Well, this is the end of a very long, stressful day. It all started out ok when I let the girls out to forage at about 0800 Hours. They are all getting along quite well despite being introduced at different times and having four new members this weekend. We ended up with one egg this morning, but that isn't terribly unusual at the moment. We only have two laying hens so far and the third wouldn't be laying for a few days since the move. In the meantime, I had to take my wife's truck in for the technician to figure out why her alarm was acting all wonky. Shortly after we dropped it off, she called me saying she was locked out of my truck and the remote wouldn't work. After failing to bypass it with the technician's instructions, I had to drive all the way to the other side of two to try and fix it. Two hours later, we were up and running. Between the two stupid alarms, it wasted half my day. I got home eventually, to stumble across a stray egg from Batman, the new Birchen Maran, that had been laid on the opposite end of the coop from the nesting boxes. I relocated it hoping she would realize where to lay next time. After doing some yardwork, I went back out only to find that egg had been broken and taken out to the middle of the yard. When I picked it up, it had an extremely soft, thin shell. That doesn't surprise or concern me considering the stress of moving to a new coop, having new flock mates, changing food and dealing with pecking order issues. I wasn't expecting an egg for four days or more, so not big deal. And then my chickens throw me curve-ball number two. Christine, the larger of my two Barred Rocks, stayed in the nesting box for over an hour before I started researching how soon they can go broody. While this is going on, she keeps making a better nest and making sure the "eggs" or golf balls are tucked nicely under her. As it turns out, there are ample stories of various breeds going broody at her age. She's about 25 weeks right now, but that introduces new problems of isolating her to a new temporary coop and getting some fertile eggs from Trader Joe's. I decided to add some more straw to her nesting box, though, because she burrowed down to the flooring. As soon as I disturbed her, she up and left the coop, leaving behind a nice little egg. Apparently, she wasn't broody. Is this a sign of her going that way though? After some more yardwork and errands, I finally went out and just sat on the back porch. My youngest and eldest daughter were playing in the yard and we invited two of our neighbors' kids over. I was watching two of my Mom's foster kids, too, so we had six little ones playing in the backyard. Well, my Baby Kaylee was foraging while the others played. See the photos below... The chickens seemed completely unfazed by the kids running around and the balls whizzing by, which is a huge blessing! There were moments of flight, of course, but nobody ended up cowering in the corner under the coop or anything. The weather was great and I had my latest purchase, a pottery water fountain, running in the background. That was an excellent end to the day. But enough gossip. On the photos. I've added some captions to make it more interesting... What do you mean that wasn't chocolate candy, Daddy?Well, then I'm gonna smear the chicken poop all over you, too!!!"We're hear at the Lazy D's Chicken Festival today. Comingaround the corner to take the lead is Baby Kaylee. It's herfirst year in the competition, but she's a fierce talent.."Well come on, girls! I can't make this look too easy. Yeah,yeah, slow and steady and all that... But really, do you have to stop and peck at every grain of sand there is? We are ina desert, you know...Why are you interrupting my tanning, man? No, I don't needa hair cut, even if the mullet did go out of style like, fifty yearsago...Look Sleepy, the red hat looks great on you, but I think you'rebutt is just too big for the purple dress. No, you don't have tobe a model to be in the Red Hat Society, but have you lookedin the mirror lately? Yeesh, it's like you're keeping a carton ofeggs in there.Follow the leader, the leader, the leader... Follow the leader,to where ever he may go...Chick 01: Ring around the rosey, pockets full of...Chick 02: No, no, no. That's the wrong game...Chick 03: It's Duck, Duck, Goose!!!I'm the wrong color for this desert. Gotta find some camouflage..."You no see no chicken... It is a mirage. The heat, it'sgettin' to ya', man..."Where there's a slide, there's the need for a BOBSLED!!!"More power, AR AR AR!!!" - Tim Taylor Night everyone! Pressure canning my spaghetti sauce just finished and the foster boys just left for home. A shower and the bed is calling my name!
CITY FAME you think Germans are humorless! I'm German-Swiss or is it Swiss-German, from the birth place of Calvinism. Joy and laughter is the heart of the devil, pleasure is sin, life is work, pain, sacrifice, and suffering. A good meal is stale bread, water, and a small piece of rancid cheese (you may enjoy good cheese and that is pure evil indulgence). My Grandmother B. hair turned white when she turned 40, spent 43 years waiting to die and living for her grandchildren, taking in laundry. I heard her scold my mother when she was 40 something. "You need to get a descent job for a woman of your age, like laundry and ironing". My mother was teaching dancing and was going out dancing with her boyfriend. What Grandmother B. had to say about that is another story. Germans are comedians compared to the Swiss-Greman.
Hey guys. Bit daunting trying to read through this entire thread for AZ Info, but I'm looking for tips on how to deal with the summer heat and AZ Heat coop designs. We are planning on starting our Coop in 2 weeks time, closely followed by adding some chickens to our back yard. We are in central Mesa, but have a large back yard in an old home and can meet the City Ordinance of 75ft away from the neighbors dwelling without too big an issue. Looking for yummy fresh eggs for ourselves & friends and some fun for our 2½ & 9 year old daughters helping look after the chooks.
Any advice on high heat DIY coop building would be appreciated. I have plenty of tools, including a table saw, circular saw etc. and am not afraid to screw a bunch of 2x4's together to make this badboy. Any tips on a cheap place to find the welded wire in the East Valley could be useful, I saw someone on Craigslist selling 100ft rolls, but don't know if their prices are good. We are really looking forward to becoming Chook parents
Hey guys. Bit daunting trying to read through this entire thread for AZ Info, but I'm looking for tips on how to deal with the summer heat and AZ Heat coop designs. We are planning on starting our Coop in 2 weeks time, closely followed by adding some chickens to our back yard. We are in central Mesa, but have a large back yard in an old home and can meet the City Ordinance of 75ft away from the neighbors dwelling without too big an issue. Looking for yummy fresh eggs for ourselves & friends and some fun for our 2½ & 9 year old daughters helping look after the chooks.
Any advice on high heat DIY coop building would be appreciated. I have plenty of tools, including a table saw, circular saw etc. and am not afraid to screw a bunch of 2x4's together to make this badboy. Any tips on a cheap place to find the welded wire in the East Valley could be useful, I saw someone on Craigslist selling 100ft rolls, but don't know if their prices are good. We are really looking forward to becoming Chook parents
Start thinking about huge amounts of ventilation and put it in the shadiest location possible. You can see my coop at the link just under my avatar for an example of an open air design.
Start thinking about huge amounts of ventilation and put it in the shadiest location possible. You can see my coop at the link just under my avatar for an example of an open air design.
My yard is East / West facing with a 6ft wall on the South End of the yard, which is where we were planning on putting the coop / Run. We have about 20ft of length to work with and 6ft of width and plan on keeping 4 Chickens. That Coop definitely gives me some ideas, I love the grape vines inside, we just planted some grapes in another part of the yard and I'm maybe rethinking the Coop location now to take advantage of the drip system I ran from the house out to that corner of the yard.
Quote: City Farm. You can get an idea of their size by the feeder dish they are on. It is a house bird feeder cup. A chicken would squish them. They can get out of the smallest hole and they fly real good. Those little buggers got away from me twice and GOD only knows how I was able to catch them! I tried to bring them inside, put them in a canary cage and the cats thought oooh sparrow for dinner!
I did find them a home tho. Person has other quail. They are cute but never will think of quail again. Even the normal size quail would never be able to run around free ranged. They would fly away!
My yard is East / West facing with a 6ft wall on the South End of the yard, which is where we were planning on putting the coop / Run. We have about 20ft of length to work with and 6ft of width and plan on keeping 4 Chickens. That Coop definitely gives me some ideas, I love the grape vines inside, we just planted some grapes in another part of the yard and I'm maybe rethinking the Coop location now to take advantage of the drip system I ran from the house out to that corner of the yard.
My backyard runs the same direction and we've placed our coop three feet away from the South wall. Unfortunately, during the peak Summer days when the sun is at it's highest there isn't much shade provided by that wall. The girls spend all their days under the grapefruit tree and under the mister I have setup for them. You could always use the South wall as part of your coop/run, but then you may have to deal with radiant heat from the other side of the wall.
City Farm. You can get an idea of their size by the feeder dish they are on. It is a house bird feeder cup. A chicken would squish them. They can get out of the smallest hole and they fly real good. Those little buggers got away from me twice and GOD only knows how I was able to catch them! I tried to bring them inside, put them in a canary cage and the cats thought oooh sparrow for dinner! I did find them a home tho. Person has other quail. They are cute but never will think of quail again. Even the normal size quail would never be able to run around free ranged. They would fly away!
After some more yardwork and errands, I finally went out and just sat on the back porch. My youngest and eldest daughter were playing in the yard and we invited two of our neighbors' kids over. I was watching two of my Mom's foster kids, too, so we had six little ones playing in the backyard. Well, my Baby Kaylee was foraging while the others played. See the photos below... The chickens seemed completely unfazed by the kids running around and the balls whizzing by, which is a huge blessing! There were moments of flight, of course, but nobody ended up cowering in the corner under the coop or anything. The weather was great and I had my latest purchase, a pottery water fountain, running in the background. That was an excellent end to the day. But enough gossip. On the photos. I've added some captions to make it more interesting... What do you mean that wasn't chocolate candy, Daddy?
