Hi all! I’ve been doing research into heritage breeds recently and I came across Rouen ducks and I love their more wild type colouring compared to other domestic breeds. I was wondering if anyone knew why some were slimmer while others have a lot of junk in the trunk? Thanks!

There about a week old I bought some food off the guy I bought the ducks off and I have them in a big carload box with pine shavings the food and water...I let them run around the house and I'm letting then outside under a shade cover.

I have five 6-8week old Pekin Bantams and I'm having trouble identifying their sex. Can anyone help? People on Facebook are no help at all.

Doesn’t look like any of the photos of scaly leg mite I’ve seen, no other symptoms except doesn’t seem keen to stand/walk. Affected areas of feet are red / raw. No other hens effected. They are kept in an egg mobile rotated on pasture. They have access to perches in the mobile, but often this cockerel sleeps on the floor.

Sorry for potato quality photo. Phone is fluttered.

My Pekin female duck passed away. My male the khaki campbell and her were super close. They hatched together and grew up together. They were inseparable. I've heard that ducks can grieve and I don't want him to become depressed. I'm reaching out for help in finding a new home. Please message me if you're serious. I would prefer he'll go with a Pekin female. (His 9 months) located in nc, I'm willing to drive to you.

I’m coming here to ask for advice and maybe get an answer for what’s happening. Earlier I found a chicken on my bottom step. It was hiding its head in the corner and not moving. Naturally I poked at it to see if it was even alive, and it was! It turned its head and looked at me but it blinked really slowly and just stared at me. I thought maybe it was scared of a cat chasing it or something so I left it alone. Later on I went back outside to check on it and it was still there but, it was now moved and on the floor. So obviously something is wrong with it and needs help. I put on some gloves and try to pick it up but it jerks really hard and turns its neck to look at me again like earlier. That freaks me out so I just left it alone again and try to let the chicken help itself. Now it’s around dinner time and I go back outside to check. Same spot. But, now it’s standing and making what I believe to be normal chicken noises and looking around. The chicken is now more aware of its surroundings and gained consciousness but it’s not leaving. It’s just standing there and looking around but not moving anywhere. I need advice on what I should do. I’d hate to hurt the chicken if it doesn’t need to be put out of its misery but I also don’t know what’s going on so I’d love some feedback please !!

This has layers, some of which may not pertain to or be relevant here, so I am starting this thread here to cross post to others.

Context: 4th generation [IN] farmer (row crop, hay, and beef) on roughly 1500 acres

End goal:

• Raise pheasant (scale unknown) for egg/meat production
• Have an impact in the reintroduction of species correct pheasant (possibly other upland birds) to Indiana

Questions:

• What literature/resources could you recommend to a novice in raising pheasant?
• Are there existing release programs for populating in the Midwest?
• Does release of captive raised birds require inspection/licensing and is it legal?
• Where can I search for grants related to such a topic?

Thanks for reading!

I am putting together a plan to rotate our sheep and then meat birds (+/- 100 Rangers plus 6 Guineas) through our dormant blueberries. Each paddock will be 10,000 sq ft (1/4 acre). Based on what I know, for true production in that size area we’d need +/- 800 birds. I am thinking of only 100, mainly because this is an experiment and our walk-ins are down at the moment.

The goal is to clean up the weeds and dropped fruit. By-product of that cleanup is meat for us or for sale. I’m worried that I’ll be making a mistake with that few birds, and that they won’t make a dent in the weeds. Cross fencing smaller would be very difficult, it’d be easier for me to increase the # of birds and figure out a plan for the back end.

If you’re running meat birds outside of a tractor, how do you calculate your quantities/sq ft and in your experience would 100 birds be futile?

Does anyone have Joel’s phone number? 😆

Free range turkey. Usually roosts in trees. Found her in the chicken coop like this. Foot looks horrible. Any ideas?

My hyline brown chicken has not been eating properly for 3 days now. She seems lethargic, has buff feathers, purple comb. Recently, she has only been eating fruit like nectarine which may suggest the yellow poop colour? I have given her coccidiosis treatment yesterday in her water. Today, I have added electrolytes and calcium in her water. Has anyone experience anything like this and what is the most liekely condition based on your experience?

Yesterday, I posted than my hen had laid first egg in three years. Today, when I went to remove it to stop her brooding, I found 11. I am perplexed and very happy 😀

I don't know if this is more common than I think. Someone gave me this hen and her sister three years ago. They laid eggs for some weeks and stopped afterwards. I reckon they were around three years old when i got them from a friend of my mother in law ( they couldn't keep them anymore although my suspicion is that the hens were laying fewer eggs and the owners didn't want to kill them).

Anyway, fast forward three years, yesterday afternoon and today morning this hen didn't come for food ( they are free range). I went to the coop, looking for her. When I saw her, I thought she might be dead but to my surprise, I saw an egg. She was covering three quarters of it with her body. This afternoon, when I went to check out, she was fully covering it, so I remove a feather a little bit and took the photo. Then, I covered back.

Is this more common than I think, or because most hens are killed after stopping laying eggs, there's not enough data.

To be honest, I am ecstatic 😀

Does anyone have any advice on finding good chicken hatcheries in Europe and more specifically in Spain?

Hello there. So, recently a friend of mine has been having trouble dealing with daily mortality of layer birds in laying stage. They don't present any prominent signs of any disease. Eat and drink well and go about their daily routine but overnight 1 or 2 birds expire. Drooping is also normal (except for being a little blackish for a couple of days) but overall pretty normal.

During postmortem there's no prominent lesion as such. Breathing is also normal. What could possibly be causing death of these birds?

I have two roosters (in separate coups) and one of my hens was killed in what seemed to be some very aggressive, forced mating. I want to reduce their spurs but I'm not sure of the best way to do it without harming them too much. I see many people have done a pop and twist-off method, but that looks like it does a good bit of damage in exposing the flesh to infections ans pecking from other chickens. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone, so I reside in the UK and have raised and looked after bantams my entire life and when I no longer have any more chickens I wanted to start afresh and have other poultry as well. I would be interested in having chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl and quails (possibly have geese and ducks as well but is not a priority) I've done some research and have a vast area with enough space for all of them to be living together but I would put my quails separately due to their size.

My main concern is what is safe to feed the all the chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl since they would all be sharing the same feeding area. Google has said that 16-18% protein layers pellets & mixed corn would be good feed for all of them with the quails most likely having chick crumbs/ground up pellets as they need smaller food.

I wanted to check to see if this would be okay or if anyone had any tips before I set off to start anything because if there's not a possibility to be able to have the poultry eat the same food then I'm not sure I would get them because of costs as buying lots of separate animal feed from different places can be costly and was hoping if someone with more insight to raising these types of poultry could give me any advice thanks in advance

Is it possible to reach the 3.75 calcium req by only using 3% additives? this is for Lohmann chicken pls help:(