As far as the breeding part, to find out you might hatch some eggs from them and see how their offspring behave compared to free range chickens. Then you could tell which skills are learned.
A lot of hatchery hens are Leghorns. My Leghorns are from a breeder, not a hatchery. They don't go...
My Dorkings eat mice, the Leghorns don't. Maybe it's because the Leghorns are smaller?
I had a brand new coop built this spring, and there was evidence of a mouse. Less than an hour after putting chickens in it for the first time, they caught the mouse and had mouse blood stains on the nice...
It gets below freezing here on some nights in the winter. In the summer, triple digits (Fahrenheit) are the norm, and mine did pretty well with the heat. I gave them cold cucumbers and watermelon to feast on in the afternoons and that may have upset their balanced diet, but it kept them cool...
I was treated by a veterinarian once, believe it or not! But this was over 35 years ago, and maybe they weren't as strict about such things.
I was in Phoenix during the summer (hot) and was trying to adjust something in the engine compartment of my car, which had been running for hours, so the...
I'm thankful I read this thread today. I've been giving a generous amount of mealworms to the chickens for protein. Does anyone know if the bugs that produce mealworms are good to give chickens or if they need to be in limited quantities?
i combined my Leghorns and 4 silver grey Dorking hens...
My rooster seems to think he is an alarm clock. He crows every morning at around 4:30. When I was growing up, my family always used those windup Big Ben alarm clocks. I'm dating myself here. But he is named Big Ben after those little windup clocks, not after the big tower.
Big Ben's son...