesterday.

>>5026518
Try asking chatgpt. Describe symptoms and give it a picture of the poop and one of the bird also.

Cock fighting pics for your enjoyment.

Rooster in the back enjoying the show.

>>5026771
>>5026772
>>5026775
hue

Does anybody else wants to know what happens when you mix hot lava and chicken?

>>5027748
Pollo asado al carbon?

>>5027748
maybe it makes something tasty as hell.

>>5027748
You get a baked chicken like in minecraft

>>5027833
Now you're ringing the bell.

>>5027861
Is this real?

>>5027865
Ayam Cemani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayam_Cemani

>>5027865
Their eggs are not black though.

>>5028016
Nope, they give a smaller white egg. Cayuga ducks lay black eggs tho.

>>4987032
What a cutie pants, will be stealing

BOCK.

>>5028328
I am very sorry, but stealing chickens is strictly forbidden.

>>4998550
Cute c:

Post a pointier egg if you can!

Is there a cheap way to make the egg yolk more orange?

>>5031596
I cannot

>>5029540
very good doggos

>>5032008
Thank you. They do a great job and we pay them very well with organic pasture raised egg based currency.

>>5031796
Chili flakes will help, but the cheapest way is to have your birds on good pasture.

>>5032522
i too give my dog eggs as thanks for keeping the hawks away. he is not a guardian dog, but he doesn't realize he's not a chicken, so he's still helpful.

One of my hens is looking a bit pale, but her behavior is totally normal, and has laid an egg in the past couple days. Should I be concerned? Tried looking around online but pale comb/wattle seems to connect to a bunch of different things.

>>5033158
Check poop.

>>5033304
Looked normal this morning

This is my favorite thread on 4chan, and I don't even own chickens or know much about them. Everyone has such lovely chickens.

>>5033312
Thanks, I like this thread too, it's really comfy and people are helpful. Pretty wide range too: I have 2 hens, other guys here have hundreds.

>>5031796
>Is there a cheap way to make the egg yolk more orange?
STFU Chinese "alum" moron.

>>5033158
How old is she? Any other symptoms? How does her vent look?
If she's over 2-3 years old she's probably slowing down on laying and just going through a natural bleaching process. Seems like she's not laying every day either. If her vent looks kinda small and dry, she's probably not laying consistently and could take pale comb as a sign of her aging.

>>5033312
This is my favorite thread on 4chan and I do own chickens. Everyone's chickens are super adorable and I love talking about chickens so much. Thank god /an/ is a slow board desu.

>>5033683
Only 1 year old, no other symptoms. I'll check her vent tomorrow but her behavior is 100% normal, poop is normal too, still eating, etc.

>>5033683
>>5033836
Oh, and I think she looks a little less pale today, but still pale compared to my other hen (which is normally the same shade of red).
>>5033684
Blessed

>>4986617 (OP)
me chickens got sick and died, fed them to me dawgs

>>5033836
Hmm, odd. She's pretty young to be slowing down in production. When was the last time she molted?

Name suggestions for this little guy?

>>5033914
Not sure, I imagine that should happen soon enough given the time of year

>>5033994
Sir Chestnut

>>5033836
>>5033914
Vent looks pretty clean, tiny bit of dried white poop on feathers somewhat nearby but the vent itself seems fine/opens. I think the color in her comb/wattle is improving each day, not sure what caused it (maybe calcium loss from a large egg?) but the color seems to be recovering.

Here.

>>5033994
Fergus

>>4986617 (OP)
Can chickens tell the difference between real food and American/junk food?

>>5034485
>

>>5034135
Glad to hear it!

>>5033994
Mr. Guy

>>5034631
The round chickens stole her spot and she is furious.

>>5034135
>>5034683
Still a bit pale, wasn't walking around much last night but this morning she was back to normal behavior-wise, still no egg since last weekend and a bit pale in the comb. I gave her a warm epsom salt soak just in case.

>>5035519
Hmm, is her abdomen hard? How does her crop feel? She's still passing stool right?

so for raising chicks i need something to heat them like a dedicated heating source right

>>5036447
Yeah. Red heating lamp works fine as do the adjustable brooder pads. You watch the chicks to calibrate the light. If they're huddled in the center of the light it is too cold. If they're all avoiding the center/brightest spot it's too hot.

>>5036429
Feels normal as far as I can tell
>>5036447
Yes

BUMP

>>5037963
based

This is a total disaster and complete rookie move, but our 500 chickens have started laying... in the super thorny bushes. We will fix this problem soon. Feels really good to be back. We are getting close to 2 5 gallon buckets of eggs per day now and it will be more in a few weeks.

>>5038372
Must keep the confiest thread on 4chan alive and well.

>>5038614
Oh god, that sounds like a pain (figuratively and literally). Do the thorns not bug the chickens? I have a few thorny plants by the treeline that I trim just in case.

>>5038614
and yeah we gotta keep this comfy thread alive, I remember a little while ago we had /egg/ for a while, I forgot to bump it and it died

>>5038926
The chickens love the thorny bushes and spend a lot of time hanging out in them. I think they like them for protection. It's not too bad collecting eggs. We usually pull up the bush, grab eggs, then repeat for the next day lol. Our coop will be finished one day.

>>5039165
huh, I'd think the thorns would hurt them like anything else

>>5038614
kinda nice tho, natural deterrent for (lazy) predators

>>5025266
10 years wow anon, he had a great life

>>4986617 (OP)
Took this photo of one of my hens back in 2015. I call it The Descent Of Plato's Man. Do you like?

>>5040352
I do

>>5033158
>>5033304
>>5033683
>>5033914
>>5034683
>>5036429
>>5036573
Yesterday she finally laid an egg, for the first time in about 2 weeks! Easy to tell since her eggs are always darker. Don't know why she randomly took a vacation but frankly I'm just glad she's healthy.

Friend gave us this polish rooster that was being mean to the other birds and people. He went from a flock of 5 other birds to one with over 600 lol. He is still adjusting. These guys have zero peripheral vision. It's kinda funny but also sad.

Ill get a better pic tommorow when theres more light.

>>5040428
Congrats! It is a great feeling after such a long wait.

after 3 years of free range it finally happened, I lost 6 of my 10 hens to a fox this morning. Big sad. 2 of my best layers too

>>5041602
Time to stake out with the ol 22.

>>5041609
.22? I'm out here with a 30-30, I'm gonna vaporize this thing if I see it

Lesbihens. They've been laying for like a month and they're already broody for some reason. The only two out 500...

Any tips for introducing a new(ish) rooster to a flock that's already got a rooster? They've been living in seeing distance so they're somewhat familiar, but I want to minimize the fighting as much as possible. It'll be two roosters in with about forty hens so there's enough ladies to go around and they hopefully won't fight over ladies so much.

>>5041982
Just give them enough space and it should be fine. A little foghting is expected. Just keep an eye on them so they don't fight each other to death, which can sometimes happen.

>>5041611
Fox:
>who the hell is Steve Jobs?

do chickens actually enjoy scratches and pets or do they just tolerate it

>>5042324
They do enjoy them. Chickens are very friendly birds when you take time to get to know them.

>>5041234
Thanks, also that's a funny looking rooster, looks like a lovable goofball
>>5041602
Sorry to hear that, anon, hope you get revenge
>>5041641
>>5042198
kek
>>5042324
One of mine will "brace" for pets, then bring her tail up for me to pet that, and then fluff up afterwards. The other groans but doesn't peck, what a tease

>>5042931
Anon thats the chicken mating ritual. You’ve been porking your chicken, as far as they’re concerned.

>>5042962
oh no

>>5041602
New chicks acquired. Never done autumn chicks before so this should be interesting. They're brooding inside. 3 Light Brahmas (2 pullets, 1 straight run hoping for a rooster) and 1 pullet Jersey Giant.
Big girls!

>>5043540
Gonna try bonding time with all 4 every day, they like to snuggle under my hands in my lap. My other hens weren't afraid of humans, but they didn't like to be picked up and I went through 3 roosters trying to find one that wouldn't attack me. If I give them 30 minutes each day of this I'm hoping that'll be enough to maintain SOME semblance of friendliness once they're bigger

>>5043542
Give em little tidbits while you're cuddling.

>>5043513
Hes right, but dont worry about it.

>>5043542
Also depends on the breed to an extent, which is why I love Orpingtons
>>5043544
Oh I'm not actually worried, I'm gonna FLUFF THAT TAIL

As promised. Apparently this guy was really aggressive to all humans he came across. Haven't seen a single hint of aggression since he has been with us. Out of the hundreds of roosters we have had there hasn't been a single one that has ever been aggressive.

>>5043977
Some of mine will squat when i walk up to them instead of running away. Dirty birds...

>>5044243
hue

>>5043977
>I'm gonna FLUFF THAT TAIL
https://litter.catbox.moe/z91omw5zvt19pc8f.mp4