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I just wonder if anyone has thought of a way of identifying birds with feathered legs as a ring wouldn't work? I'm keen to remember exactly how each bird was bred. I wonder if a cable tie might work.

I have had my most dedicated first-time broody just hatch some eggs. She did no droppings for 48 hours whilst they were hatching so today I got her off the chicks and she had a lot of trouble producing a firm dropping with blood in it. I'm a bit worried about her. Has she got something like...

I have a chick that's been hammering on the egg for 24 hours and unable to pip. Is this too high or too low humidity?

One of my broody hens has developed black nostrils. She seems well but just wonder if this is anything to worry about?

I notice from a recent post that both Marigold and Dinosaw highly recommend the Green Frog chicken loft house. I need another house. My first good house was an Eglu cube which works very well, but cannot be automatically shut at night. Its extremely easy to clean and the birds like it. I am...

I've just candled some eggs received through the post that have been incubated for 8 days. Three of them have quite large air sacks, but on the side, not the end of the egg. Is this damage in the postal system, or previously incubated eggs? I wonder if they can hatch in this position? Rest...

I have recently found my seemingly healthy, in-lay Araucana flat out dead in my pen in a field. I am wondering now if she could have been killed by a stoat or weazel? I have just been speaking with someone that has lost one bird after another without any noticeable mark on them and they say it...

I had a big shock yesterday to find Pom, my lovely Araucana, dead and sprawled flat with her wings open in my field pen yesterday afternoon. She had a fairly empty crop, but otherwise looked healthy and was in lay and had laid an egg the day before. There was no sign of anything being wrong...

Strange, I've found eggs out on the lawn today someway from the house all with a long, narrow slit and the contents partially eaten. Although they have only appeared today, two of the eggs seemed rotten and one had black contents. What would be doing this - crows/jackdaws/rats?

I just wonder if 12 chicks might be too many for my (experienced pekin) broody to look after? Is there more of a risk of some not making it, or the broody getting worn out?

One of my my bantams suddenly looks off colour, and when I examined her crop and massaged it a bit a whole lot of fluid came shooting out of her mouth. Is this sour crop? It smelt a bit yeasty, but not a strong smell. I will try garlic and probiotics, but confusingly Chickenvet recommends...

Compassion in World Farming are having a publicity campaign on quail farming, which is unregulated in EU law. It seems they are factory farmed in an area no bigger than a beer mat in appalling conditions: I will never forget the first quail I saw hobbling agonisingly over jagged wire mesh, or...

I'm finding the flavour of my birds' eggs has changed in the birds I've moved to the field. They have an unusual more hay-like taste. They are eating grass whereas in my garden they had hedgerow and other plants as well as grass. Or could it be something to do with the soil (very sandy in the...

I set some eggs to test my young cockerel's fertility with a young buff sussex bantam and she hatched them all (3) successfully. However she is a real danger to her chicks as she's decided I am an ogre and goes into a wild panic almost crushing them and attacks me when I put water and food in...

I met a local guy yesterday who tells me he makes his (semi-retired) living by buying and selling poultry in markets. He seems to buy them in one market and sell them in another. Anything good he takes to a market where birds make more money. I didn't really understand how this works, but it...

A friend has made me a lovely poultry house with some ventilation holes near the roof and a meshed window that can be open and shut, but the ventilation needs to be increased as I'm finding some of my healthy birds sneezing for the first time. Does anyone know if there are any particular...

Joanna has been desperately straining to lay an egg (just her second this year). I popped her in warm water with epsom salts and massaged her, then after a lot of straining she laid first an egg white, then a yolk, then a crumpled shell. But she hasn't recovered. She's still standing with her...

My dog went into a highly excited 'fox-presence' mode at 3am and 4.30am this morning and there was indeed the sound of a creature near the coops - a beautiful hedgehog - quite a privilege!

I'm very embarrassed to say I've had another cockerel disaster. I keep the cockerels in a brick shed overnight in catboxes so they don't wake my neighbours, but two of them managed to get out of them and have a big fight before I let them out this morning. One has lost a lot of blood and when...

Last spring Joanna, my speckled sussex bantam, had a broken leg but made a good recovery. However, for the last two weeks she has been quieter and separate from the flock. I brought her in and she had a course of antibiotics because she seemed to be breathing more heavily. She then laid a...