Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me? I have a Welsummer cockerel that is closing his eyes quite a lot and bumping into the other hens. He will open them from time to time. I have bathed them with saline, there is no discharge or redness and does not seem to bother him. The chicken coop has fresh dust...

Well, at last, my husband is in his element now he has a nucleaus with queen. We picked 5 frames up on Easter Monday and last week we extracted 4 frames and got 4kg of pure South Yorkshire honey. We were just so excited we cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate. It is just so rewarding as we are...

Hi to everyone, glad the good weather is here for the moment. I have acquired 2 very cute 4 week old chicks, one is a Welsummer and the other a Copper Black Maran they are currently on Chick Crumb, what would be the next step? I acquired these rather quickly so didn't have time to research into chic...

Yes, I give them supplements, cabbages, cd's, pecka block. They have a huge run and I dig up the run for them from time to time so they can have a rummage around and lots of dust baths. They seem so competitive towards each other. If I give them boiled potato peelings they dive in altogether, it's q...

Hi everyone, please can you advise me, I have 12 hens and they have started to pick each others feathers out. I have tried spraying them, bought a pecka block, clips for their beaks (that was hopeless) and Stockholm tar all to no avail. Would it be possible to just snip the end off the top of their ...

I have gorgeous eggs but now in a dilemma. I have 4 friends who buy my eggs on a regular basis which is fantastic but I have just started baking. Bread, quiches, scones, cottage and shepherds pies, cornish pasties, sausage rolls and loads of cakes. I asked neighbours to test for me and now I have pe...

Hi I bought dried mealworms 400gms buy two for £16 something. The brand is Gardman for wild birds. You can soak them but I feed them dry and the protein is 25% fat and 50% crude protein on a scale of 1-10 for energy it is rated at 9. The chooks love them. I found that live meal worms from the pet s...

Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages of sympathy for my beautiful Harriet. I keep asking myself if I could have done more for her. She was always in the nest box at night and never really snuggled with the others when they roosted at night. I do believe that she was cold. She looked the pi...

Sadly, my beautiful Fresian Fowl Harried passed away at 17.45 today, peacefully in my kitchen. She was not herself this morning when I opened the coop and after tlc and cod liver oil it just was not enough to bring her round. It is my first chook to pass away and I am really, really upset. She was m...

Oh dear, my poor Harriet is a little down in the dumps today. When I opened the coop to let them out she was in the nest box so I thought she was laying. Took the dogs for an hours walk and then on returning, checked her again and she was standing by the water all huddled up and the others were bein...

I put dust free shaving in the bottom of coop and nest box and then staw on top. I poo pick every day and clean out thoroughly once a week. The bottom of the coop have lots of staw and all around the coop and run which is under corrugated plastic then the girls have about 5 metres of soil to scratc...

Hiya and welcome.
It could be that the others are plucking it out. I have one which does that. Every time a chook bares its bum at her she plucks out a downy feather. It may be she is lacking some protein in the diet. Have you consdered giving meal worms, that may help.
Jet

I don't think I can stop. Is there therapy out there for this sort of obsession because before long I will definately need help. I keep thinking about the veg plot and what I can put on it beside veg. When I say to my husband "I've been thinking" he shakes in his boots as to what's next. l...

I went to buy two more chooks last week. I said only two, but guess what, came away with three. Black Rock called Gracie, Speckldy called Wilma and another Amber call Demelza. That is a total of 13 now and I don't think it is an unlucky number for me. They have all integrated well which means that D...

Hi, I get Practical Poultry magazine every month and in their they list the breeders in areas all over the uk. I picked three from my area and went to see them before embarking on buying any. It is a very good magazine. Good luck with your chooks, I have a mixed bunch and they are all absolutely gor...