Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

as you can see she is not very welcome in the chicken coop. most of the girls moved to the other side with the rooster.

Hilarious ..you are funny..

 

[Twinklin]

Eleanor skipped yesterday since she laid her first egg late on Saturday. The cream colored egg is definitely hers. I coop stalked her today to make sure. She even laid in the box today instead of the middle of the yard.

Here's today's eggs.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Fuzzybird, thanks again for the guineas. They are settled into their temp coop till they get used to being here and everyone gets used to them. they seem happy enough. It wasn't fun chasing the grey one around the yard for 15 minutes when it escaped getting it out of the van.

Here's a couple better pics of a few of their new pals.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Flower is visiting me as you know, we processed Whinny to night and I am so glad we did. She has been eating but just hasn't been lookibg very good, and she was so skinny. She hadn't laid an egg for abou 8 months. Her abdomen was squishy and soft. When we started to make the first cut around her vent she bust a yellow salfer grean tinted liquid. And several od chucks od sickly brown geenesh tinted lumps fell out. She had rotting eggs in her. She may have been suffering for months. She is at lest 1-1/2 years old, maybe older.

Now. I am worried about my sweet Clair. She is a pet, now a hen, and has yet to lay an egg. She looks good, so I will just keep an even clobber eye on her.

 

[Demosthine]

Well, I'm loving this weather, sitting here with all my doors and windows open. It is quite something, though, when your semi-wild rabbits come up to you while you're sitting on the couch.

On a chicken note, my flock has been really quiet locked in their run and they seem to be calmer now than free-ranging. They have been eating less, too. Still no sign of eggs, though. Maybe in another two weeks when they get access to the new grass, it'll pick up. The feather loss seems to have slowed considerably, too.

My wife and I picked Basil up from Bonnie tonight and had a good time. Her garden is fabulous and she gave us some nice treats. My wife is already looking for recipes! Yummy! But I stray... Since he is a good ways from standards, I am thinking about caponizing him. Has anyone else done that? There are some great reasons to do it, so I'm seriously thinking about it. Thoughts?

 

[Timskins]

Does anyone have experience with speckled sussex? My 2 that were hatched the same as the others are about half the size of everyone else. Did I get duped for some bantams or are they slower growing? They eat and are active like the rest. Also what's up with eating feathers? Anytime someone shakes off a feather they all go after it and swallow it down.

 

[Angelray]

Flower is visiting me as you know, we processed Whinny to night and I am so glad we did. She has been eating but just hasn't been lookibg very good, and she was so skinny. She hadn't laid an egg for abou 8 months. Her abdomen was squishy and soft. When we started to make the first cut around her vent she bust a yellow salfer grean tinted liquid. And several od chucks od sickly brown geenesh tinted lumps fell out. She had rotting eggs in her. She may have been suffering for months. She is at lest 1-1/2 years old, maybe older.

Now. I am worried about my sweet Clair. She is a pet, now a hen, and has yet to lay an egg. She looks good, so I will just keep an even clobber eye on her.

Sounds pretty gross but its good that you helped her. Poor Whinny....my condolences!

 

[Demosthine]

Does anyone have experience with speckled sussex?  My 2 that were hatched the same as the others are about half the size of everyone else.  Did I get duped for some bantams or are they slower growing?  They eat and are active like the rest.  Also what's up with eating feathers?  Anytime someone shakes off a feather they all go after it and swallow it down.

I fostered and raised a shipment of Speckled Sussex for Aloha a few months ago and they were a horrible breed for us. We lost a very large number of them, ending with I think 8 out of 27 or there abouts. They seemed to grow and develop perfectly find, bug just kept dying doe apparently no reason. The two a friend has from that hatch has grown very well and is full size. They have had no problems once we got over about six weeks old.

They did not have any strange behavior, either. I have never heard of the feather eating. How old are they? Perhaps there is some type of deficiency and they are trying to compensate?

 

[MagicChicken]

Does anyone have experience with speckled sussex? My 2 that were hatched the same as the others are about half the size of everyone else. Did I get duped for some bantams or are they slower growing? They eat and are active like the rest. Also what's up with eating feathers? Anytime someone shakes off a feather they all go after it and swallow it down.

Feather eating can be a sign the birds are not getting enough protein.

If your Sussex are not bantams they may be from a slow-growing strain or they may not be getting enough to eat. Since your birds are also eating feathers I would suspect it's a feed issue more than a growth rate issue. Could be both.

 

[Timskins]

Feather eating can be a sign the birds are not getting enough protein.

If your Sussex are not bantams they may be from a slow-growing strain or they may not be getting enough to eat. Since your birds are also eating feathers I would suspect it's a feed issue more than a growth rate issue. Could be both.

They are still on 20% with feed available 24/7. Plus plenty of treats. I have 12 birds, 6 different breeds, all 13 weeks old, and they all go after feathers.