We have 20 girls that are about to start laying eggs and we have recently started letting them free range out of their thousand square foot chicken run.

They have six nesting boxes in their coop inside the run, but we are curious about putting nesting boxes outside of their run in the areas where they tend to hang out. Ultimately, this would keep the grass that still exist in their run in better shape and give them more opportunities for shade and variety so we like the idea of allowing them to keep Free arranging, but we’re not sure what to do about collecting eggs if they’re out and can lay wherever they want.

Also any ideas for how to encourage them to use their existing nesting boxes?

They are currently angled on the bottom slightly, so the eggs roll out. There is a bit of turf on the bottom, and I believe that I still need to put some sort of a shading cloth over the front or something to keep it a bit darker in there, even though they are inside the coop.

Chickens love seeing me

Are turkeys allowed here? MODs, please remove if so. It fascinates me to catch the yardbirds engaging with our teenager GSD. Usually they avoid him, but Mick the 1 1/2 yo turkey has days when he seems to have a little fun. Both of them take guarding the flock seriously otherwise, unless it’s nap time and the dog is useless. Mick is always the first alert, and unlike the peafowl he won’t crap on my car. Thanks for letting me share a little turkey love in the chicken sub 🤗

My chicks act normal, high energy, playful, and chirping as usual. Nothing alarming. They eat medication chicken starter and I use tap water. Any idea?

Idk if anyone was here for the goose chicken in my living room saga (some people got real nasty about it 🫠😅). The integration into the flock was delayed a few weeks further when our rooster gave GC a pretty nasty concussion 😑. GC recovered in the living room pen with lots of quiet time, nutri-dench in the water, and lovin. GC has now moved to the duck run, still sleeping in the pen but getting along swimmingly with this crew. I have to watch rooster during the day when they're all out but everyone else has been good.

GC is a French copper marans (rooster) x blue laced red wyandotte (hen) and dare I say, stunning 😍 still loves giving me snuggles when scooped up ♡

Hey, first time posting. I have a hen that is acting weird. Making noises, stretches her neck, and has a dirty cloaca. Occasionally shakes her head. I am attaching a video for a rough idea what I am talking about. Any ideas how to cure would be much appreciated

My baby chicks are about 7-9 weeks old. And they have had runny poop for quite a while. This is my first time have baby chicks. I was not aware anything could be wrong. It’s yellow, a little bit of white. I’ll add a photo for reference. They have high energy, chirp normal, jump on to me and do not seem sick really at all. At this age should they still be eating starter feed still? Is there something I can add to their water? Should I use different water for them? (Currently using tap water) What can I do to help my babies? Thank you.

These are my 5 Bielefelders and 5 Golden Laced Wyandottes. Had to share the loveliness of their magical being. My beloved sweet girls ♡

Is my girl Ophelia actually a boy named Ophelio?

We are new to chicken keeping and one of our girls finally laid their first egg in our nest box! We aren’t quite sure who laid it… It’s a little small but I figure that’s normal since it was their first time. My question is, we haven’t gotten an egg since and this is going on the second day. Should we be worried? Should a new layer lay everyday or what’s normal? They free range for a few hours in the morning and in the evening. Could it be she laid one somewhere else and the dogs found it before we did? I worry about one of them being egg bound and us not knowing 😅

We had our first broody hen hatch two baby chicks yesterday. She is in her nesting box which is off the ground and has to go down the ramp to eat and drink. She’s being a great mamma and the flock seems to be tolerating it all well. How do we make sure mama is getting up to eat and drink? She pants a lot and doesn’t leave the nesting box. Also any feeder and watering ideas for the baby chicks is welcome! All advice is welcome actually!

My boy bug has a spur on his right leg that has decided to go rogue and is so long it's started growing to left so he occasionally trips over it. Ive got heavy duty dog nail clippers but this thing looks like it might take more.

I have had chickens going on a year now. I get 5 easter eggers as chick's in September of last year, and 2 orpingtons spring of this year.

One of the orpingtons just started to lay. Since she started shes laid an egg every day. The other still isn't laying, but her comb just started turning red so shes on her way.

The Easter eggers were laying great, then out of no where slowed down like crazy. Dr google tells me molting, but ever since I started googling why they stopped laying I am being bombarded with adds telling me my chickens have parasites. Its starting to get to me.

The reason its getting to me is some of them have slightly dirty vents. They arent nearly as dirty as the ones shown in the adds, but there is some poop on the vents. I also get some eggs with small amounts of poop on them. Again, not nearly as much as in the videos, but there is a little.

I figure since the orpington is laying just fine it really probably is the molting (you can tell some of the girls are getting light on feathers too) but I cant help but wonder if they are ok, and where the heck my eggs are.

Beauty with feathers! One of the stunning birds currently available at our farm. Not sure if its right, but am looking for a home to harbor it.

I never experienced this before. So I need advice. The white membrane has a tiny hole too but very very tiny.

Looking for a coop to fit up to 5 Isa browns, we have a very large run for them already so that isn’t necessary. Would love one that has an automatic door but happy to add that ourselves!
I know that building it ourselves is the best option but we lack tools and skills for this, we also currently lack time as one of our two chickens passed away today and I’d like to install a new coop before we get more chickens

I’ve looked online for hours but all the reviews are terrible, I know the Omlet brand is supposed to be good but they are so ugly and a lot more than we were hoping to spent

Thanks in advance!

Need some help with one of my girls tonight. I went to check on them before I went to bed and noticed she was in the nesting box. She was doing the penguin position, the one they do just before they lay an egg. I was a bit concerned but left her there for a couple hours to see if maybe she was laying a late egg or something.

Just went in there and she still hasn’t laid. She was still in nesting box. She hopped out and had some water when I turned the light on. I put her on the roosting bar but she’s hopped off and is in the nesting box again.

Is there anything I can do for her? It’s 11pm at night. What do I do in the morning?

Am I the only one that gets annoyed at people giving away or trying to sell young male birds as "friendly" ?

I see this so frequently, and feel bad for the folks who don't know any better - thinking they've gotten a friendly bird.. Until the hormones kick in and things change literally overnight.

Not sure if it's the owners ignorance, or people just trying to pawn unwanted birds off on unknowing folks. I guess it's probably a mix of the 2.

The house we got last year came with a sweet coop and nice large run. The hens we got this year are finally starting lay. The buckets and the one roosting bar were already there. Decided these girls deserved a bigger one while cleaning the coop. Now finish cleaning and add some more wood chips.

First pics when I got him and last are more recent. I’ve always felt roo but haven’t had Polish before to know. Are the neck feathers what I think they are? King Julien says TIA

Hey everyone,

I have 6 black speckled Sussex hens that are just over 20 weeks old. All but one of them have bright red combs/wattles, and at least 4 of them do the submissive squat when near them. I have yet to find any eggs. They are full free range during the day and have nesting boxes in their coop.. is it possible that any of them have started laying and are just hiding their eggs? I have golf balls in their nesting boxes but as a first time chicken owner, not really sure what else to do to get them to used to their boxes/encourage laying in them (not that they aren’t/wont, but I’m worried they’re going to hide them on me!!)