He's purple and his comb flops over one eye a little like emo hair. I call him Big Al. He is very soft when he lets me touch him. I am trying to gain his trust more lately with treats. I got some okay pictures of him recently. I thought I'd share him here today.

Chickens and goats I understand, but what do you get from mutant rainbow chickens besides deranged screaming?
Getting ready for football season, do they make good buffalo wings? /s

Every single batch of chicks one day decides to fly atop the feeder or waterer and I'm proud and laughing every time.

First one is Lemon Drop (Buff Orpington, now 2 years old)

Second is Pom-Pom (Sapphire Olive Egger, now 1 year old)

Third is Paisley/Basil (Easter Egger, now about 6 weeks old, name pending confirmation of male or female)

She also likes to rub her beak on me while shes cuddling with me sometimes

I have another question. How are you all watering your chickens? The waterer I have, I’m over it. It gets nasty in 5.9 seconds, is not easy to clean and when it’s hot out, turns the water hot in 9.9 seconds. It’s not in the sun either. I need a better solution to getting them fresh water because I’m changing their water multiple times a day and I can’t do that anymore.

I don't need to hear about ice trays or "back in my day" stories. We are having another heat wave, "corn sweat" (wet-bulb), for a few days again. I live in the northern Great Lakes. I researched the best breeds that can endure a cold winter. They are not acclimated for the heat... so basement tent they go! We did the mister, etc. Their coop just gets too hot at night (extended off the garage), and my Dark Brahmas can't take it. Not happy but not dead.
Have a feeling this is just the beginning 😔

Orange chicken, no idea breed. Seems to stick closer to mom than its brother but its feathers are so colourful they’re are throwing me!!! About 7/8 weeks old. No comb or wattles. No idea breed but its feet are growing some feathers.

I need help identifying what's going on with this hen. This mass has been growing on her face for a few months now. She is acting normal, food intake is good, and she is laying regularly. However, the mass continues to grow ever so slowly.

picked up 6 baby chicks a month ago, 5 of which were just the default chicken breed, and one of which a different one that I didn't ask about. he has a blacck upper beak and a whole lot of black feathers. his neck feathers are also more yellow/blonde than the others. and the biggest difference is that his feathers just feel a whole lot softer. any guess about the breed?

also, any names for the little guy? 1 month old male

They are so happy when they dig!

I have 2 girls currently and one of them continues to lay misshapen eggs. I have ground up a Tums tablet and given it to them, saved their shells and baked/ground them and added that into their treat area and feed. They have also been free ranging daily. What can I do better?

Instant mood boost

She was only 3 years old but she was done. In March she developed symptoms consistent with a reproductive tract issue, I never got it fully diagnosed. None of the prognosis were good. Instead I made a commitment to care for her until such a time that she recovered, or she made it clear she was done. For 6 months she slept indoors in the blue tent in my living room, 1 month full time indoors ICU care in my bathroom. Until last week when I noticed that her breathing was so labored when she went to lay down that she was open beak gasping for breath. Every time she tried to rest it felt like suffocating. That was my line. My husband culled her that evening with some new garden loppers I bought for that purpose. They were very sharp, it was very quick, she can rest now.

Lacy was a very sweet bird. She loved snuggles, cat food, and baby chicks.

She/he is 4 weeks old. Is it too soon to tell? I don't know why I suspect it, other than the personality seems to favor a sexing of male. I hope I am wrong.

I bought 6 females from Tractor Supply but ended up with two Roos. I rehomed one of the Roos and Tractor supply gave me two female replacements... I hope. This is one of the replacements and is supposed to be a Chocolate egg layer.

The irony is I misnamed the two birds and can't change their names because they answer to them lol. I named the chocolate layer Olive and the Olive egg layer Cocoa!

Just noticed these marks on one of my hen’s feet. Thoughts on what it could be?

this is nightmare, i hatched a batch of random eggs from the flea market. got 2 black, 2 grey, and one orange. siblings look like brahamas but the two black ones look significantly different. black one(phantom) is a hen she has a small amount of white and her feathers are completely matte, nightmare has no white at all though and his feathers have this really pretty shiny metallic green/blue coming in.

Good morning!

Backstory particulars: I've recently got into chickens (have four in my newly built chicken mansion) and I hear quite a bit about keeping blu-kote for wound treatment. I live in backwoods Alaska and I'm a medic for humans - but everyone in the surrounding area brings me their animals to treat/help/save all the time.

For those who don't know, Blu-Kote, is a purple antiseptic spray used for surface wounds on animals. People often say it's great for chickens because it is a great antiseptic but it also changes the color of the wound so chickens peck at the wound less (so I hear).

The question and interest in your thoughts surrounds that I've heard that blu-kote may be illegal for food-producing animals because it contains violet which is a carcinogen. Because of this I'm told that treating your backyard chicken means it's eggs/meats can/should never be consumed.

Is this true? If so, is there something else for the treatment of injuries that is equally as effective?

I take back all my insults about our two little silkies. They were out in the yard today with our 3 bigger hens. I saw the 3 big hens run for the blackberry bushes, and knew something was wrong. I went out onto our second story deck and heard commotion underneath, then a hawk flew out from under! I was sure they had been grabbed, walked around calling for them for a while before I finally found them. They had wedged themselves behind a water tank that thankfully I had just stored in that area! I knew this day would come but looks like our unsupervised free ranging is over.

We had mites pretty badly this summer. I tried poultry dust first, but it wasn't super effective. Elector PSP is a really great treatment, but buying a full bottle is expensive. I know other chicken people resell smaller bottles at a reasonable price, but I realized the active ingredient in Elector PSP is spinosad. Most of us can get spinosad pretty reasonably at Walmart, Tractor Supply, Home Depot, etc (it's the bottle with the pirate on it).

I figured out the concentration of spinosad in Elector PSP, once it's diluted (0.1%), then figured out the dilution I'd need to achieve the same concentration from the pirate bug spray. I put it in an automatic sprayer, and I sprayed my chickens 3 nights over 10 days, while they were in their coop. They did not like that.

A month later, most of the chickens' feathers are smooth and not patchy. I haven't found any mites on any chickens over the past week, and everyone seems healthy and happy.

Hi everyone! I raise backyard chickens and would like to have some of their eggs tested by a laboratory, mainly for peace of mind about food safety.

I'm looking to test the eggs themselves (not soil or feed). Ideally, I'd like to test for things such as:

• Heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury)
• Pesticide residues
• PFAS
• PCBs / PBDEs or other environmental contaminants

Has anyone in the U.S. had their backyard chicken eggs tested for these contaminants?

If so, which lab or university extension did you use, approximately how much did it cost, and how many eggs did you have to send?

I'm in California, but I'm happy to ship the eggs to a lab in another state.

Thanks!