I've never seen anything like that before! One of our young TNN's managed about 20 metres and reached a height of two metres- the flying stopped when they came into lay, I guess because of the extra weight. There was a world record for chicken flight but I can't remember how far? I suspect the chick...

Our Leghorn bantam cockerels were obvious at 4 weeks, so I'd also say she's a pullet coming into lay. Another point is that when they stop laying, over Winter and when moulting, their combs shrink alarmingly and get very pale. The skin hardens and we put vaseline on them to prevent them cracking.

There are other mites and I've seen them in the coops on occasion- dust mites I call them as they seem to live and feed on feather dust. They are a pale grey colour and still seem to cluster but not in wood gaps that I've noticed, just in the dust on top of framework or in the corners of the floor. ...

Another reason for red mite hiding during the day is chickens will eat them. Another indicator of a mite problem is chickens scratching in the shavings in the coop.

Sorry to hear that tale Hen-Gen. Strangely the term "where you have livestock you will get deadstock" I first heard from a breeder of two horned Jacobs. We bought two to graze first on our orchard and then for the freezer but one died within a few days after 'scouring' I think it was called? Perhaps...

In our experience bantams need almost as much space as large fowl, so maximum in a 4 square metre run it's two LF or 3 bantams. We have 5 bantams in 9 square metres and had to add an outer run for afternoons as they were getting stressed. Can't understand why this person wants a cockerel Chickenfan?...

A coop has to be empty for 9 months before all the red mite have died Rick. Presumably it takes that long because they eat each other. Based on my experiments they quickly die above 55C. An early indicator of their presence is ants as they eat red mite amongst other little bugs. We've tried most thi...

We stopped using Aubiose in the dry months Rick because we found it too dusty and it did affect the chickens- they are prone to flapping about in the mornings. At that point we switched back to wood shavings in the coop (and now only use newspaper- glossy magazines are even better). I made something...

The Indonesian breed Ayam Cemani featured in Practical Poultry January 2012, page 26 if my memory serves correctly.

Of the two options I think you have chosen the best Tweetypie. We have moved all our chickens three times now without problems but it is important to remember that chickens don't like changes of any type as they stress them which can bring on illness. Of course moving their coop and run isn't an opt...