Arizona Chickens

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Okay - I have 9 hens that are about 14 months old and I believe 1 of them (1 of the 3 EEs) is molting - only 1. She is not naked or even partly naked, but looks a bit scraggly & fluffy. She is growing LOTS of new feathers - MANY new pin feathers coming in on several places. I'm surprised to see only 1 hen doing this and I expected to notice a lot of feather loss before seeing the new feathers coming it. Anybody else have experience with molting hens here in the wintertime? We're getting 6-7 eggs a day from 13 hens/pullets - they've slowed down a tiny bit, but haven't stopped.

CheerfulHeart - I'm assuming we would have lice/mites here too, but haven't experienced any with my chickens yet. I do use DE, so that may work as a preventative. If you did have broody hens, it could take a while for them to start laying again - not sure about the molting, whether they actually stop laying at that time or just slow down.

 

[Mahonri]

We checked all 7 birds in one breeding pen today for lice and only 2 of the 7 had lice.

We sprayed them and dusted with DE.

I just thought it was interesting that only 2 of the 7 had the lice.

Candled today.

Had to discard 13 of the 67 eggs I put in the bator for my New Year's Day Hatch.

Back to work tomorrow.

 

[DM]

Quote:
Yes, my Delawares have been molting for ever. There are white feathers all over the run every day. I thought they would slow down after awhile but it feels like its been weeks of this....they look well feathered though and have all this time. the other two did not molt ( a buff and RR) I does end right?

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Hi Everyone! I took a hiatus for a while because the hubby and I were installing solar panels. But I wanted to show you pics of the day old chicks that I got yesterday!!
Check them out on my blog

http://justrandomcrap.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/new-chickies/

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Quote:
Cute...and great photo. I love how you have them all labeled. I hope things go well with the HOA. Your produce project sounds interesting. Were the solar panels hard to install?

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Quote:
Cute...and great photo. I love how you have them all labeled. I hope things go well with the HOA. Your produce project sounds interesting. Were the solar panels hard to install?

The panels were a lot of work but they're on!! So far we've saved almost 100 lbs of CO2!

The produce boxes are AWESOME!! Let me know if you're interested!

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Cute.

Where did you get your solar panels?

We want to install some.

Are they for electricity or hot water?

 

[DM]

Well, I found something strange yesterday in the yard. I almost missed it. My hubby and I were out there checking on food and water . I gathered a couple of eggs from the coop when he said ...is this an egg and then he picked it up from the ground. I didn't know. It was the size of my thumb in diameter. Is this possible? It looked more like a small bird's egg. Do chickens lay funny little eggs when the start laying? I've got to get this picture thing down so I can show everyone...(i am from the wrong generation so i am not up on this tech stuff.) anyway ever seen a small egg like that form a heavy breed ?

 

[LarryPQ]

Yup, they are called fart eggs or rooster eggs....There may or may not be a yolk in it. Even older hens occasionally misfire: which is to be expected if you are supposed to crank out an egg every 26 hours.


Here is a pic of one. I was SO SURE one of my OEGBs had started laying...but come breakfast time, there was no yolk.

 

[DM]

Quote:
Fart eggs? How funny Thanks for the info...now I can tell my hubby that is is normal

He wonders about my chicken thing....though I see him feed them grapes and try to carry them around now and then....he like them