Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

Greetings!  I am Purplesussex and I live in Glendale, Arizona!  I am a teacher for students who are blind or have visual impairments.  Now that I finally have time to post... yay summer!  I just wanted to introduce myself.  I have two speckled sussex hens, two easter eggers and one black australorp.  I have  loved chickens since I was a kid and helped my grandmother take care of them.  I am an expert grasshopper hunter and I adore my girls.  I am new to owning my own chickens but I have read a ridiculous amount of books on them.   I love this forum and backyardchickens.com.  You guys help me take good care of my girls especially when they had the sniffles. 

My DH helped me out by buying the coop!  I want a few more chicks, but I promised to wait until spring. 

 

Oh so nice of you to chime in!!! Hope to see some photos... I still have not worked out the details of posting photos..
However I love to see ya all

 

[City farm]

I came home to a surprise today. Eggs were due to hatch Friday/Saturday. I had candled the eggs last night before "lockdown" with mom. This little one showed no signs of movement in the egg. The other egg I am not sure either. I had 6 eggs to start and only 2 on day 14 looked good. A little bitty Silkie crossed with ?

Awhheee our moma hen has left her babies to sleep up on the roof of the coop.. I guess it is time for her to say "ahwstalavista baby" you love that word? Try saying it 5x fast

 

[MaddBaggins]

Like an LP or 45 that is scratched? Oh wait, you are not

enough to remember those.

My first 45 was The Hollies, Long Cool Woman. I wore that record out.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Hello from the NE corner of AZ. My son home from his NAVY "cruise" overseas came to visit before he settles into shore duty. We visited some of the National Sites in the area and when I came home I had a shipment of hatching eggs to put under my two broodies. The blue Marans has four larger eggs and the tiny NN Serama five tiny eggs. Here are some Pictures of my son the Navy Man. Monument Valley in AZ on the Utah border Monument Valley Canyon de Chelle to Monument Valley to Mesa Verde to Natural Bridges to home. Mesa Verde Nation Park climbing up from the Cliff Palace Natural Bridges National Park UT Canyon de Chelle

Love the pictures

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Some of the girls have started to do something odd when we reach out to pet them. They crouch down, wings back (like if you were to cock back your elbows) and just sit there to be petted. I got all excited, I thought they were gonna drop an egg right in front of me.
Anybody know what that behavior indicates?

 

Mine to, push lightly down in front the the tail and they will move it out of the way...... I give you three guess.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Hi all the new members, you will be welcome here and there are a lot of good people to help.

 

[countrygirl74]

My first 45 was The Hollies, Long Cool Woman. I wore that record out.

How about an Elvis 8-track? LOL

 

[chisandchicks]

Hi! I am in Casa Grande. I have several chickens and so far so good! My husband put in a mister for them and they just love it! We also have lots of tarps ($3.00 at Big Lots) for shade and, of course, they have their coop; well, they actually have 2 places to g; one is an old wooden kitchen table that has been enclose on 3 sides and then they have their regular "house". Lots of shade and moist (not wet) ground seems to keep them happy. I also have a large pan with muddy water in it for them. They like to walk in and out of it when the mister isn't on. I keep several containers of water around their pen for them to.
Of course, it is only just now starting to be over 100' daily, so I may find out that I have to do things differently. I will keep y'all posted on our progress here in Az.
Thank you for your post from Az.!
chisandchicks (Chihuahuas and chickens)
in Az.
Lol.

 

[chisandchicks]

Hi! I am in Casa Grande. I have several chickens and so far so good! My husband put in a mister for them and they just love it! We also have lots of tarps ($3.00 at Big Lots) for shade and, of course, they have their coop; well, they actually have 2 places to g; one is an old wooden kitchen table that has been enclose on 3 sides and then they have their regular "house". Lots of shade and moist (not wet) ground seems to keep them happy. I also have a large pan with muddy water in it for them. They like to walk in and out of it when the mister isn't on. I keep several containers of water around their pen for them to.
Of course, it is only just now starting to be over 100' daily, so I may find out that I have to do things differently. I will keep y'all posted on our progress here in Az.
Thank you for your post from Az.!
chisandchicks (Chihuahuas and chickens)
in Az.
Lol.

 

[Demosthine]

Several interesting things happened yesterday. We stopped at the Stock Shop on the way home for a larger waterer for the broody hen, since the heat is getting to be more of an issue. Just for the sake of grins, I asked about turkey poults and it turns out they had just received them in sometime in the last two days. We bought three broad breasted bronze turkeys that are about a week old.

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The bad news is that the broody hen did not take to them. She was aggressive if they approached her and pecked at me every time I tried to snuggle them under her. That was her once chance, so now we move on to breaking the broody. She is in a dog kennel with no bottom, elevated above the ground. Hopefully, that'll work. I think I'll move her inside the house this afternoon, where it's 80* instead of 100*. Do you all think I should shave her around the vent to remove the insulating layer or just leave her be that way?

On a side note, I became an enabler last night. We had some friends over and were sitting at the table when I looked on Craig's List, only to find a hen that has been laying. She was attacked by a dog the other day and is in rough condition. Add to that the fact that the previous owners weren't taking care of her and it means we found an abused hen in rough shape. She devoured the food and water we gave her, like she hadn't been fed in a day or two. Her crop felt full, though, so I'm hoping there is no fluid build-up or swelling up there. It was getting dark and the lighting wasn't great, so I am hoping to stop by this afternoon for a better look.

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I sent over my dog kennel and they used a Rubbermaid container for the nesting box for now. His wife has been completely against chickens every since we got them and said no way in a cold, hard hell will he get chickens. Low and behold, the addiction has started. She made him go out and mow the yard late last night so that Matilda would "have somewhere soft to lay and for her egg to be!" Ah, yes, it has begun...

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