Arizona Chickens

[Mandymooligan]

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Beautiful Roosters!

 

[turkeybreeder]

 

[nurseshelly]

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Ravens are among the MANY species of birds protected by the Migratory Birds Treaty Act, so I strongly caution you to NOT consider hunting or shooting them. Hefty fines ($$$$$) and jail time would not be much fun.

Exactly what i researched but tell you the truth they are so hard on all other breeds of birds I do not understand why they are protected. I saw one knock another small bird out of the air this morning. I noticed when I first moved to AZ how few birds species there are here compared to everywhere else I have lived, now I know why!

The Grackles we have are nasty, they will go into other bird's nests and eat their babies

 

[nurseshelly]

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Ohhh, I'm so sorry!!! I know how it is getting roosters when you think they're hens ... it stinks!!!

 

[nurseshelly]

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Your roosters are beautiful

 

[nurseshelly]

Hi,
We had a busy last two days!!! We got a broken wine cooler for $20 and converted it to an incubator. It's awesome because it already has 4 fans in it, and even after ripping out the compressor, the temp gauges and fans still work

The only things we needed to buy were the light kits and the thermostat. It's got two zones, so the top zone will be the fluffing out area, and the bottom shelves will be for hatching. The top zone only gets to 96 or 97 degrees, but still fine for fluffing out. The bottom section is staying perfect at 100 degrees, and the inside of my wiggle egg is 99.5 degrees. It's cycling really nicely too with the thermostat turning off at 100 degrees and on at 99 degrees so not too much variance. Mahonri was generous and gave us some test eggs so we will be putting them in tonight

It's a 51 bottle wine cooler, so who knows how many eggs it could hold! I'm thinking at least 180 regular eggs, NOT that I would ever need that much space

Here's some pictures of the wine cooler incubator and our roses, which are going crazy right now. Oh and a picture of Paisley, our EE that we got when we found out Blue Belle was a boy. She's already laying so

we are getting an egg a day now that we have settled in. Probably a month before our other girls start laying, and then we will have eggs like crazy

Paisley is a bit bossy, and our other girls pretty much stay away from her - opposite end of coop / run, opposite end of roost for sure! She doesn't pick on anyone, but they know she's the boss, especially if someone tries to get a treat she is aiming for!

Just look at how close our houses are ... that's why Elvis sleeps inside!

 

[Mahonri]

nurseshelly... sorry I missed you, my son was supposed to come get me when you arrived.

perhaps next time.

So grateful for Laree... she vaccinated all of my chicks today!

We have a bunch of great chicken neighbors on this thread.

 

[mclevinson]

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Your yard looks even more beautiful in person!

 

[5pinkarrows]

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You feed them to your chickens!

Potato is fine but an apple core or banana peel works just as well. It doesn't have to be changed every day, just when it dries out. A shoebox should work fine for 50 bugs - they don't fly or climb much, so you can be generous with air holes on top. When they turn to adults "depends" but they're getting close when they're about 1" long and plumped up.

My flock loves them, live or recently deceased

ETA They do better at warmish room temps, in my experience, but I fried a whole colony at the farmers market one time, so I'd vote for an out of the way spot indoors. Mine are in a seven drawer Sterilite storage thingy in the kitchen. Waugh are you using for bedding? Mine get wheat bran, 50# at the feed store, but I've heard you can use unmedicated chicken feed as well.

Thanks! That is helpful info. I have them on a shelf in the laundry room now. We put them in a little chicken feed and some old straw I raked out of the bottom of the coop. I hope that is okay! I figure they can't be but so picky. They ARE worms, right? They are already pretty fat and gross, and they are over an inch long. They may even be two! I think the lady called them super worms or something like that. As much as they creep me out, I am afraid the beetles will be worse. We gave them a banana peel and a little bit of watermelon rind. We'll see how that keeps them.

 

[constance]

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Hi GiddyMoon - I am not sure you will find one place! You may just have to call the different stores and check prices for what you want. I went by Vaquero yesterday (Grant and the Freeway frontage) for the first time and found much cheaper feeders and waterers, and they also sell syringes for vaccinations. I don't know about their feed prices, it looked like they carry the Nutrena line. The people there were GREAT when I had a chick emergency 3 years ago and they tried to help me figure it out. They even called me back when they found more information. It took me 3 years to get there though since they are so far from me. I get organic layer feed at OK, so I am already paying more than most are willing to. My new chicks are getting Purina Start and Grow that I bought at Tucson feeds, and they were NOT helpful or friendly. 5pinkarrows had great things to say about the AZ Feeds on 6th Ave, but that is far from you. You might give Vaquero a try

Thank you Constance..Tucson is just so very huge!!! And yes, I checked the organic prices at OK and man is it expensive..I will keep digging, thank yoU!

You are welcome. I guess Tucson is really not that big, but I stay pretty near home in the middle of the city and don't stray too far from my usual places (at least for shopping, hiking is another matter).

Your chicks will be here soon!

Good luck.