Arizona Chickens

[Memphisjourney2seramas]

Hi. I am new to this thread. techincally I am in New Mexico. I am 20 minutes to the Arizona border and 1hour to mexico, so really the middle of now where. We live where the Monument/horse shoe fire started over a month ago. It sure got smokey and ashy. The weather here is like tucson.

We still own a house in Queen Creek, so technically I am an Arizona chicken girl. We shop in Arizona and visit the Valley often because all our family lives there. We dont claim new mexico. I just wanted to say Hey! I have been reading for a while and was starting to feel like I was spying so thought I would join. We have several chickens. We live on 5 acres so there is no limit and no neighbors that care. We love seramas and have a few.

 

[nurseshelly]

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Sorry to hear about your hen

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My cuckoo marans is having the hardest time with the heat. She pants until way after dark. Poor girl. I have been spraying her down every hour in the afternoon and evening. It at least keeps her comfy until she dries and the ground dries. Hope I don't lose her.

 

[pimachickens]

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Welcome!

 

[constance]

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Preparation H will help with a prolapse. There is a shot that they can be given periodically to prevent them from laying. Offhand I do not recall what the med is, but a good chicken vet should know. Alternatively ask on the housechickens yahoo group.

pdx2phx
My vet suggested this for our 3-year-old hen that won't stop laying and needs a break (has never had a hard molt, laid through the winters, and is now laying splats no matter what amendments we try), and said that it is often used for prolapsed birds. He said it was Depo-Provera (yep, really, it is), on another thread someone called it Lupron. Essentially it works the same way it does in humans, as a chicken birth control. It would give your hen time to heal. It is NOT CHEAP, at least with my vet, who said it starts at about $35 for a small bird. I took that to mean a finch-sized bird. We decided on waiting at this point, since she is healthy otherwise, so I don't know how much a hen would be.

Good luck!

 

[pdx2phx]

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Constance,

Thank you! I will ask about the shot if this comes up again (which it probably will). All of our Ladies have kept laying though the heat & all which actually worries me. The eggs are nice but I like my Ladies more

I have taken pretty big measures before with my birds - a female parrotlet (think smaller than a lovebird!) I had couldn't stop laying and it was killing her. An Avian surgeon in Portland did a hysterectomy on her. It was pretty incredible.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but if I can help them, I do.

 

[mclevinson]

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Memphis!

 

[mclevinson]

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So are the Trader Joe eggs usually leghorns?

That is my understanding. I really threw them in there on a lark, as I thought a full incubator might help my temp and humidity variation problems. Seems to be working, and if I were to get a production pullet or two it wouldn't like actually kill me...just my reputation. I wonder if they can be feather sexed as hatchlings...

 

[mclevinson]

If you are coming to make soap next Sunday in Queen Creek please PM me, need to get a final head count.
Thanks!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Thank you for the suggestions....I will go check out the housechickens group too. I will look up chicken vets again. We couldn't find anyone who specialized in birds to see her yesterday, so ended up taking her to Peoria. They took absolutely excellent care of us, stayed late so we could get her in, and were reasonable. I highly recommend All Pets Hospital/Dr. Marsh!!

Dr Burke at Cornerstone Animal Hospital in Gilbert is excellent.

 

[teresa2010]

I will check out The Feed Barn. I am still on the fence about the duck.

Thanks alot for your help.


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Call Sharon at the Feed Barn--she currently has a lot of birds available.

Most ducks (females) are noisy; most drakes (males) are very quiet. All muscovies are very quiet. My son named one of our muscovy hens "Squeeky" because she is broody and makes a baby sounding squeek when you go near.

A plastic wading pool is sufficient for most ducks and geese (although they would prefer something much larger). Muscovies aren't all that excited about swimming. Only one of the three muscovies has gone in our pool--and they usually won't even go in the wading pool. My chinese goose would get in the pool if she could get to it. The sebastapol only went in once on her own--she was a baby and was joining her mama (me). I was rather surprised when she jumped in almost on top of me!