Arizona Chickens

[Arizonachicken]

Hahaha... we can easily go through a dozen or so eggs in one breakfast as well. How many hens do you have in order to not have to buy any from the store? I currently have 5 hens (one is a silkie though) and plan on adding about 9 more. I am hoping that will do it. Plus, I have 3 female ducks that will start laying in a couple months.

Well, we've been supplementing with store eggs up until now. I have 12 chickens total. I have 1 rooster and 3 pullets that have just begun to lay as of yesterday. So we did have 8 laying hens, but they weren't all laying. Some were molting, one got bumble foot then some respiratory thing and stopped laying for a while. So at any given time I only had 4-6 that were laying. Then their production went down when it got cold and it wasn't enough for us. So I'm hoping that now that I have 11 laying hens (no one's sick or molting) that we'll get enough. We got 5 eggs today. My older hens took a HUGE break after they molted and are just now getting back into laying. So I hope 11 hens will do.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Got 11 eggs yesterday... a marans, a barred rock, an Aussie, two leghorn, two olive eggs and 4 of the 7 Icelandics laid.

Maybe your hens can give my hens a pep talk. How many do you have now to get 11 in a day?

 

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Are there any local places I could pick up another pullet? I'm pretty sure one of my EE's is a roo and I won't be able to keep him on that note anyone want or need a 3 1/2 week old EE roo?

 

[squeakyballs]

Finally...The moment we've all been waiting for... Pictures!

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Wow! Great pictures! Your chicks are adorable, and your coop looks fantastic!

 

[squeakyballs]

My coop is almost done! The wire is up and it is looking fantastic. I think Gallo might help build the door this week.

DesertMarcy thinks my chicks should hatch sometime in March!

My 90lb American Bulldog ran full-speed into the side of the coop... I guess he got used to it not having wire. The poor guy had the wind knocked out of him, he sounded so awful that I thought he was dying. He is mostly okay except his snout is a little bruised and swollen. Lots of doggy treats have been given!

He bowed the section of hardware cloth, but amazingly enough it didn't break or come off. If it can hold up to that it can probably handle anything.

 

[Mahonri]

Quote: 15 that lay.

Today I only got 9. Production Red, Olive egger, 2 leghorns, Aussie, 4 Icelandics.

 

[Rezia]

Wow! Great pictures! Your chicks are adorable, and your coop looks fantastic!

Thanks! We've been having a fluffy-butt-load of fun with the chicks!

 

[Fuzzybird]

My coop is almost done! The wire is up and it is looking fantastic. I think Gallo might help build the door this week.

DesertMarcy thinks my chicks should hatch sometime in March!

My 90lb American Bulldog ran full-speed into the side of the coop... I guess he got used to it not having wire. The poor guy had the wind knocked out of him, he sounded so awful that I thought he was dying. He is mostly okay except his snout is a little bruised and swollen. Lots of doggy treats have been given!

He bowed the section of hardware cloth, but amazingly enough it didn't break or come off. If it can hold up to that it can probably handle anything.

Poor Baby!!

 

[rufus]

On the question of fermented feed, beware of aflatoxin. On the issue of storing eggs, in the war we ate powdered eggs that were laid well before I was born. They didn't spoil, but the quality and texture were the same as sponge rubber. I am not sure if it was the eggs themselves or the cooking talent of the personnel in the kitchen. They were purely awful.

Any way, the city council will have a meeting on Wednesday evening to decide to declare my neighborhood a "blighted area." My cousins in Amarillo already went through this. It is a ploy for the city bureaucrats to get their hands on a lot of Obamabucks. The money will go toward hiring a zoning Nazi to cruise through the neighborhood looking for weeds, cars parked on lawns, trash bins with the lids up and a plethora of other social ills.

Now my wife is concerned about my chicken coop. We gave our ancient hens away back in June, and I was intending to buy chicks this month. The wife thinks that we could be busted for illegal possession of a hen house. I don't think they could do anything about it. I guess time will tell. In the meantime, I will not buy chicks until the situation is clarified.

Now I have to find the weed eater and clear off some weeds.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Would it be better to place my coop on the side of my house that gets more shade? I thought it would be better for them in the summer, but in the winter the area would start to be shaded in the early afternoon. I have east/west exposure front of the house gets the west, backyard gets the east. Any insight would be helpful!

Always go for the most shade possible in the low desert! Our summers are so hard on the chickens but our winters are a walk in the park.