Arizona Chickens

[DM]

Today while in the kitchen I saw my buff run as if something was after her and then the others squawked and scattered....by the time I got a good look i saw nothing yet they were still worried and scattered and squawking....i ran to get clothes on and when I came out the next time a large bird swooped toward the yard from the top of the house next door. the girls were in the bushes...by then i was half way to the pen...dont know what it was .. my girls walked toward me when i came out their way chattering...I talk them down to their normal clucks as they clustered to me like I was a mother hen providing protection... The bird didn't look large enough to be a hawk maybe the size of a large crow.... but its been a long time since I've seen a hawk.... like i am in the city with house all around... do you think a hawk would come in this far.......i am hoping it was a large pigeon...I do have bushes close for them to run into... hope it is enough protection.

 

[squeakyballs]

Quote:
I'm so glad that you mentioned that, I was thinking I would add half of our bunny's alfalfa bale to the chicken coop for them to play in. It sounds like a disaster!

Not that I have chickens yet... but our coop is ready. Yay!

 

[Enjaytoo]

Welcome Green Acres!

Sounds like it was "clean up" week for everyone. Today I cleaned out a run, bleached, put in sand and a bit of coconut mulch and decorated accordingly for the trio of pheasants that are going in there. So midnight or so will find me catching sleeping pheasants and transplanting them...fun fun fun.. The male will be easy but the hens are totally full of themselves

No more signs of the predator yet; finished the welded wire panels and got them all on top, added a radio tuned to talk station and awaiting my solar flashing red lights.

DM- that certainly could be a hawk, maybe an immature Harris or something, IDK....

ETA- or maybe a Peregrine Falcon?

 

[ArizonaNessa]

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You did reply to me but you replied via email. I sent you an email back to answer some of the questions that was in your reply.

 

[AZKat]

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I've got a new home for the marans, its the delaware I'm still looking to sell. In any case, she was hatched August 21st, so about 4 1/2 months old. Not laying yet, but she should start pretty soon. I'm asking $20.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
I think we just had our first hawk swoop tonight also! I usually let my chickens out every day around 3 or 4 to free-range (I don't want them out all day because of the poop issue). Well... it was after 5 and I just realized I had never let the chickens out. I let them out and threw them some scratch out in the yard. A few minutes later, while I was in the run refilling feeders, etc, I heard a loud squawk and heard all the chickens running and flapping. I looked up, saw my dog with them (she's always with them) and thought that somehow she had scared them. The chickens just stood still under the porch roof - I could tell they were still scared and they wouldn't be acting that way if they had just been startled by the dog. I heard some noises and looked up to see a hawk in my neighbors' tree - I don't think it was the attacker because it was so far away, but I could hear it calling to another unseen hawk - I could hear them both. My guess, is that a hawk swooped down on my chickens, but changed its mind after seeing the dog in the midst of them. I'm nervous now - I've had these chickens for 14 months now and they've been free-ranging for at least 11 months without any losses. I would really hate to not let them out anymore - hopefully, the dogs will keep protecting them.

This is one of our 3 dogs looking for scratch (the dog that was in the middle of them during the hawk's attempt is a lot larger, but all 3 are buddies with the flock)

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

One of my daughters took pictures of a hawk we had in our huge african sumac tree last year. It seemed to be watching the chicks while they were penned up, but we never saw it again or had any trouble. I have no idea if the hawk I saw today is the same kind, but both seemed quite large to me. About a month ago, I saw a very small hawk sitting on our fence watching our caged babies, but it didn't seem interested in the large hens (although they were still hiding from it - up on our porch again).

picture quality is not good - pics were taken with a cellphone

 

[DM]

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What a great picture. Now I am wondering...the bird i saw i think was a bit smaller...the reason i felt it was large was cause it seemed heavy when it flew...it happened fast....but it could have been a young hawk that swooped down.... did not expect to have a predator from the air....thought being in the city i would not see country type birds...if my chickens are in danger then so would a small 6 lb dog....i will have to come up with a better set up but for now guess i will create netting that they could run under till they get to the bushes....going to look up hawks on the computer to see how they attack.

Love that your dog roams with the chickens...would be great protection...dont have a dog....how did you get the dog to be chicken friendly? both my kids dogs want to eat them. your flock in the pictures look real nice....sooo content....

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Howdy,

The hatch turned out way better than I had expected. 41 little chicks!

I got 11 French Black Copper Marans
5 Golden Cuckoo Marans crosses.
4-5 EEs
and the rest are Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas... my son even thinks we are going to have a splash roo... we'll see.. and that would be a rarity.

I gave away 1 FBCM, 1 GC Marans cross and one w/bw Am... I warned them they have a 50/50 chance of a roo!

SO... out side I have 27 hens and 2 roos... so from mid April to the end of May I'll need to rehome a bunch of my wonderful egg laying girls to make room for the new ones.

It looks like I'm going to concentrate on the w/bw Ameraucanas and I'll just keep the few FBCMs for table eggs or perhaps for the making of some olive eggers.

some of the chicks look extremely promising for breeding or perhaps even for show quality.... but I will also probably be selling some of the others so if you want some decent quality blue egg laying stock or perhaps even a w/bw am roo, let me know.

 

[tofuranch]

Quote:
Howdy,

The hatch turned out way better than I had expected. 41 little chicks!

I got 11 French Black Copper Marans
5 Golden Cuckoo Marans crosses.
4-5 EEs
and the rest are Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas... my son even thinks we are going to have a splash roo... we'll see.. and that would be a rarity.

I gave away 1 FBCM, 1 GC Marans cross and one w/bw Am... I warned them they have a 50/50 chance of a roo!

SO... out side I have 27 hens and 2 roos... so from mid April to the end of May I'll need to rehome a bunch of my wonderful egg laying girls to make room for the new ones.

It looks like I'm going to concentrate on the w/bw Ameraucanas and I'll just keep the few FBCMs for table eggs or perhaps for the making of some olive eggers.

some of the chicks look extremely promising for breeding or perhaps even for show quality.... but I will also probably be selling some of the others so if you want some decent quality blue egg laying stock or perhaps even a w/bw am roo, let me know.

So where are the pictures?? I would love to see. We are only on day 9 today on the wheaten/blue ameraucanas that I got from you and they continue to look good.