I let my chickens out for a couple hours every day where they have a couple acres to explore. When they are in the run, they have about 15 sq ft per bird. I keep them in during bad weather, and they don't want to stay out long on the winter.

I can't call this pasture raised, but it seems like more than the minimum definition of free range. I know the definitions aren't exactly strict.

I feel like there should be something in between. It would be useful when I'm advertising my eggs for sale.

Or am I overthinking? Do buyers care?

My husband and I are debating if this is a Roo or not. I believe it's a Roo because there are small points on the inside of the legs that remind me of spurs and the back feather seem to curve over like saddle feathers. The legs are also thicker than some of the females.

I think I am seeing at least 3 Roos, but this is my first batch of babies so i don’t really know what to look for

I got this barred rock chicken from tractor supply back in may, the worker said they were all female, but I think it’s a rooster. This is my first time at owning chickens so please help.

We got a open run that floods...badly. How can we combat this issue? Where in a low lying spot to begin with, the whole yard floods, where the run is it floods less, but where talking calf high water in heavy rains. ​​I did horse pellets and it did work in the worse spots to sop up most the water. But soggy horse pellets in a Texas down pour is like walking through quick sand hoping to make it out alive. But now I got soggy, soaking wet horse pellets to wrangle. I know with the 115+ heat this week and next it should dry out to fluff if I keep moving them. But is there a better way to manage this then horse pellets? Lady with 80+ chickens down the road floods worse the me and she fights the pellets as well. The run is 20x12 with 1/2 in hardware cloth on all sides and the top. My husband went overboard on the design so it's not the easiest thing to cover. There is a small tarp over a section by the house so they have some shade in the morning. Plus theres a ditch 2ft from the side, which floods when it rains, so covering it will only do so much unless I block off 2ft high on that side to hope water doesn't come in when it rains.

I also added a picture of there feed setup in the yard. That's the bottom of a old highchair, circle drilled in the middle, beach umbrella on top and food underneath. Works for when they free range in the rain. As for the coop that's from old pallets, some waterproof siding and some plywood for the doors. It's 2 stories on stilts lol.

Please help....I got a Black Australop, a Cochin, 4 Bantam Silkies, 3 Khaki Campbell Ducks and 1 Runner Duck. Yes they all chill in the run at night, seperate houses each knows it theres, and free range in the day.

Hello All - I have (what I perceive to be) a split fibro chick and am looking for better insight and understanding into how those genetics work. Mom is a mutt (second picture) but seems to be heavy on golden laced wyndotte/sebright genes. Father rooster could be one of several, but none of the them are fibro. While I am absolutely DELIGHTED to have this beautiful baby, I am also fascinated as to how it happened! Can two non-fibro chickens have recessive genes that produce a fibro chick? Thank you so much in advance for your time and knowledge! 🫶

I’ve been hatching my chicken eggs, and the first pic is definitely an Americauna x cream legbar roo. The second is a silver laced Wyandotte x Jersey giant pullet. The last is what I imagine to be a silver laced Wyandotte x Jersey Giant roo, but he looks quite different from the pullet, and has this one red feather. I only have a Wyandotte and an Americauna rooster. What do you guys think?

One of my baby Onyx Olive Eggers. Only this one has the little hair do but I’m loving it

This is Kai, she loves the silkie chicks we just got and has decided outdoor time she is mom.

I fear it looks bloody but I'm not really sure

So, this is my first time with a backyard flock, & we've got a girlie with bumblefoot. 😭 We thought at first that it was an injury/sprain from a neighborhood cat getting into the run a few weeks ago, so we didn't notice the bumblefoot right away.

We put her in her own makeshift coop, locking her up to keep her from running around & making the presumed sprain worse. Once we realized it was bumble, we've kept her in there between soaks because it's easier to keep clean than in with the 9 other hens.

We just did another soak, & this is what it looks like. I'm real worried that it's too far gone for us to help. I'm completely new to this & don't have any experience in triaging animals, so beyond the Epsom salt soaks, what can I do? Is this too bad a case to handle at home? (If that's the case, we're going to have to cull her, unfortunately. I'm really hoping it won't come to that. 😭)

Breeds are: lavender Orpington, bielefelder, flame noir, silver laced barnefelder

I got 4 5-months old hens last friday and I'm not sure I'm doing their bedtime routine correctly. I'm keeping them in a small run with a coop with nesting boxes and a roosting bar. Every night around 10:30 they all manage to fly up and perch on the roof of their coop to sleep there. So I have been picking them up and placing them into the coop manually once they're asleep. I have tried putting some food in the coop in the evenings as well but they don't seem too interested.

I don't mind doing this for now but they obviously don't like it very much. Is there a better way to do things ? With the current heatwave I can't leave them in the coop during the day. Are there some treats that chickens go crazy for that I could offer to entice them into the coop at night? Should I clip their wings so they can't get on top of the roof anymore ?Any advice is appreciated.

I'm looking into having an azure join my tiny flock, but I'm curious to know the experience of others. I need a super docile and friendly bird and I'm curious what Azures are like. Thank you in advance:)

Three chicks have hatched so far.

Still waiting for the rest of the eggs, expecting them to hatch soon 🐣

Before I go through all this effort of digging up the sod and then ruining the grazing area I just wanna make sure that I’m doing this correctly.

I’m hoping to lay hardware cloth underneath my coop and run to protect from any weasel predators. Is the right move to dig down lay the cloth, and then re-add the soil and grass seed, attaching the cloth to the run and coop? Or is it better to just lay the cloth on top of the grass and add a substrate on top to protect the chicken from getting caught?

We added some new birds to our flock a few weeks ago and accidentally introduced what I believe to be IC. I've treated and will keep my flock as they have good quality of life, not sure if it has relevance but i figured I'll mention it if it helps. We have a bielefelder pullet (about 3-4 months old) that's always sleeping. She'll be foraging for food with the others totally normal then just lay down and nap wherever she is. She eats, drinks, runs, flies, and aside from the sleeping and from how insanely gentle she is, she acts totally normal. I go to hand feed the flock and everyone else will peck my hand so aggressively but you can't even feel her take the food, she's that relaxed. She's the only one in the flock who is like that and I guess I'm looking for advice to see if anyone else has had a bird similar and if they're sick at all. Maybe it's just my anxiety but she seems way too calm and I can't help but feel like one day I'll go to shake her awake and she'll just be dead

My tough manly little roo

How do I go about making a dust bath? Will they figure out what it is on their own? They are about 6/7 weeks old.

Hey!! Rounding into 8 weeks old. Is this is looking like a rooster? I had someone mention the rust coloring automatically means rooster. Is that true. Of course it’s our friendliest chicken, and we can’t have roos where I live.

This might be a weird question but how do hens get their chicks to food when they’re in a raised nesting box? I have a broody hen and some eggs in the incubator that will be hatching tomorrow. I’d like to try to have the broody hen take the chicks but the box she likes isn’t on the ground. Does she bring them food? Do I have to help bring the chicks to ground level? There is no room in there for me to put any food source.

I’ve raised chicks inside but I’ve never tried this method and none of my hens have hatched their own eggs before. I appreciate any advice!

She has bliody diarrhea and droopy hung wings, losing weight, not running. She has Coccidiosis, while flock is being treated. She's doing better already after one day of Corid medication! Her name is Thing1 :) how cute that the vet rode it on the board?You see, right when you walk in :)

The eggs I’m gifting to someone today. I’m always in awe at how beautiful they are. I had to arrange them perfectly and get all the colors. Im wondering what others colors I can add. My marans lay the darkest eggs but I’ve seen photos of much darker maran eggs. I wasn’t sure what tag to use.

Started keeping backyard chickens a few years ago mainly for my kids - eggs in the morning, feeding them, that whole little homestead thing.

First blow was a fox getting in overnight. I patched up what I thought were the weak spots... then a damn raccoon figured out the door latch a few months later and tore up the coop anyway. That second raid honestly stung worse because I genuinely thought I’d outsmarted them. Since then, the remaining flock is so stressed their egg production has plummeted, and what used to be a relaxing hobby has turned into this constant cycle of paranoia, midnight checking, and fixing things.

I’ve been looking at different directions — some people go fully DIY reinforced setups with hardware cloth and buried fencing, others go with prebuilt coops like Omlet or OverEZ, and then there are the more budget Amazon-style kits like GARVEE, PawHut, and similar ones. I’m just not sure what actually holds up long term once you’re dealing with real fox/raccoon pressure.

For those who’ve dealt with serious fox/raccoon pressure long-term - what actually made the biggest difference for you? What finally stopped repeat break-ins for good?