Arizona Chickens

[maryhysong]

Chicks that were due Saturday at noon, started pipping this morning. 1st one (an Aloha) hatched at 6:30AM. Two more Aloha's were pipped. None of Tab's shipped eggs had pipped. My wife thought the first one was dead... it was just resting. Too bad I can't just sit and stare at the incubator.

I'm at the office.... a construction fellow is here tearing out the old Formica and putting in new Corian countertops with a Corian sink in my sterilization/x-ray lab. He says it will only take 3 hours.. He had all of the old torn out in about 30 minutes. Amazing. I may get the plumbers here early to hook everything back up. That would be sweet, then I'm cleaning coops and mowing lawns as I doubt my two teenagers will ever get to it. I've also got to call Pratt's and see if I can come sell them some two month old roos. One that looks like an American Game has a pathetic little crow and he wakes me up before the crack of dawn every morning. If any of you AZ folks want roos, PM me I'd rather give them away to you folks. I have some Silver Laced Cochins, some Australorps, a Buff Orpington a Partridge Rock, a Giant Partridge Cochin and some other game looking roos...

might be interested in the BO boy if he is out of SOP lines and not hatchery type stock....

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I don't get it, 5 girls have laid eggs of my 8. But I am getting 2 eggs a day, one today. I can not find any ground eggs. I wonder if I am doing something wrong?

I just changed their feed, I am still fermenting it. I had putting oats, millet (white, red, and German), sunflower both shelled and unshelled, punkpin seeds (raw), barley (whole), and svelt (not sure of the spelling). Not equale quantities, mostly sunflower, millet and oats. A out 1:8 seeds and regulate egg feed. It has soy in it. I didn't catch that when I read the ingredients. I do not like soy. I need to find a no soy feed that I can afford. I have the info on other sources. Need to fallow up on it.


They are terribly spoiled. When I just give them greens they do not eat it. When I chop it up into thin strips it is gone.

What percentage of protein are you at with your feed?  For laying hens, I believe it should be 16-20% protein.  And of course they should be getting free-choice oyster shell for calcium.

Edit:
And with regards to sources for feed, have you tried the Phoenix Organic Feed Coop?  They have organic, soy free, with or without fish meal.  Reasonably priced.  Pickups in Phoenix and Tucson.   http://www.phoenixorganicfeed.com

I will have to check, I registered with a coop a month ago. I was to get e-mails I notifications. I haven't yet. I will check it out. I have oyster shell I put it in their feed, they do not seem to eat it other wise. I give them supplemental meat, mostly fish. But I do know for sure I am not over whelmed with what I have. I have to use it, can not just throw out 40# of feed. Maybe I should give hem fish every day until I am out. I do give them vitamin supplement, unfortunately they like the fresh water I have to stand in. They are all just starting to lay, they look like they are healthy. Their combs are all bright red.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Cool. So cool, I am going to have to make the trip. Did you know that Elephants love corn mash and beer? If there is a still anyplace they will raid it. Then go on a drunken rampage. . . Sort of. They are like people when drunk, some get mean, some get overly fun loving, some just stand there with a Sicily grin.

Good thing there's no SouthBound Pachyderms in my neighborhood. I'm a cross between the latter two.

Love it

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

So in joyed it., thanks

 

[Chickeneggineer]

Hello Arizona,
Anyone in the Maricopa, Arizona area? Looking forward to my new quail-raising adventure.

Jack

Welcome jack! I live just outside of maricopa. Don't have quail, but have plenty of chickens, several ducks and a few turkeys.

 

[Demosthine]

My wife's two Silkies finally went to the coop by themselves last night. They are always huddled underneath the old coop when I go out to close the coop up, so I almost panicked when I didn't find them there last night. Low and behold... Now, the four new Ameraucanas are the only ones that need to learn where to roost at night. It was exciting!

 

[countrygirl74]

And with regards to sources for feed, have you tried the Phoenix Organic Feed Coop? They have organic, soy free, with or without fish meal. Reasonably priced. Pickups in Phoenix and Tucson. http://www.phoenixorganicfeed.com

I would definitely use this as I had checked into it long ago and it's about $10 per bag cheaper than my current organic feed... but, since I'm not in Phoenix, the gas costs would outweigh my savings. I also prefer fermenting the mash to crumble so I guess what I have is at least working out. But for those of you in the Phoenix area, it's a great price for organic!!

Speaking of calcium, I've been saving eggshells to crush up and offer to the girls. I though I read here somewhere to bake them first. I'm assuming 350˚ for 10-15 min. I've rinsed all of them right after cracking so egg residue is minimal.

I sometimes don't even give mine time to dry - I throw them into the scrap bowl (right after cracking) with everything else from the kitchen and when it's full, we go dump it. I just step on the eggshells to flatten them - that's it. Never had any issues. I know lots of others who do the same and have been for years. They eventually crack and break up into little pieces just from the sun and the girls scratching around.

My wife's two Silkies finally went to the coop by themselves last night. They are always huddled underneath the old coop when I go out to close the coop up, so I almost panicked when I didn't find them there last night. Low and behold... Now, the four new Ameraucanas are the only ones that need to learn where to roost at night. It was exciting!

Must be that time! All 13 of my new ones finally put themselves in the coop the other night too! Finally!! After 2 weeks of putting them to bed...

 

[QuailCounsel]

Chickeneggineer--Thank you. How many chickens do you have? I'm starting out with some quail because it is on a smaller scale. Once I get past the learning curve, I may graduate to chickens. That is, if my HOA permits them. Having some difficulty finding out about my HOA's CC&R's.

Any suggestions for chicken breeds that do well here in Maricopa?

Jack

 

[MagicChicken]

I can't get my other pic to load off my phone. This snake is about 4 foot long and about 4inches in diameter. I think it is a young one. I just have no clue where it came from My girls were drooling!!!!!

Definitely a gopher snake. Beautiful snake. Harmless to people. They do a great rattlesnake imitation when cornered - tail shaking, rattling vocalization that is a perfect imitation of a rattlesnake rattle. I had a young one on my doorstep a few weeks ago. Cracked me up when it did the rattling display. It was a feisty little thing. They will bite when threatened, so keep your fingers out of the way.

 

[Chickeneggineer]

Chickeneggineer--Thank you. How many chickens do you have? I'm starting out with some quail because it is on a smaller scale. Once I get past the learning curve, I may graduate to chickens. That is, if my HOA permits them. Having some difficulty finding out about my HOA's CC&R's.

Any suggestions for chicken breeds that do well here in Maricopa?

Jack

Jack,
I have 49 chickens, 8 ducks, 3 turkeys (the turkey's were supposed to be for dinner, but my wife has now adopted 2 of them, including a royal palm I got from desertmarcy yesterday). So far all of the chickens have done well out here. I have a complete mix of breeds (I think like 15 different types) and all seem to do fine. I like the mix of types (between the looks of the birds themselves and the color/type of eggs). Chitwoods does a good job of bringing in a large assortment of chicks(I think this spring they had 4 different types each week), petclub tends to have more chicks but fewer varieties.
Do you live in the actual town of Maricopa? I had a friend that lived in acacia crossings that had a couple of chickens and the town forced him to get rid of them. It may have been a CCR issue though, because I know there is someone over by the highschool that has a peacock (I saw it sitting on a wall). I luckily don't live in Maricopa (technically I live in Goodyear, they annexed us a couple of years ago). They have some limits on how many you can have, but since we live so far away from them they don't really bug us, and the nieghbors like getting the fresh eggs.