Arizona Chickens

[Fuzzybird]

Quote:
It is not legal to discharge a firearm in a residential area - cannot remember if it is within 1/4 mile or 1 mile. You might have to deal with that if the popo come to investigate. Please be careful.

This is really scary with rabies being so close to us Bob. My friend, I live with has a gun and you can be sure any javalina that looks sick will get shot! I think if it is radid the police won't mind.
Sad I was looking forward to seeing Javalina now I hope I don't!

 

[AZBootsie]

Quote:
My mom always said that too.

 

[Fuzzybird]

I candled my 5 day eggs and all 5 look like they are fertile and growing. I am still not to sure about this mini globe incubator. Wish I waited for a better one. I got to thinking does anyone that lives close to me have a old incubator that still works they want to get rid of?
Also anyone have any laying hens? Don't care what kind. My friend, I live with has only two hens now and one decided to start pecking open the other hens eggs! This is a Buff orpiton. She doesn't hurt her own eggs but if the other hen [ A blue Orp] is setting to lay she gets right up almost under her waiting for the egg to be layed and gets while it is still wet!

Sence I can't get to a computer as often as I like please be free to call me. 623-388-1329. [Terri]

 

[Mikey D]

Bob's Henhouse :

When going outside to feed/water/check on the chickens, even though it is cool out and you want to let the cool breeze blow through the house, DON'T leave the door open or a white leghorn may sneak inside and feast on one of your totes of mealworms!

Now THAT's funny!​

 

[Mikey D]

Bob's Henhouse :

You doin' the Show Low shuffle Mikey?

We got back an hour ago. Swapped the good battery back into the truck (Big Blue for future reference) took the old one into get charged/checked and checked on the chickies. David DS#3 fed them this afternoon and reported that the other Cornish got it's butt pecked bloody. So now my hands are purple again for another few days.

BTW - The Cornish Roo weighs 4.6 lbs!!! It went from 3-4 oz to SEVENTY FOUR OUNCES in five and a half weeks!?!?!?! How is that possible? I even calibrated the scale and it is correct.


It's got to be the cheese!

BTW - they only get a half slice split between the 8 of them once or twice a week.

 

[Mikey D]

Quote:

...

How old are your kids?
I think I'm worse than them! That's why I candled on day 3 !

And I thought I was a patient person after years of gardening. I was told once that gardening would teach a person patience. Well, it wasn't enough!

I changed out the bulb for a 40watt instead of 60, but I am still getting temp swings. Not as bad...between 98 & 103 (better than the 92-120 I was getting) and they only last for maybe 10-15 (usually after I've had the door open to turn eggs) then they stabilize again. I haven't noticed a huge change in internal egg temps tho...so I'm hopeful for at least a few to hatch out.

My kids are 11, 10, and "close enough to 6" (her words). Oh, oh...I tried candling them at 3 days...and 4 days...but I had to get a better light. So now I have a better light & don't really know what to look for other than veins. I'm really more interested in what a "bad egg" looks like.

As for patience, I was learning some with my gardening...then the rotten neighbor kids let my chickens out the other day (apparently my slide lock is not high enough - so now there is a hasp with a construction duty padlock) & they ATE my WHOLE garden...my wonderfully growing winter garden

So, I'm back to being impatient

Sorry to hear about the neighbor kid. My neighbor kid had an Australorp by the tail & deleted 4 weeks of hand taming in a few seconds.

On a more pleasant note: do you have on of those temp-probes-in-a-fake-egg setups? Is that how you track the internal temps?

Remember I'm still a chicken noob!

Oh and more picts of the fridge-a-bator please. I didn't see any with eggs in...

 

[Mikey D]

Mikey's current thoughts on chickens... (And I've not posted a pict of the peepers/cluckers in quite a while!)

1. I don't think they have advanced pain receptors like we do. They can obviously feel something but when they get pecked bloody, it doesn't seem to hurt them, just bothers them. Also, if I had a bloody, raw, pecked open sore anywhere on my body like this Cornish roo does, and someone cleaned it out with soap and water like I did to it, (especially if it was a monster 40 times my size!) I wouldn't just stand in the sink and cluck.

2. The Cornish don't get handled like the rest ('cause I don't want to get attached to sumptin I'm gonna eat!) so they struggle a tad when I first pick them up. Today, this roo let out a noise that was as close to a crow as I've heard. Is this normal in a 5-1/2 week old bird? Also, the silly thing weighs 4.6 lbs (and yes Dr. Tracy I've been tough loving them feed wise). Is this normal for a Cornish cross?

3. This is One Dot. She is a sweetheart & probably my favoritist bird. I'm mentally anguishing over the fact that she may not be a Production Red, and my in fact be a Red Broiler. I'm thinking that regardless I'm not going to kill her. She is too sweet. But... how does she compare? She is way larger than one of the other red's - almost but not quite as big as the Cornish (Just not as fat!). She is also lighter in color than the others. When Tracy & I seperated the order I was supposed to have 2 Productions and 2 Broilers. We believe we got 3 & 1. Please take a look at the four picts below and let me know what you guys think: Production or Broiler

This is One Dot in her favorite pose - set'n in my hand

This is One Dot from the top view for comparison.

This is another red - we thought production red when Tracy & I divvied them up as fuzzys
The other female is similar in color but larger - the fourth Red is a roo & darker like this one. Just not fully feathered.

This is a size comparison between One Dot and A "Blue Butt Cornish" hen. She looks darker
in this pict than she really is. She is almost a uniform light brown (red?)
Black Australorp in the background.

What do ya'll think? And, If she is a Red Broiler, is there any harm in letting her live? What I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to ask is; I understand that letting a Cornish Cross live beyond 8 - 10 weeks is cruel because of their physiology, will a Red Broiler have the same health / quality of life issues past their due date?

Thanks in advance folks!

 

[tball chicky]

Quote:
I changed out the bulb for a 40watt instead of 60, but I am still getting temp swings. Not as bad...between 98 & 103 (better than the 92-120 I was getting) and they only last for maybe 10-15 (usually after I've had the door open to turn eggs) then they stabilize again. I haven't noticed a huge change in internal egg temps tho...so I'm hopeful for at least a few to hatch out.

My kids are 11, 10, and "close enough to 6" (her words). Oh, oh...I tried candling them at 3 days...and 4 days...but I had to get a better light. So now I have a better light & don't really know what to look for other than veins. I'm really more interested in what a "bad egg" looks like.

As for patience, I was learning some with my gardening...then the rotten neighbor kids let my chickens out the other day (apparently my slide lock is not high enough - so now there is a hasp with a construction duty padlock) & they ATE my WHOLE garden...my wonderfully growing winter garden

So, I'm back to being impatient

Sorry to hear about the neighbor kid. My neighbor kid had an Australorp by the tail & deleted 4 weeks of hand taming in a few seconds.

On a more pleasant note: do you have on of those temp-probes-in-a-fake-egg setups? Is that how you track the internal temps?

Remember I'm still a chicken noob!

Oh and more picts of the fridge-a-bator please. I didn't see any with eggs in...

I have a temp probe in a water wiggler thingie...seems to be working well. The temps don't actually change nearly as much INside the egg as they do OUTside the egg. I'll get some pics tomorrow...when I charge the batteries

I really dislike other people's ROTTEN kids...the nice/cute/cuddly/sneaky/ornery ones I can handle. It's the rotten/rude/disrespectful ones that I can't.

 

[Mikey D]

Quote:
Sorry to hear about the neighbor kid. My neighbor kid had an Australorp by the tail & deleted 4 weeks of hand taming in a few seconds.

On a more pleasant note: do you have on of those temp-probes-in-a-fake-egg setups? Is that how you track the internal temps?

Remember I'm still a chicken noob!

Oh and more picts of the fridge-a-bator please. I didn't see any with eggs in...

I have a temp probe in a water wiggler thingie...seems to be working well. The temps don't actually change nearly as much INside the egg as they do OUTside the egg. I'll get some pics tomorrow...when I charge the batteries

I really dislike other people's ROTTEN kids...the nice/cute/cuddly/sneaky/ornery ones I can handle. It's the rotten/rude/disrespectful ones that I can't.

T-ball, may I offer a piece of advice?

Don't become a teacher!

 

[tball chicky]

Quote:
I have a temp probe in a water wiggler thingie...seems to be working well. The temps don't actually change nearly as much INside the egg as they do OUTside the egg. I'll get some pics tomorrow...when I charge the batteries

I really dislike other people's ROTTEN kids...the nice/cute/cuddly/sneaky/ornery ones I can handle. It's the rotten/rude/disrespectful ones that I can't.

T-ball, may I offer a piece of advice?

Don't become a teacher!

I actually was an assitant in a special needs pre-school and then I was a temp. librarian in the middle school.

Then...I became a M-A-M-A...and decided I like mine waaaay better

I really loved working with the special needs kiddos - mostly dealing with autism, downs syndrome, and kids with TBI (traumatic brain injury). They were the sweetest kids. They, in retrospect, prepared me for my littlest one (Maggie Mae) - so thankful I took that position many, many years ago.
But, no...I would never even consider going back to teaching. I don't have the mindset for it anymore...or the patience that it requires