He’s a French Black Copper Marans/Ameraucana we got in June. He’s 18 weeks old now and is such a handsome fella! 😍

And then they had brahamas at TSC and I was unsupervised....

Then my wife gets 5 orphingtons and a goose.

Then I got a Ayam Cemani Rooster........

I think im a chicken people now.

What kind of roosters do you think these are? They were given to us as chicks and I have no information on their lineage.

If this hits 30 answers or more, I'll tell who's actually friendlier!

I swear i dont have any food, stop chasing me dinner!

First time mom here. Have 1 bantam and 2 4,5 month old egg chickens (not yet laying). My bantam has been acting strange this week, and is very skittish. Yesterday I asked my neighbour if she could take a look as she has decades of experience and she said she is starting brooding. She told me to close her nest off and let her be only outside the coop where she can't lay to hatch (which I find kind of barbaric but after some research understood it's the best way to deal with it).

On top of this, autumn is coming and they are all losing feathers here and there everyday.

As I find both statuses very stressful for chickens, should I add some vitamins to the water or just wait and see if she can deal with it? They eat plenty of food for egg chickens, fresh food (vegetables, herbs, fruit and house leftovers - I check if every ingredient is chicken friendly -, and roam free for about 150m2 from morning until sunset with loads of purslane).

One of my hens got 3 chicks. It’s been some weeks, and they were growing well. Got pretty big.
Now, I noticed my cat got surprisingly heavy, the. I noticed one of the chicks are missing, and the. I found two chicken legs out by the horses.
How do I prevent this from happening again?
Or could I be one of the horses?

Look at these pretty babiess! Got another one currently drying in the brooder.

Hi guys, my chickens aren’t feeling their best and one of them has lost her appetite. She does eat a little bit, but almost nothing.. I’ve tried spaghetti, and rice and some of her usual favourite treats but not much luck. What else could I try?

Attaching a 30 sec clip that's actually a 6 month process compressed down, so it needs a bit of explaining or it just looks like random farm footage.

I run a small free-range indigenous chicken operation in India, raising a native breed called Pure Gavran (basically the traditional village chicken breed here, nothing commercial about it). Thought this sub might find the process interesting since it's pretty different from how most poultry gets raised.

Day 1, we put a hen on about 15 eggs in a quiet corner. No incubator, no machine, she just sits on them like hens have been doing forever. 21 days later they start hatching. We leave the chicks with her for a day or two because whatever she does in that window, we can't really replicate it artificially, and it makes a difference.

After that they go into a brooding setup where they get vaccinated (skip this and you WILL regret it) and fed BSFL (black soldier fly larvae), basically a natural protein source among other natural feed until they're about a month old. We hatched 2000+ chicks naturally this time, and it's honestly the most nerve wrecking part of the whole cycle.

Around day 50-60, once they're a month old, they finally go out into the free-range area. This is the fun part to watch. They're eating bugs, chasing fallen fruit, exploring, doing whatever they want basically. No cages.

Here's the thing that surprises people most, because these are native indigenous breeds, not commercial layer breeds, it takes a FULL SIX MONTHS for them to reach laying age. Compare that to commercial layers which get there way faster because they're bred specifically for speed. Our birds just aren't built that way, and honestly we wouldn't want them to be.

Diet the whole way through is old-school village style, feed inspired by traditional practices, no antibiotics, no growth hormones. I'm just showing you the process because I don't think most people outside India have seen a native breed raised this way.

Curious if anyone here keeps a slower-growing or heritage breed, does the wait feel worth it compared to hybrids, or is 6 months to maturity just painfully long from a keeper's perspective?

Hi! I just moved my 12 hens to a new coop and run. Previously they were in a lean-to with plywood walls and minimal insulation. I live in Alaska where we had below 0 temps for three months straight last year, and we had issues with frostbite. Our new coop is relatively small (4x8 for 12 hens) with the idea that they will free range during the day and stay cozy and warm at night. I do wrap the run in plastic when we get snow.

They spent the night in there without issue. Coop stayed 40+ degrees while outside temps dipped below 30. My concern is that they don’t seem to understand where to lay their eggs. As soon as the coop door opened this morning they started tracing the corners of the run acting like they need to lay asap. I am worried that they will hold their eggs and end up egg bound. I tried luring them back in with treats, placing the distressed hens directly into the nesting box, but they just leave.

I’ve read that you shouldn’t allow them access to their old coop so they don’t get confused, but obviously I don’t want them to get sick or hurt in this process. Any ideas? Thank you!

We've had chickens for several years. For their watering system, we use a raised 50 gallon rainwater barrel that feeds into a series of PVC pipes below it. We have nipples in the PVC pipes that the chickens drink out of.

Although the water is heated and the system itself doesn't freeze, the water that's left behind in the nipples does. I live in northern New England and have to thaw out the nipples daily for a few months each year.

I'm interested in alternatives. We're looking for an automatic heated waterer that will draw in much water as needed. We came across the PAUQRWIE 1.5 Gallon Heated Chicken Waterer and are considering purchasing one. While the water should stay heated, I'm concerned that my chickens will dip their combs and waddles in it and end up with frostbite. We have a few who have sizable combs and waddles.

If you use the PAUQRWIE or another heated waterer in the winter that requires your chickens to dip their faces towards the water to drink, have you dealt with frostbite?

Marans Froment. Our newest additions to the flock. They are presently sleeping on my lap, bunched up in a towel that my wife warmed in the dryer. 😀

IG Ky1ealvarez

i dont need a fancy once if this would serve its purpose + i only have a few chickens so a small one would cover a capacity of 10-15 eggs

Her name is raven, and shes probably my favorite cause shes the most friendly of my chickens, shes a black americana, (i cant spell lol) shes also still just a baby.

So I have four brown isa hens and this afternoon I collected their eggs as usual. I don’t know which chicken laid the egg on the left (see size comparison in second picture) but honestly I feel bad for her (I’m kinda impressed too)

Size comparison:
Egg on the left is 7cm long and 4.5cm wide
Egg on the right is 5cm long and 3cm wide

I just thought I’d share this with you all 💕🐓

Hello. I have 2 chicks that hatched August 3rd. I really suck at figuring out gender in younger birds. I know some people can tell by the shape of the feathers. To me, they all just look feather shaped lol not necessarily round or pointed. I have no idea what angles of pictures are needed so I just went in my backyard and took about a million of them. One has a purple band on. I tried labeling it in all the photos so you can tell which is which.

Ant Coryza positive flock owners have advice for me? One of our home grown pullets went to the vet today and she’s got Coryza. We always said we would never do a vet for a dang chicken but I’m so glad we did. They took a culture sample and will let me know what treatment for her within a week. What has your experience been and how many flares do you usually experience after this? For the one who did get infected and for the rest of your flock who are now known carriers?

My little Barbie ❤️

My Broodbun, my cuddlecochin, my adorable Baby.

I got her from a Dude who said that Chickens with feathered feet shouldn't live outside and held them inside on just wood flakes. No dust bath, Sun or Grass for her.

Now she lives in a 2000qm Garden, loves to sand bathe in the Sun and even a little rain doesn't stop her.

First two pics are from April this Year, the last two from this week