Me again..  🤕 

The same chick that has the crooked beak/cross-beak has splayed legs. I noticed about a week ago that she had little balance, but I thought it was possibly related to the beak.

Now I feel confident that it is splayed legs. I have read that I should act as quick as possible, and that she likely had them from hatching. I have seen a short video online that showed somebody had made a sling for their older chick to help it stand. I think it was tiktok or similar but I can't find it again.

I attempted a splint/legs brace but because she is older than the ones that I have found online, I don't know if I should make it above or below her 'knees'.. (A quick search says I am referring to their ankles & heels)

When I put it below her ankles, it didn't really seem to help and was more restricting, but above them and I am not sure that i had it on correctly.

I don't have a photo of the 'splint' on, but there isn't one on at the moment, because I couldn't figure out the best option.

Sorry for the long video. About 40 seconds in you can see her sliding on the floor (I removed the newspaper to help) but no matter how much bedding I put in, the others kick it away and the floor becomes slippy for her (she was never slipping before the past week).

Picture of her feet (if it helps at all?)

I seem to be the only one starting threads here.. but it's the only place I know where i can post 😁

One of my chicks has the bottom half of its beak sticking out to the left. It also sleeps a lot, but I wasn't really sure it was the same chick until their colours started to come in. the crooked beak is only really starting to show now.

Three other chicks in the brooding cage play and run around a lot, but usually this one is sleeping, it also doesn't seem to play with them anyway.

Don't have a great picture, this is the best one I have.

Should I be worried (I am)?

Is there anything I can do for it?

https://i.removed/TY06yn3N/IMG-20260903-WA0018.jpg

EDIT.

I have added two videos replying to this post showing the chick drinking and sleeping while the others are wide awake.

I have 4 two week old chicks that are fond of pecking the ground and scraping it, and sleeping. Sometimes they will have the odd noise making break, but should I put something into the brooder with them? For example I was thinking of putting an old broom handle sawn off, in with them to perch on, but a quick search on duckduckgo suggests maybe to put in a branch and possibly a mirror and a small pile of dirt from the garden...

I am a little confused, as I thought that those sort of things (not including the mirror) might carry harmful things for them, do I need to clean the branches first? - I don't even want to ask about the garden dirt...

Can I throw a branch in with 2 week old chicks, or do I need to clean it first - and how? Or am I possibly over thinking that I need to much more careful than I actually need to be.

I bought eggs on the 5th or 6th of July, they arrived on the 10th and I put them straight into the incubator.

• 1 x Welsummer
• 1 x French Copper Maran
• 2 x Buff pekin
• 2 x millifeur pekin

I thought I was due to remove the rolling tray yesterday, I was out first thing in the morning, and when I got back around 9:30am I noticed that one of the eggs had hatched. I think a Pekin. I was unsure what to do, so about 15 minutes later I noticed it's foot was caught under the rolling tray plastic thing, so I opened the humidifier (with clean hands etc) and removed the tray. A few hours later and I noticed that one of the larger eggs (the French copper or the wellsummer) had started to break. This was roughly 6:30pm, but may have been earlier. This morning I noticed that, that egg hadn't really moved, and the hole was on the bottom. So I read about stuck eggs.. And that's when I found out about not opening the incubator for a sudden drop in humidity. I panicked. I think I waited about 20 minutes (reading that timing is everything) and I decided to try and see if I could help the egg. I followed the instructions from HERE, but it think I may have been too late. But now I have opened the incubator 2 more times (once to take it out and once to put it back).

Will the other eggs hatch, or have I likely destroyed any chance that they have?

I'm kicking myself hard here. but hopefully the one that did hatch could still have at least one other buddy.

I can post more detailed pictures if these are no use. A friend of a friend of a friend etc. donated me this chicken coop, but there are parts missing (that's no problem, I hope to reinforce it anyway), but I am trying to find out what parts exactly might be missing and how to assemble it correctly (manual, dimensions etc.) I think I have the basic shape of it correct - I have just used masking tape to temporarily hold it together while I figure it out. the door on the inside of the run slides open, but it can't be correct where I have it, as it blocks the sliding floor from going in. if I flip it upside down, the ramp/steps that the chickens use to get up is crazy steep, or if I flip it so that the door and the pulley thing are on the outside, then I couldn't get in to pull it open each morning..

Hopefully I've explained it well enough for people to understand.

Hopefully somebody has the manual for this it can show me what is missing from this model (egg box etc)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46269033

Great Lakes region, USA. April 2026.

I'll often see this hen pecking away in our neighbor's yard. She's usually accompanied by her handsome black roo, but he wasn't around. She is very friendly and curious, he's not so much.

Excited that they are growing so dang fast! It'll be time to put them in the (separated) coop soon enough

• 2 Rhode Island Reds
• 2 Barred Rocks
• 1 Light Brahma
• 1 Barnevelder

Good news! I put 20 eggs 21 days ago on the incubator, just 9 were fertile and 8 grow till the end but just 6 hatch up. They are from the famous breeder Martijns Cochin Poultry, and the variety is Isabel porcelain. Soo beautifull and fluffy, can not wait to see them grow up. Anybody knows how can I know if they are roosters?

have a nice day!❤️

Sorry, english is not my main language😅!

Emotional support chicken? Source

I had 13 chickens which is a lot for many. None of my birds are small but all loving. I had to cut my flock from 13 to 7 because I was worried about feeding to much on neighboring floras. I made the cut from 13 to 7 near Halloween. Then 2 pit bulls showed up and attacked the coop that day killing missexed rooster. (Oct. 31). I never wanted a rooster, but he fought and defended the flock, and the only other hen injured by an 80/60lb set of male/female blue pitbullsade me question. Maybe I do want a rooster. He died October 31, I set a few eggs aside in literally a Styrofoam box, with half a strand of Christmas lights in it, pull out, push in to get the right temperature (less) ... And a chick was born. Rediulous one at first, 39 mins from start to finish. (Absolutely ridiculous). Now. A second is being born. (I assume 12-18 hours) The rooster passed on 10/31

So 3 weeks ago I had 2 blue (pitbulls?) come by one male one female, jumping at my 20x10ft cage trying to get in. Luckily I walked out there, they friendly to people, I told them to cut it out and go away, and they left. This afternoon between 2-4pm they came back and broke through the wire to get to the chickens, the one missexed rooster fought them to his death, and all the hens survived. I wrapped the bottom 2.5 feet of entry with stronger metal wiring to reinforce it. They came back at 11pm. (They leaped over after tearing through the weaker part up top). I had to let one out) First off hats off to a rooster that fights off 140lbs of dogs. (Picture below for sorrow). Second, I will re-inforce further, but what would you/should I do. My spouse wants me to shoot them, and I am very much a dog lover and believe the female dog was recently pregnant so I think they are out trying to provide.... I'm trying to avoid shooting them at any cost. It's Tennessee. She grew up here. Her mindset is it's killing our livestock, kill it. I'm very much re-inforce, and figure out if we can find who owns them and make sure they know what's going on... What would you do?

Rest in peace knight of the chickens

Every morning I grab a coffee and either sit outside with the fluffy butts or I bring one inside and read Lemmy with them on my lap. Best start to the day.

I've got some determined leghorn pullets that I'm hoping to keep free range, but they are really getting good at flying now. I'm going to run an electric wire over the top of my fence so that they can't perch up there and plot their escape. Does anyone have experience with electric fencing and chickens?

I'm worried if I buy a normal kit it will be juiced up for horses and the like and I'll end up harming the hens. If there are recommendations for energizers that would be great too.

Here is a quick list of mine:

• garlic and apple cider vinegar mixed in the water
• VetRX Poultry
• nutri-drench
• Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial Poultry Care

Bounus, what I've been using to diagnose and treat issues: The Chicken Health Handbook, 2nd Edition

Hi, chicken enthusiasts.

I just wanted to drop a note in the channel to explain what's been going on with me. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma last year on my birthday. Happy birthday to me! As we headed in to fall my wife wasn't sure that she would be able to take care of my and the birds at the same time so we elected to chut down our flock. I went through 6 months of chemo and the cancer is gone. We are planning to restart our flock next spring.

So, I've been away and quiet for a while but I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere. If anyone is interested in helping to promote and moderate this community please send me a note.

Bought a house - previous owner moved to a town home so we kept the chickens. There is a decent amount of space on the property, and half of it is a forested hillside.

Any suggestions for a newbie? A new coop is definitely first thing on my list. And a fence around the property.

One of the chickens is an outcast and I feel bad for her, doesn't leave the coop when the others go out in the yard and doesn't eat treats from the ground just food from the feeder. The other chickens get along well it seems.

Most of our eggs are on the jumbo side, we got a few tiny ones now from hens that are just hitting the age, but I've got one hen that just spits out huge eggs. I posted an 85g 8 months ago on here, but now this one is 100

I've hatched 6 eggs and got 2 roosters. I was thinking about keeping one if I can manage the noise and agree with my neighbours.

If I do go ahead, how do I deal with the inbreeding thing? I assume he is probably going to try mate with his sisters... Obviously I wouldn't hatch any of those eggs, but is it normal to just allow that kind of weirdness in the flock?

I had a small flock of 3 hens who all got along once the pecking order was figured out.

One day, a lower hen became broody and I allowed her to hatch a clutch of eggs. This broodyness made her a bit defensive and caused some issues with the top hen.

Once the eggs hatched I separated her and her chicks to a nursery space away from the other hens until I felt they were old enough to free range, ~4 weeks. I didn't move her while nesting because I was afraid of breaking her broodyness.

Gradually she became less and less protective and has now returned to laying eggs. The chicks are independent approaching 8 weeks, although still attached to the mother hen. They are still roosting/nesting separately to the other hens in the nursery coop.

When the bullying happens now, she submits immediately to the lead hen and has no protective urges for the chicks.

The issue is that the top hen isn't letting up and I'm concerned about what happens when the chicks become too big to fit in the nursery coop and everyone needs to roost together.

I've seen some recommendations to separate the one being bullied for awhile, others to separate the bully and others to let things play out. One thing I was potentially going to wait out was for the rooster chick(s) to grow up enough to police the hen fighting.

Any other suggestions here?

Are there any (Canadian preferably) resources that you found helpful when getting started keeping chickens? Especially WRT keeping birds through the winter and/or minimizing purchased inputs (grain).

I can't deal with all the ai generated list websites filled with misinfo these days. Hard to tell what to follow and what to ignore when you aren't already an expert on the subject.

My partner and I are wanting to get some egg birds this summer.