Arizona Chickens

[Puffycheeks]

Hi all! Just discovered there was a forum for people in Arizona who raise poultry so I thought I would introduce myself incase you see me wandering around the forums

I have been around or owned chickens since I was 4 years old-- started out with all the normal things like Auracaunas, RIR, Barred Rocks, Australorps, and the like...then, thanks to my adventurous step father I learned that chicken breeds went beyond what the local feed store carried. So now I am crazy about rare breeds...especially bantams
Just have a few boring standard breeds to rid myself of, and then my bantam addiction will be well under way.. I have (or hope to have): Cuckoo rose comb leghorns, Bantam Butter cups, Vorwerks, White Faced Black Spanish, and Spangled OEG. I also have Royal Palm Turkeys, and hope to get a trio of Spanish. Water fowl include: Runner ducks, Chinese Geese, Sebastapol geese, and apricot/pastel call ducks.

 

[Puffycheeks]

I never sugar coat anything. My sister always asks my opinion and I ask if she wants the truth or for me to lie!

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote: Well, the turnips are bolting and it's just as well. Nobody in the house wants to eat them so they've been going to the chickens. I haven't gardened for a couple of years so the last time I gardened, stuff that was bolting just went to the compost. Now we get the goodness of our garden in a round-about way too (in our eggs). I don't think my chickens are going to keep up with all the bolting turnips and radishes, though. 90+ degree weather sure spoils a spring garden.

 

[Mahonri]

Well it took me over two hours to catch up with a weeks worth of posts but I'm back.

The Easter Hatch has kept me super busy and will continue to do so for at least the next week.

I set 72 eggs and I ended up with 33 chicks... one died the day after it hatched.... so 32 live chicks.

I got 14 of 16 shipped Icelandics.
I hatched 8 Ameraucanas ( at least two were mixes)
I got 1 blue sumatra
I got 2 black bantam (dark layer) cochins (mixed with FBCMs)
I hatched about 7 of ca's sulmtaler eggs.

I need to take a pic of them.

I still haven't sold my red sussex pair but I'll be putting them up for sale again soon.

I tried to put chicks under my broody but she didn't accept them. I was not happy.

I'll have to buy a couple of chicks to put under her next weekend.

It was fun to read all of your posts! Maybe now I can sleep!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

YIKES! Momma hen picked up a chick by the toe and broke it's tiny toe. What gives? Did she think it was a worm? I put neosporin on it, but can't splint it since its so small, so if it heals, it'll have a crooked toe.

.

Get a piece of tape (bandaid tape would work) and set the chick's foot on the tape in the correct position. Then fold the end over to cover tape down the top of the foot as well. Trim around the edges to give the chick a "boot." Be careful of surfacing as you don't want to add spla leg to its problems.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Oh, I wanted to add, that just a few years ago we discovered that beet greens are our most favorite greens we've ever grown. In fact, the family here prefers the tops to the bottoms. I couldn't believe how good they were. It's so sad that all the time growing up we just fed the tops to the chickens. I asked my mom about it and she said that someone told her they weren't good to eat, so we didn't.

I don;t like beets, but I agree that beet greens are wonderful!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Black is no copies of the blue gene: bl+/bl+
Splash is two copies of the blue gene: Bl/Bl

Black parent gives bl+ to all offspring
Splash parent gives Bl to all offspring

All offspring are Bl/bl+: blue

 

[Mikey D]

For anyone who needs a "Fuzzy Cuteness" fix...

That was my cute fix for the day!

 

[Mikey D]

Here it is, ready for it's 50 mile journey to the giant dunk tanks!

 

[Arizonachicken]

Quote:
Get a piece of tape (bandaid tape would work) and set the chick's foot on the tape in the correct position. Then fold the end over to cover tape down the top of the foot as well. Trim around the edges to give the chick a "boot." Be careful of surfacing as you don't want to add spla leg to its problems.

Thank you SS! The chick is fine and we're going on 24 hours now. It's just the tip that's broken, just below the toenail. I think it'll be fine, just crooked. If this should happen again, I'll do what you said. The mom and chicks are on ground, dirt and grass. All 5 seem to be peppy and eating and drinking just fine.