Arizona Chickens

[Billiam]

So I hatched out my first set of eggs, 12 went in, 4 never developed, 8 developed and 6 hatched on day 21, 2 still in the bator and it is day 23 giving them till Saturday to make a move but so far no movements or sounds so I don't think they will hatch. Before lockdown I did candle all of them and all but 1 (it is one of the two that didn't hatch) looked good. Out of the 6 that hatched the last one to hatch died this morning. Not sure why but poor thing had a rough hatch anyway as 5 new chicks where moving around the bator and kept pecking at its shell and after she came out there was a lot of blood left in the shell. Yesterday morning the chicks where moved to a larger bator that I made from a mini fridge since the hatching bator is so small (a little Hovabator my husband bought me). This morning they were moved to the brooder at which point my cat discovered their existence and after catching her sneaking into the office and laying next to the brooder the office is on lockdown! Of course now she lays outside the door and meows really low which makes the chicks chirp like crazy....this has been going on for hours! The roosters are out front trying to out crow each other but both sound like teenage boys with cracking voices and my early morning layer is announcing her egg, she hasn't laid yet but she has a routine where she sits in the box for 10 minutes sings her egg song then I go out find no egg give them the bowl of scraps she eats then goes back in and lays her egg....And to add to that I have about 40 lbs of cucumbers staring me down on the counter that need to be pickled....DH liked our last batch of cucumbers so much of 1 plant that he decided to plant 10 more pickling cucumber plants...it is the only thing coming out of my garden right now, I will end this growing season with at least 20 jars of pickles after giving away pickles to everyone I know. The chickens wont even eat the cucumbers anymore they are so sick of them.

This sounds like a good clip for the Family Circus comic strip.

I tried talking my wife into making pickles, but instead we had lots of salads and gave the a bunch to the chickens too. What type of cucumber do you plant? The kind we planted, Tendergreen (Burpless) had giant seeds and weren't all that enjoyable for us because of it.

 

[AZTiff]

Oh dang. You guys don't even know what I am talking about.

Sorry for your loss Tanichca. I've been there except I was the little kid. Believe me it hurts the kid more than you, once they realize what they've done. This is a good time to teach them about life and how fragile it is.

mclevinson and AZTiff, check you PM's in a few.

That's the problem with forums, easy to misinterpret what is said. We talked over pm; all is well.

Moving on...

 

[Di Gibbs]

We live in San Tan Valley, I am not sure what kind we got from our neighbor but they are black and hairy feet with extra toe. Want me to ask him if he has anymore fertile eggs? We got I think wheatens too...so no guarantee what you would get just thought I would ask.

~Di

 

[Fuzzybird]

We live in San Tan Valley, I am not sure what kind we got from our neighbor but they are black and hairy feet with extra toe. Want me to ask him if he has anymore fertile eggs? We got I think wheatens too...so no guarantee what you would get just thought I would ask.

~Di

Those little hairy ones with extra toes are Silkies.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: Mites
Ok I thought it might be just never had them before in my birds. Did I take the correct steps? Did the mites make the two sick?

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote:
Terri has the sweetest turkey in the world!! She follows you around like a puppy dog, rubs against your legs for love, like a kitten. She has so much personality, you can't help but indulge her in hugs and loving. I have had some very affectionate cockatiels, but they don't hold a candle to her BlueBell!!

Great job on the Moringa!! Mine sprouted great, but croaked when I tried to transplant them outside. I am curious to see how yours fares this winter. Might be best to cover it with a frost cloth on cold nights. Have you eaten any of the leaves yet?? How do they taste?? I definitely want to try again next spring.

In the next day or two my order from Florida Hills nursery should arrive, 3 different types of blueberries, a couple of goji berries and 2 dwarf mulberry trees. I spent most of today digging holes and preparing the ground. This is my first time ordering from them. It sounds like they clone the plants......not sure how I feel about that. But, very anxious to get the order in and see if the plants survived shipping.
I am not so sure how sweet Blue Bell is anymore since she has her own kind with her, now she is knowing what its like to be a turkey! She is very proud of her flock! She is the QUEEN! Last night I went to give her a hug and she nipped and nipped me. She may very well be just angry for the turkeys haven't been able to get out to free range lately with the fence down from the last flood. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon.
The Moringa leaves didn't taste much at all but what I did taste not sure if I like. I had one seed with out the husk so I thought it would sort of nutty. I ate that.

Maybe it was to old.

 

[mclevinson]

Okay....I guess we are talking about this here instead of PM.

I didn't use the quote because I was responding to the current topic. You just assumed I was biting my tongue to hold back a crude remark about chickens not being able to swim or perhaps not just dogs kill chickens because you know me so well (obviously not). What I was really referring to: As sad as it is to lose a couple of chicks I hope the child was not too severely punished for something that can ultimately be replaced. You can't replace a childhood experience.

I guess this is my bad for being concerned for a child on a chicken forum. Where are my priorities? Lesson learned. I'll be sure to quote exactly what I am referring to instead of the including the whole topic. Don't we get enough censored out of context news already? Do we need to do that here to?

I scolded you, sort of, in public so my apology (see above about OVER REACTING) was in public. Are we good?

 

[itsredcandy]

Does anyone know of any silkie breeders near Queen Creek? I have asked and asked away but havent found a single answer!

Queen Creek no, but in Tempe there is Sonoran Silkies https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/20590/Sonoran-Silkies

 

[itsredcandy]

I decided to cook the rooster than Bootsie showed my how to process and decided to debone it before throwing it in the crock pot. I'm making barbequed chicken sandwiches (pulled-pork style or sloppy joes), so I figured that would be the perfect method and work great. WRONG!!! Talk about an epic failure. Chef John and Chef Paul I am not. My wife ended up coming over to help and between the two of us, we got all the meat off. It was not a five minute process. Heck, I think it took us the better part of a half hour. Whew, what a pain. I will definitely be trying again, though.


On the positive part, my wife has already turned in to the "crazy chicken lady" and we don't even have eggs yet. As a joke, I set her phone's wallpaper to some cute yellow chicks. She loved it. Then, yesterday, she downloaded the ringtone of some chicks peeping and pointed out everything chicken related as we walked through the store. I think I'm in trouble. Chicken math will kick in before we even have our feeder! It's hysterically funny!

Too funny

 

[itsredcandy]

Oh dang. You guys don't even know what I am talking about.

Sorry for your loss Tanichca. I've been there except I was the little kid. Believe me it hurts the kid more than you, once they realize what they've done. This is a good time to teach them about life and how fragile it is.

mclevinson and AZTiff, check you PM's in a few.

I hear ya. I took my chicks for a bicycle ride when I was 6. One jumped off and got squished. I'll never forget that traumatic event.