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Lynza posted:So here's my question - my girls are about 7-8 weeks old now and are mostly feathered. When do I stop feeding them chick food? Do I wait until they start laying or...? They are still doing a LOT of growing. I think most people recommend keeping them on chick food until 16-20 weeks. You can start offering calcium to supplement the chick food around 16 weeks to make sure they won't be lacking in it if they start laying early. I think mine wound up being on chick feed until ~24 weeks because it took us until then to run out and I didn't see a point in wasting food. They had started laying at 20-22 weeks but I kept supplemental calcium available for them and they never had any issues. The biggest differences in the two types of food are slightly higher protein in the grower/chick feed and more calcium in the layer feed. You don't want to switch to layer feed too early because the extra calcium can be harmful while the chicks are still growing and aren't producing eggs yet (offering supplemental calcium allows them to take some if they need it, when it's in the food they can't adjust how much they get). If you've been feeding medicated chick food, you should go ahead and switch to the non-medicated type though. I'm amazed how different my ladies look now that they are hens instead of pullets! I thought they looked like full adults last fall but they have definitely filled out and gotten prettier since then. They hit a year old on March 1st and they really are gorgeous ladies now. Hopefully we can get some good pics with our new camera soon for me to post. A question about egg size: When do the eggs hit their final size? At the end of the laying season last fall all four ladies were still laying small to medium eggs. This year they started out in the medium range when laying resumed but are now mostly laying large eggs, except for the Wyandotte who lays mostly mediums. Can I expect them to stay that size or will they continue to increase in size for a bit longer?
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:16 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 09:06 |
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Lynza posted:How about this chicken thread, eh? I'd keep feeding them chick feed until they start laying, they don't need the extra calcium from lay feed yet.
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:17 |
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Lynza posted:How about this chicken thread, eh? They're old enough for adult food at 8 weeks of age. What I do is just start with a 50-50 mixture of chick and adult food in their feeder, and over about a week or so keep increasing the amount of adult food and decresing the amount of chick food. You'll be able to see by what they are eating how they are accepting it. I've never had a problem transitioning chicks to big chicken food. With the sprouts be really careful not to give them long, stringy, fiberous stuff, that gunk gets wound up in their crops and causes impactions, which can be fatal. Usually sprouted seed is very tender and breaks up easily, but just a head's up. The dandelions in the front yard have sprouted, I gather those, chop them up and give them to the chickens which makes them REALLY happy.
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:36 |
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Lynza posted:So here's my question - my girls are about 7-8 weeks old now and are mostly feathered. When do I stop feeding them chick food? Do I wait until they start laying or...? Lynza! Please post some photos of your flock. You know we all like seeing chicken photos here.
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:53 |
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Here, get some fat hipster cock, I hope it makes you feel better Chido fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:04 |
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That drat rooster is massive.
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:43 |
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Lynza posted:How about this chicken thread, eh? What kind of chick food is it? Is it a combo starter/grower, or strictly a chick starter? If it is just a starter I would switch them to a starter/grower feed. Don't switch them on to layer feed until they are about 5 months old. e; I missed a whole page before posting, oops, lol. UltraGrey fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Apr 3, 2013 |
# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:50 |
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Inveigle posted:Lynza! Please post some photos of your flock. You know we all like seeing chicken photos here. Stolen from TFR: The Rat posted:An hour later, armed and armoured, Khârn stood ready once more. The Rat posted:He's a Polish rooster that I got by trolling cragslist for cock. Due to his complete timidity, he does not at all live up to his predecessor, who unfortunately had his head bitten off by a fox.
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:55 |
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MisterOblivious posted:Stolen from TFR: Woah! That spotted polish rooster is spectacular! I love the 2nd to last photo of the hen swooning over him as he struts along. So looking forward to any Polish chicks that hatch during Chickam this year. Chido: Great hipster chicken. We are still waiting for photos of Roostroyer in his lovely Easter outfit!
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 23:01 |
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Lynza posted:I started a sprout garden thinger What is this sprout garden thinger of which you speak?
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# ? Apr 3, 2013 23:17 |
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Inveigle posted:Woah! That spotted polish rooster is spectacular! I love the 2nd to last photo of the hen swooning over him as he struts along. You are so right Inveigle. That rooster has a menacing look to him, like Don't Mess With Me!
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 02:28 |
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Armed Neutrality posted:What is this sprout garden thinger of which you speak? It's basically a sprouter for peoples. It's 5 little trays with concentric rings and little drain holes in the sides. You put your seeds in, water them a couple times a day, et voila - sprouts. It's shockingly fast to sprout up - I think the alfalfa batch I did when I got it only took about 4 days for edible sprouts. Edit: It's grower feed (chick feed) that I'm feeding now. I've never fed the medicated variety; the chicks were all immunized and the idea of feeding something they don't need galls me. I'm a raw feeder of all my other pets, so even chick feed was kind of a stretch. The ladies are GRUFFLING down the grass - anything I should worry about? They seriously act like it's going out of style. It's awesome to watch. Lynza fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 04:03 |
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CROW'S EGG HELP! The guys hooking up a new house to the power pole brought down a crow's egg and gave it to us. He said it looked like all the others already hatched. I'd like to incubate it if possible, but would really appreciate some advice. 1. I didn't see the nest myself, so I have no idea if this is an about-to-hatch egg or a lost cause. Is there a typical season to when the chicks will hatch, or a way to test what's inside the egg? 2. Any better advice than a box of towels and a lamp for warmth? (current set-up in next post.) 3. If it hatches, what kind of equivalent food might I find at a pet supply store? I know every species has its own particular mix...
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 07:53 |
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Right now I've got it in an insulated lunch bag, padded with towels under and around, and a 60 watt lamp with a ghetto shade. The internet tells me that crows take 18 days, but I have no idea how far along this egg is. I checked the Backyard Chickens forums but do you think candleing is possible with a spotty colored egg? We're going out of town this weekend so I'll have to ask someone to turn it and make sure the towels don't catch on fire. And what about humidity The internet is also telling me lizard hot rocks are a bad idea.
peanut fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 08:01 |
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Any Texas goons want a cuckoo maran rooster? He is free!
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 08:03 |
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peanut posted:Right now I've got it in an insulated lunch bag, padded with towels under and around, and a 60 watt lamp with a ghetto shade. The internet tells me that crows take 18 days, but I have no idea how far along this egg is. I checked the Backyard Chickens forums but do you think candleing is possible with a spotty colored egg? We're going out of town this weekend so I'll have to ask someone to turn it and make sure the towels don't catch on fire. And what about humidity The internet is also telling me lizard hot rocks are a bad idea. Chances are if the egg didn't hatch and was abandoned, that it probably won't hatch at all. Mother birds know best about eggs. I don't think you should be using that plastic bag with the lamp. The bag or towels may catch fire, particularly if someone isn't paying attention.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 08:19 |
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Also I think baby crows are really hard to keep alive without a mom. At least that's what three dead crows who have been haunting my dreams since childhood tell me.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 09:28 |
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peanut posted:CROW'S EGG HELP! It's most likely dead if the mom was sitting on it and then abandoned it for more than 30-40 minutes. It would have cooled down too much. Also if you're in the US I'm pretty sure keeping wild native birds, even ones you've hatched or rescued, is illegal.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 13:23 |
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I moved the paper bag up higher so it's nowhere near touching the light bulb. There's a brace of chopsticks inside to keep it wide. I candled the egg and there was an embryo inside- I'll check again for signs of a bad egg tomorrow. EDIT: In Japan. EDIT 2: Re-candled as I rolled it over for the night and it's totally not developed enough, assuming the power guy was right about the other eggs hatching already. Giving up and putting it back outside tomorrow : ( Thanks for the words of reason, everyone. peanut fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 13:33 |
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peanut posted:I moved the paper bag up higher so it's nowhere near touching the light bulb. There's a brace of chopsticks inside to keep it wide. I candled the egg and there was totally a big embryo inside- I'll check again for signs of a bad egg tomorrow. The whole set up still sounds pretty dangerous. You're relying on chopsticks to hold something up and not cause a house fire. I'd suggest a glass aquarium that you can set a heat lamp on, get a temp gauge so you know what the actual temperature is, rotate the egg several times a day, and well make a new thread or something since that would would probably be more helpful since wild crows are nothing like chickens. e; welp nevermind. Also super weird for some power guy to be all "I found a bird nest and hosed with it, here random person have a crow's egg!" People are strange.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 14:40 |
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Yeah, if the others had hatched and you can see that this one isn't even CLOSE to hatching, it likely had been dead for a while before you even got it, so don't feel bad. If the embryo didn't move at all when you candled I'd be pretty sure it's dead. FYI I've got a page on caring for baby birds (not chickens) here: http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickWildBirds.htm Be aware of legalities in your area and get the bird to a professional bird rehabber ASAP, this info is just for emergency measures until you can. Thanks for the very pretty egg pic tho! VVVV Oh for gently caress's sake. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 19:49 |
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Greycious posted:People are strange. Power guy: hey I found this egg would you want to take care of it? Regular guy: sure! Goon: that's loving weird. 11 year old girl: ooh a chicken! Crazy aunt: damnit don't you ever listen to anything I say why can't you remember one little instruction? Go cry now and ill be back later to yell at you some more after I tell a bunch of strangers about this! Goon: huh seems good to me! Hey is that a striped hoody? Haha loving hipster!
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 19:50 |
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Velvet Sparrow posted:
My sentiments exactly. How did Monday's candling go?
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 20:16 |
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The Maestro posted:Power guy: hey I found this egg would you want to take care of it? I wrote how I felt, not what I actually did. I said I wanted to yell more at my niece because I was really mad, and I also wrote that I wouldn't do it because I'm not her mom and told her sister to tell the girl not to talk to me that day because I was mad and when I'm very angry I keep my distance so I don't end up saying something I'll regret. You can go and re-read my post, I haven't edited anything and it clearly says that. But I guess venting my anger here means OMG I'M SO loving CRAZY AND ALL PI IS NUTS Anyways, my niece did feel guilty and my sister asked me what happened. My older niece and I told her, and she actually agreed with how I acted. My younger niece never takes things seriously and always tries to blame others for her messing up. Hell, she's tried to blame her mom for her --the girl-- forgetting to do part of her homework. Now that she didn't have anybody to blame and her excuse of "it was an accident" didn't fly because it was her responsibility to put Megatron in the cage. She did come once to my room when I was bandaging Megatron because she wanted to see, and I had her take a very good look at how hurt Megatron got again. Now, this is "her" chicken, so seeing that seems to have finally made her understand why I was so angry and didn't want to talk to her at that moment. Since then she's been taking care of her hen as she should, and supervising her when we let Megatron out of her crate for a bit. The girl is like a hawk, never letting Mega out of her sight . I also tried to put on the egg outfit on Roo, but he didn't like it. Apparently this outfit and the black Hello Kitty dress the girls have are the reincarnation of chicken Satan because holy poo poo did Roo scream and flap around and ran like his rear end was on fire when he saw it Chido fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 20:21 |
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The Maestro posted:Power guy: hey I found this egg would you want to take care of it? Holy poo poo you people need to get off this. How hard is it to understand that an 11 year old is perfectly capable of handling a simple instruction, and it is perfectly okay to be annoyed and frustrated when that simple instruction is not followed and results in something that could be the death of an animal? And yes, finding some wild bird egg and giving it to some random person is weird, I would at least ask if they know what the gently caress to do with it first before handing it over, and if they didn't, try to find someone who might know such as a wildlife center or some poo poo. You might as well leave it alone if you're going to give it to someone who has no idea what to do with it.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 20:34 |
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We're going to stop talking about this thing with the kid, who is 11 years old and is still learning about the world, and just move back into talking about chickens in general. That would be great.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 20:53 |
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The Maestro posted:Power guy: hey I found this egg would you want to take care of it? An 11-year-old girl is fully capable of following simple instructions and completing tasks. If this were a five-year-old, I would say you might have a point, but it's not. Learning that there are consequences to her actions - her favorite chicken was injured again because she did not complete her task and people she cares about are upset - is part of growing up and learning to take responsibility for her actions. Pretending that what she did doesn't matter in order to keep her from feeling bad won't help her learn that she made a bad choice. She is eleven, and 11-year-olds are far more capable than you seem to give them credit for. Have a clip of a couple of Koeyoshi roosters. Champions can crow for up to 25 seconds at a time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA4ReQ8qJy4 I think the hens look pretty awesome and dinosaur-like as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1AqnDvYvJg Koeyoshi are a Japanese breed of long-crowers, declared a national monument by the Japanese government in 1937. They're big birds, up to 10 pounds, who can reach 3 feet in height. Their fierce appearance belies a gentle, sociable disposition. Unfortunately, they're not in the US, and can't be imported from Japan due to avian influenza, although there are a couple of breeders in Germany. I would love to get my hands on some of them. ETA: Sorry, Ozma. You posted as I was writing my post. Bonster fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Apr 4, 2013 |
# ? Apr 4, 2013 21:01 |
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e: Snark retracted since I see your edit!
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 21:04 |
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Those roosters are awesome! I want one to freak out kids with a 3 foot tall cock on a leash also, I think I broke Baba's brain. She's still very bald so I made her a new saddle with a waist strap so it wouldn't move when Roo mounts her... but it's been 2 days now and she keeps walking backwards or laying down because she hates it and wants to take it off. I'd love to remove it but she's getting sunburned and I don't want her to get a gaping wound on her side like Megatron. Why are chickens so ?
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 21:08 |
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How young can chickens be eaten and taste good? Just had a bunch hatch and I'd like try and eat a few before my grandpa's Condo runs out of room. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 22:13 |
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Genderman posted:How young can chickens be eaten and taste good? Just had a bunch hatch and I'd like try and eat a few before my grandpa's Condo runs out of room. Most importantly, how big is your grandpa's condo? Is it predator safe? Do you have the possibility of free ranging them in different rooms for a few weeks at a time to give the carpet a chance to recover? It depends greatly on what breed I imagine, but I think they probably taste "good" at a few weeks but is it really worth the effort to eat tiny chickens?
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 22:30 |
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Question: We have about 3 acres of land (it's a bit over 6, but most of it is thickish woods). I would really like to have more chickens. My plan was to build or buy a shed/barn next year that's about a 12x12 or so. The chickens would live in there, with a portable run that we could put them in during the day for foraging. Has anyone done it that way? Have you had any issues or things you'd wish you'd done differently? My eventual goal is for the chickens and 4 goats to live in the same barn, with some storage space (probably elevated/rafters) for feed and whatnot. Has anyone built a barn like that, and if so, did you go by ear or did you use a plan?
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 23:37 |
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Chido posted:I wrote how I felt, not what I actually did. I said I wanted to yell more at my niece because I was really mad, and I also wrote that I wouldn't do it because I'm not her mom and told her sister to tell the girl not to talk to me that day because I was mad and when I'm very angry I keep my distance so I don't end up saying something I'll regret. You can go and re-read my post, I haven't edited anything and it clearly says that. But I guess venting my anger here means OMG I'M SO loving CRAZY AND ALL PI IS NUTS You are a loving horrible unhinged overprotective psychotic. If you're so massively possessive about poultry do it all yourself. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 23:42 |
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Er... Why was that man put on probation for that post?
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 23:45 |
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wikipe tama posted:You are a loving horrible unhinged overprotective psychotic. If you're so massively possessive about poultry do it all yourself. I am also glad that you ignored me, thanks a bunch. ozzy8bats posted:Er... Why was that man put on probation for that post? He's trying to screw with Chido.
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# ? Apr 4, 2013 23:57 |
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Found another picture from last show I meant to upload, fancy rear end chicken deluxe.
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# ? Apr 5, 2013 00:35 |
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Tim the Enchanter posted:Found another picture from last show I meant to upload, fancy rear end chicken deluxe. I love Japanese Bantams, they always look like they were the middle car in a three car rear-end collision. Or a collapsed accordian, I can't decide which. Also, little Wiggles is still broody, so we'll see if she sticks with it! Edit: Long Crowers are famous for the 'Death Metal Rooster' vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A43JOxLa5MM&list=PLEB64E5A632ED8DEF I love how he just walks around, crowing. The Silkie hen looks over a few times but is all 'Meh...' Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Apr 5, 2013 |
# ? Apr 5, 2013 01:27 |
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Day 6 of incubation, I just weighed the eggs and marked the air cell outlines on the shells. Tomorrow is officially candling day and removal of duds, but I can say this... Thar be baby chickens here. I'm not going to say how many or which eggs, but I will say that in particular the d'Uccle ladies have been very, very good girls.
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# ? Apr 5, 2013 07:26 |
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Do I need outside space to have chickens. Can I have it just in my apartment
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# ? Apr 5, 2013 11:29 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 09:06 |
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Tricky Twisty posted:Do I need outside space to have chickens. Can I have it just in my apartment Sure! The chickens can sleep in your bed too! It's like having walking pillows that cluck! I've lost track, but at least four probations have been handed out so far. It's over. Stay over in FYAD please. Thx.
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# ? Apr 5, 2013 12:11 |