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It's hot here at 37 degrees. But the humidity is unusually very high as well- thunderstorm weather! All our chickens have plenty of shade and plenty of water. The soil baths have been watered and so have the runs when we see them panting. The enclosure allows as much breeze through as is...

If you have red mite you will see tiny flecks of cream -their poo. This will be on the surface of the wood where they walk but will be most noticeable at the point where they enter the joint. You may need a magnifying glass. I posted a picture on here about 3 years ago to illustrate what you...

Hi Papa chicken and welcome to the forum. We keep Blue Laced Wyandottes. If you didn't know already, when you breed them you only get 50% Blue in a hatch. The remainder come out Gold Laced and Buff Laced so we have some of those as well. I'm very curious about this "Rare Exotic Breed" you are...

Sounds like they have been soil bathing and have shaken the dust off in the coop BB. If you are checking the perch every morning you will never get overrun by them. I've just treated a coop that looked completely clear, but the mite count on the perch was increasing to the point that they...

Hello CarrieMandy and welcome to the forum. Have you got poultry already or just planning ahead?

Well I wasn't expecting this. Just took the thermometer off the sunny window sill outside and it said 52. Now the weather forecast has issued a warning for thunderstorms with high winds (can exceed 130mph) coming in from Spain. The one we had last week dropped 40mm of rain in an hour apparently...

Hello Daisychain7 and welcome to the forum. We bought our Transylvanian Naked Neck cockerel from a chap called Brian Sands, who lives East of Boston Lincs. We had a look around his vast setup and he had Kraienkoppe and was looking for some new stock to start breeding again. Prior to that I had...

Looks like a wonderful part of the world Geckodan. The photos of your chickens are fantastic. You must have similar temperatures to us -pretty hot. We've moved coops, built for the English climate, 900 miles South and are having to add a lot more ventilation.

I've been doing some experimenting to try and build a red mite trap. First thing I needed was an infested, but empty, coop. During the course of this I've discovered a few things worth sharing. Red Mite are not attracted to just body heat, contrary to what I have read. Using a heated mat at...

Came as quite a surprise to me to discover bullfighting in this part of France -I thought it was only Spain. Anyway it is this weekend so we've been to peek at the goings on with the 30,000 that descend on us once a year (town population 6000). This is the first year they have provided camp...

Hello Peckomatic. Think Marigold is thinking of the place in Sicily with the same name? Just Googled Syracuse NY to find that the French were the first Europeans there in 1615. Do you keep chickens or just make the feeders?

My memory seems to be failing me today. One of our little Leghorns (Daisy) appears to have some degree of internal infection and we are treating her with Baytril. The bottle I have is for oral use at 10% strength. I seem to remember that it is administered at 0.1mL per Kg bodyweight, once a day...

Following on from comments on the previous thread. The Hoopoe nest in our wall contains two chicks at the moment. At 20 days old we thought, when the following video was made. Only the larger one is seen. The less developed chick, perhaps 3 or 4 days behind, only gets to eat when its sibling is...

In the UK we had problems with whitefly in the greenhouse. I read they could stand heat and also read they could stand high humidity. But by way of an experiment I subjected them to both at the same time, flooding the floor with water and shutting all the vents. The temperature rose to 50...

Hello Wise and welcome to the forum. I have recently read a book by Katie Thear called Organic Poultry. In it she observes that feather pecking and the cannibalism that follows in any confinement can be the result of failing to provide feed at the three distinct heights a chicken would naturally...

Two weeks ago it looked as if we were going to be overwhelmed by red mite. The first coop we took out for creosoting was almost at the point of burning! We had red mite in three others and it looked like they were spreading out of control. We hit them with contact biocide and Nettex but it was...

Welcome to the forum Christian1971. Trees are great cover for chickens from excessive sun, but too many and they don't get enough as we found out last year. We are surrounded by miles of farmland as well. Spotted my first wild boar a few days ago- a huge beast which moved really fast and I hope...

Of course we don't buy eggs but was curious to see a sign explaining the French system of egg standard. There are 4 categories- 3, 2, 1, 0. They are defined thus:- 3 -caged hens at a stocking density not more than 13 per square metre. I defy anyone to find an egg box marked category 3. I picked...

Hello Soliloquy72 and welcome to the forum. Silkies are renewed for being broody. Sure they are not as bad as Transylvanian Naked Necks though? Just need to be sure your broodies are two years old and in perfect health with no lice or mites. We put ours in a purpose built very secure coop and...

Welcome to the forum HIfarmpickles. That does sound a rather haphazard setup you have, but if it works on the land you have that's great. My neighbour's 6 chickens run free range most of the year, but even over two acres they need supplemental grain. They are penned in now (for 3 months) because...