Nikki Christmas

I have a 13-week-old rabbit who, a day or two ago, developed these sores in the same locations in both ears -- 3 in one ear and 2 in the other. This morning, I noticed that his cage mate has started to develop them. The first guy went to the vet this morning and tested negative for mites. Anyone have a guess as to what else these sores could be? No signs of aggression, itching, shaking of head, etc.

We changed the filters and that helped right away! The last owner said he'd just changed them so we had left them alone, but the house sat empty for a couple of months before we took over. Went down there with all new filters and, turns out, one of the filters was pretty gross. Hopefully, that was all that was needed for now. We will take all of your suggestions for testing and how to improve the system into consideration as we move forward. Maybe switch to a stainless steel tank too? I will have to mine this site for more water system info.

Thanks everybody! Have a good February!

My family and I moved into an 1850 farmhouse about 3 weeks ago and, from the start, I have noticed a moldy odor to the water coming from the tap and the water sitting in the toilet bowls. I can't stand drinking it, the flavor is there, but we all have been. Anyway, our system is spring fed. My husband checked the spring house and, aside from a toad swimming around up there, things look clear. In the cellar, the water is captured by two 65 gallon plastic tanks. An electric pump sends the water through 4 filters, including a UV filter, before coming up into the house. My suspicion is that the problem is located in the tanks, but I'd love to hear others' thoughts. What could be causing this issue and what should we do about it?

We had put a screen up between her nesting box and the rest of the coop. The reason we looked under the mama and found the dead babies was because my daughter caught her pecking hard on the third hatchling. It was as if she thought they were attacking her eggs. Maybe the hen was stressed out by us checking on her while she was hatching babies?

Thank you so much, Matt and Kristine! I really appreciate all of your wisdom around hatching these chicks! Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to try it all out. Our mama hen turned murderous and started pecking holes in her babies after they hatched! We had not even moved her yet--our plan was to move her after they'd hatched because I was nervous about handling the eggs--so it wasn't a behavior brought on by the stress of a move or anything.

On Friday morning we heard peeping and saw a chick's head poke out from under her. Then by Friday afternoon, my daughter looked underneath the hen to see how things were coming along and found two dead chicks in the nest. The other eggs were just pipping and it was stressful all evening and into the next morning trying to catch the babies shortly after each one had emerged from its egg so that we could place it into a brooder before the mama attacked them. But we managed it and this morning, the rescued chicks seem healthy and are peeping away in a brooder in our kitchen.

All of the eggs that we put under her hatched though. If she had not turned murderous, we would have had a 100% hatch rate, which was way better than I had using an incubator. It's a shame it didn't work out--it was such an easy way to hatch some eggs. Anyway, thanks again for all the advice. Have a good week you all!

Thank you, Kristine! So much good information here! I'm going to try and move her as soon as the chicks hatch. It is a relief to hear that chicks are hardier than they look.

I have a question about moving mama hen and babes. So I was just going to keep the dog crate open on the floor of the coop's run. I planned to leave the door of the crate open so that she and the chicks can just eat and drink with the rest of the flock. Do you think that, instead, the crate should be closed so that she and the chicks are kept separate from the others? If so, for about how long should she/they be separated?

Thank you, Matt!

I thought I’d post some pics of the ramp so you all could judge how treacherous or not treacherous it might be for chicks. It is pretty steep.

Hi there!

We have a little backyard coop and when one of our hens went broody a month ago, we decided to pick up some fertilized eggs from a nearby farm and put them under her (about a week after she started sitting). The coop/nesting box is 2-3 feet off of the ground and I just realized that the chicks will probably not be able to safely go up and down the ramp.

I'm wondering if I should try to set up a wire dog crate, or something else, on the ground under the coop. I could leave the door open so that they can come and go when they are ready. And if I do this, should I move her before or after the chicks come? They are due Wednesday/Thursday of this week!!

Any advice about this or anything else concerning raising chicks with the mama hen would be very much appreciated! Thank you!