Arizona Chickens

[sevenrays]

Congrats Parentwarrior, I have that kind of reaction from my duck. Ohhhh does she make me feel guilty when I take her egg away. I try to take it now when she is occupied eating right after I put food out It helps.

 

[Billiam]

I have my first egg!!!!! It is so normal looking too!!!! I am so excited. I saw my Buff Orpington messing with the nest earlier today. She was not happy when I picked it up just now. Gave my the stink eye. When I went up to her she dropped low to the ground and puffed her wings out to hold them away from her body a bit and just stayed that way while I petted her, really odd. She never done that before. Am I missing something? She is the one who loves to sit with me. I have a chair ion the cage. She runs up and sits with me whenever I sit down. Every night I go out and pet each one and tell them tomorrow is going to be a good egg day. I have been doing that for a week or so now...LOL It paid off!!!

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Congrats!

 

[parentwarrior]

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Congrats!

The shell is so hard I had to go back out to check that I didn't pick up one of the the fake eggs!. Good idea, I will take them when she is distracted...LOL It is funny, my quail always sleeps alone in a separate spot...unless it storms. I just came home and found her hiding under the chickens sleeping. They were all on top of the coop so I moved them all inside of it. I started a bad habit letting them sleep on top of it! Now I have to move them every night one by one...LOL

 

[AZTiff]

I am loving all the egg pictures - I can't wait for my girls to start laying, though I don't think that will be until the end of the year.

I have a question! My girls only free-range a bit right now; I have to be careful because of my aussie. But when they get out their favorite thing to eat is my bougainvillea. I mean they bee-line it out to that bush first thing and often they stay right there. It is close enough to the coop that sometimes a pink petal with waft in and you'd think they were chasing each other for a juicy worm. LOL

I looked it up and they don't appear to be toxic. Anyone else have bougainvillea loving chickens?

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

I have my first egg!!!!! It is so normal looking too!!!! I am so excited. I saw my Buff Orpington messing with the nest earlier today. She was not happy when I picked it up just now. Gave my the stink eye. When I went up to her she dropped low to the ground and puffed her wings out to hold them away from her body a bit and just stayed that way while I petted her, really odd. She never done that before. Am I missing something? She is the one who loves to sit with me. I have a chair ion the cage. She runs up and sits with me whenever I sit down. Every night I go out and pet each one and tell them tomorrow is going to be a good egg day. I have been doing that for a week or so now...LOL It paid off!!!

How egg-citing. 1st eggs are the best!!!

 

[Arizonachicken]

Ugh, this weekend has been completely awful.  The A/C conked out, and needs to have a motor replaced.  On top of that, the water line to the evaporative cooler got a small leak in it, and damaged the ceiling underneath the leak.  Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any mold going on.  So we're waiting to hear back from the insurance company to see what, if anything, they will cover, and waiting for the A/C repair guy to get the motor in stock so he can fix the A/C.  Thankfully, a friend of ours is putting up Rob and the boys.  I'm staying at the house to take care of the house and the animals.

Speaking of animals, I have a fixed male cat who needs to go to a new home as soon as possible.  He's a sweet kitty, but we have too many, and need to find a new home for him.  I also have a litter of six week old kittens that need to find a new place, as soon as possible.  With all the extra expenses we've got going on, I need to downsize my population of non-productive animals.

Especially since my population of productive animals has had a sudden and surprising increase.  For almost as long as I've had her,  my California White, Emma, has been getting out of the run and wandering around the yard.  Twice we'd found a nest of eggs that she'd decided to lay in a hidden spot, but since she always went back to the coop at night, I thought she was just being weird.  Especially since California Whites are famous for not going broody.  The last, well, 21 days or so, I was starting to get worried, since I wouldn't see her for a few days, but I couldn't figure out where she was roosting, or where she was hiding.  She must have found a really good spot, because today, I saw her walking around the yard with three little chicks.    Thanks to the fun of color genetics, one of the chicks is yellow with a few dark splotches, like a California White, and the other two are marked like a Barred Rock, although only one has a splotch on its head.

 

Sorry to hear about your rotten luck. But the story of your mama hen is just heart warming!

 

[Drjennidvm]

...

The shell is so hard I had to go back out to check that I didn't pick up one of the the fake eggs!.

Congrats, it is just adorable! It won't be long before you have more than you can use!

 

[itsredcandy]

Any one else being overrun by Caterpillars?? Last week we had a HUGE Caterpillar invasion. Sphinx moth if this website is correct. http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/natural/insects/bugsfaq/whitesx.htm You couldn't walk anywhere in Congress without stepping on these buggers. They seem to like the purselane and aren't doing much damage to the garden. I tried to feed them to the chickens, but they weren't real interested. Today 2 little cockerels decided they couldn't eat enough of them. They are so happy running from caterpillar to caterpillar gulping them down as fast as they can. The rest of the chickens haven't discovered the joy yet.

My girls would have a field day if they saw these in my yard. They love finding grubs and chowing them down.

 

[itsredcandy]

Ugh, this weekend has been completely awful. The A/C conked out, and needs to have a motor replaced. On top of that, the water line to the evaporative cooler got a small leak in it, and damaged the ceiling underneath the leak. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any mold going on. So we're waiting to hear back from the insurance company to see what, if anything, they will cover, and waiting for the A/C repair guy to get the motor in stock so he can fix the A/C. Thankfully, a friend of ours is putting up Rob and the boys. I'm staying at the house to take care of the house and the animals.

Speaking of animals, I have a fixed male cat who needs to go to a new home as soon as possible. He's a sweet kitty, but we have too many, and need to find a new home for him. I also have a litter of six week old kittens that need to find a new place, as soon as possible. With all the extra expenses we've got going on, I need to downsize my population of non-productive animals.

Especially since my population of productive animals has had a sudden and surprising increase. For almost as long as I've had her, my California White, Emma, has been getting out of the run and wandering around the yard. Twice we'd found a nest of eggs that she'd decided to lay in a hidden spot, but since she always went back to the coop at night, I thought she was just being weird. Especially since California Whites are famous for not going broody. The last, well, 21 days or so, I was starting to get worried, since I wouldn't see her for a few days, but I couldn't figure out where she was roosting, or where she was hiding. She must have found a really good spot, because today, I saw her walking around the yard with three little chicks. Thanks to the fun of color genetics, one of the chicks is yellow with a few dark splotches, like a California White, and the other two are marked like a Barred Rock, although only one has a splotch on its head.

Glad you found your girl. How fun having a mama hen.

Sorry about your other stresses.

 

[itsredcandy]

I have my first egg!!!!! It is so normal looking too!!!! I am so excited. I saw my Buff Orpington messing with the nest earlier today. She was not happy when I picked it up just now. Gave my the stink eye. When I went up to her she dropped low to the ground and puffed her wings out to hold them away from her body a bit and just stayed that way while I petted her, really odd. She never done that before. Am I missing something? She is the one who loves to sit with me. I have a chair ion the cage. She runs up and sits with me whenever I sit down. Every night I go out and pet each one and tell them tomorrow is going to be a good egg day. I have been doing that for a week or so now...LOL It paid off!!!

Congrats on your squatting egg layer and first egg. Thanks for posting pictures. We love pictures of first eggs )