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Wood flooring is fine, but chicken droppings on the floor are no fun to clean. Plain straw on the floor will mat with droppings, stink, ammonia builds up, and is a problem. I'd recommend using ...

Gary, I'm not an expert either. I've raised them for about 2 years but read most of 4 books trying to learn. Chicks develop from embryos and not yolks. The yolk (and the white) are food for the...

Not horse pasture. Chicken pasture. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif They dig & scratch leaving it mess. In between the depressions are hard clumps of weeds the chickens choose to leave. I'd like to...

I got bands at the local feed store. They were behind the counter so I had to ask. They're also available on the Internet. One site is http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/leg_bands.html
...

Chrisbell, congratulations on thinning your flock! Sounds like you don't live terribly far from me. I'm in Sloughhouse, south Sacramento county, formerly from Pollock Pines. I told my kids the...

Congratulations Garey! Great looking calf, nice name too! -Jonathan

My Rhode Island Red attacked my leg when he was fairly young & his spurs weren't sharp. This was his first attack, and I fortunately had a 1x4 stake in my hand. I immediately pushed & hit him away...

I started researching. Found a web site listing over 350 fungi that grow in California, listing over 200 mushrooms. Good pictures and descriptions. I looked at about 100, and almost all were safe...

My chickens love to eat mushrooms. I've been researching and can't find anything saying it's okay or not. The chickens seem healthy, so I'm guessing these mushrooms aren't the death cup mushroom,...

Hakim,

From your description I did some things right, but made mistakes too. The chicks got Farmer's chick feed at first. Is this okay instead of grower mash?

Next they got all purpose...

This year was my first raising chickens ... Rhode Island Reds. They've been fun. We're still getting lots of good eggs. But the hens are not as meaty as store bought. I'm thinking of trying another...

Thanks for the replies & advice. Interesting most of you commented on the smell. It reminded me of breakfast cooking, not unpleasant, but I still tried to avoid it. I did use disposable rubber...

I butchered my first two chickens a few weeks ago. I held their legs, slipped a short noose around their feet, hatcheted the head off, hung the other end of the noose on a nail to let them drain...

Rich, it sounds like you had the chicken trained to roost in the hen house, making me wonder why a chicken would roost else where? Maybe she was broody? Lost? Or maybe something scared her out...

Pat, I can agree with you whole hearted on one thing,

<font color="blue"> "A mediocre day in the country beats a GREAT day in the city!" </font color>

-Jonathan

Pat, two things you've said got my attention.

<font color="blue"> "Auto makers do extensive testing these recent decades in attempt to keep the "fleet" average fuel consumption in check." ...

My fault. I left a few sacks of feed on the garage floor too long--and then found ants and weevils. /forums/images/icons/blush.gif I dusted the outsides with diatomacious (sp?) earth, wrapped...

Everything I've read says to use flat latex paint, dilute it with water in a 50/50 mix. Use white or light brown paint. A little bit goes a long way, and it's easy to apply. Best of luck.

The bird is probably a racing pigeon--a faster version of the homing pigeon. Since pigeons and doves are the same species, the cooing of my doves attract lots of lost pigeons. The pigeons seldom let...

The shredded weeds I mulch allow few weeds to grow &amp; those are easy to pull. It could be the low humidity in California. The mulch isn't composted, so it's a lousy medium for growing weeds or tree...

I think farmers use a pre-emergent herbicide to get bare ground under orchards. The poison lays on the surface of the ground, and grasses, weeds, or whatever are killed as they start to sprout. ...

Pete, I've never had your problem in California, but I love low-tech solutions. I'd probably try the following. I'd build a custom brick box out of cinderblock, designed to hold the water trough or...

I asked my wife to tell me if the eggs shells were thick or thin. She said the lighter shells were thinner and the darker ones thicker. Our flock is entirely Rhode Island Reds so the eggs are all...

Well, the chickens are laying in the nests just fine, almost a dozen eggs daily. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif Most are perfect, right about or almost AA size. Younger chickens are laying smaller...

Well, the chickens are 4-1/2 months old (I got them unfeathered on March 13), and they laid 5 eggs this past week. The lady at the feed store said they were too young to be laying but the hens don't...