Recent content by chrismahon

The alternative is simply he is moulting, but I understand your concern about going pale which could perhaps be due to blood loss. Worth checking in the coop for red mite. There is plenty of information available about them. Another possibility is Northern Fowl Mite which tend to attack...

He looks perfectly healthy, but may well be in shock if his eyes remain dilated like that outside. His tail feathers have either fallen out because he is moulting or, more likely, they were pulled out in the same fox attack. We have had a cockerel lost all his tail feathers and was knocked out...

Taking each element in turn:- The roosts would be good for 24 at 9" of perch each. The run would be good for 33 maximum based on 2 square metres minimum each, so lets say no more than 30 and 20 would be far better. The floor space of the coop doesn't mean much in practice as they just need room...

Still in France Icemaiden and once again we are all suffering from the heat. Been a silly hot and very dry Summer which started beginning of June. As a result pretty much all our veg planting failed and I've taken the decision to stop wasting time and money in there. Maximum temperature this...

Using creosote we've found it is best diluted 50:50 with paraffin because it soaks in and dries more quickly. But it is dangerous stuff which will burn in skin contact, so never use it on the top of perches. Be very careful when applying because just breathing the fumes will make you very ill (I...

Is he sneezing or trying to crow? He looks healthy but it is possible he has an allergy to dust, so make sure the environment is kept as clean as possible.

You can add your location if you go into your account and hunt a bit- took ages to find mine, but there is somewhere to put it. Whilst mine says 'Gascony France' I am actually from the Midlands, originally Derbyshire then Staffordshire. Most of the original members were from the UK, but I don't...

Quail?

Welcome to the forum Brewster. I haven't seen chicken eggshells marked like those before, so what have you hatched there?

Too difficult at this age, especially with an individual rather than several for comparison. Some breeds sex so late the first time you know with the males is when they start trying to crow and the females you know because they don't. You would normally be sure of the sex at 12 weeks.

Has the flood of completely irrelevant posts finished? I noticed the last post was Wednesday and nothing since. They were arriving at the rate of 5 a minute up to then!

Something else that occurred to me (whilst waiting for the storms to arrive yesterday evening) is the day count you have. Eggs are incubated starting day zero and day one starts 24 hours later, so the egg may have been day 21 (hatching day) or day 25 (very late hatch).

Day 22-26 is too vague. At day 22 it may be OK, at 26 it is probably dead. I did open an egg at day 25 and killed the chick in it, so leave it longer. I must add that moving the egg is likely to kill the chick in it anyway. The chick will be trying to manouvre to pip and it only has limited...

Hello and welcome. I know the Midlands area quite well and there is no problem with the environment. Summers are the biggest problem because chickens need shade and good ventilation to keep cool, but you won't reach their limit of 37C, as we do here. Two important points. Always start with...

After 3 days separation she is seen as an outsider and will remain so, which isn't unusual as I've seen hens raised together from hatching attack each other after 24 hours. She will have to be introduced as if she was a completely new chicken to the flock, which is going to be difficult. Note...