We have a vet in the village who is reputedly a chicken expert, unfortunately she is on holiday at the moment. Freyja is a large Plymouth Rock which I grew from an egg, her brother is a big boy who looks after the three maran hens. The three eggs she laid were complete albeit small, but this is not ...

I took Freyja to the vet yesterday, it cost me £41.14 for her to tell me she doesn't know what is wrong with her. She injected her with a pain killer and gave me a syringe to give her a second injection today, I'll give her a week to show signs of improvement then I'll have to euthanise her if thing...

My neighbour is a village primary school, so no problems on that account.

The two eggs that hatched are now a boy and a girl aged 21 weeks. They've got over their shyness with the three older girls and Paladin is crowing, Freyja hasn't started laying yet. My question is, how do I feed Paladin. There is a hopper full of layers pellets, but I can't really stop him eating th...

Thanks for your replies. It seems she is letting him know she is the boss. Her crow is very good although not as loud as I would expect a cockerel to be. Presumably there will come a time when he is a little older that he will take over as boss. At the moment he runs away from all the bigger girls a...

I have three Black Maran hens who are about 2 years old, but have never had more than 2 eggs at a time between them. I have recently introduced a cockerel and a hen Barred Plymouth Rocks which I hatched in an incubator. A few weeks ago I heard the cockerel (Paladin) crowing which I thought was a bit...

Both my Light Sussex girls have gone broody, they keep stealing eggs the Marans lay and try to hatch them. I know there are a number of ways to "cure" broodiness, but I was wondering if borrowing a rooster for a couple of weeks and letting them raise a small family would work. That way I a...

Hi Mo, ha ha. She is locked in the run, the entrance gate is under the pergola where she roosts. The other two have worked out that night time is in the shelter along with the Sussex girls. It may be because the Sussex girls are bullying the marans during the day, not too badly, but they run past th...

I bought 3 marans last Tuesday and one of them refuses to go into the coop at night. Instead she somehow climbs up then roosts on top of the pergola 7' off the ground all night even in 50 mph winds and driving rain like we have this evening.

Should I be giving them grit and oyster shell. I only give them oyster shell.

I bought myself 3 new black marans yesterday. They are a bit scared of the light sussex girls, particularly Sage who is letting them know who is boss.

I agree, when I said on Tuesday I meant on a Tuesday, perhaps in a few week's time.

She was dead when i got home from work. They are all Light Sussex and now there are only two of the four left. She was quite robust and was only sick for three or four days. The remaining two girls seem fine, both laying today. It will be interesting to see if they become closer without the others t...

They are 5 days into the 7 day Flubenvet worming treatment, and I power washed the inside of the coop with Jeyes Fluid. I feed them layers pellets mixed with oystershell and give them a handful or two of mixed corn every day along with occasional fruit treats. They spent the winter free ranging over...

Following last week's episode with Onion and losing her to sour crop, Whitey is now looking very bad. After all four moulted last autumn, three of them didn't grow their combs and wattles back very well. This was expected of Baldy who never had very good ones, but whitey has in the past. This week s...