Arizona Chickens

[Arizona Son]

Sad night over here!! Just got finished with cleaning up my first loss of life this summer. I was woken by the screeching of babies so i ran outside as fast as i could to find that a king snake had somehow managed to climb up into the brooder and kill two babies. He was working on his 3rd but i soon made him realize whats thirds really meant!! The chick he had in his mouth is alive and well but the others arent. My mom probably thinks im going to become a physcopathic murderer because of the blood bath that ensued. I never expected to have snakes not only in a suburban place but then have them get be able to get my chicks.

I do know your frustration, having just lost two chicks to a bull snake a few days ago. Normally, I like snakes & respect the place they have in the ecosystem - getting rid of rodents & whatnot. If they would just stick to that, i'd have no problem with them. But snakes, like most predators, are opportunistic feeders & will not turn down a free easy meal of baby chickens on account of their strong moral ethics!

 

[pipemum]

Arizona Son, how are the chicks doing? Have you been able to sex the marans or RIRs yet? From the batch you got from me, I kept one black copper marans, 2 cuckoo marans, and 1 RIR. I still can't tell if they are pullets or cockerels, though I think the black marans is a pullet. Should be clear soon enough, I guess. Have you noticed the black copper marans struggling with the heat, more so than the other chickens? Mine seems to--she's the only one I'm worried about making it through the summer.

 

[tsuninight]

Funny Story.

I work from home 2 days a week, and I'm pretty glad yesterday was one of those days. It was about 2pm (so sunny and freakin hot), and I look outside and my four chickens are leading a literal charge around the yard chasing a small dog, who was pretty much terrified of them. I do not own a small dog. I'm not sure what prompted a full on dog chase by my chickens in the 2pm sun (normally they're squished up against the house panting and moving as little as possible) since they don't chase my cats for more than 6", but they were going to eat this freaking dog. I was worried about the chickens and confused about the dog.

I found the owner a couple doors down wandering around looking for her dog. I know the dog couldn't have gotten in because my chickens can't get out. It had to have been someone opening the gate and putting the dog in the wrong yard. I'm sure it was an accident. She was pretty happy to have the dog back, and I'm pretty sure the dog was happy to get away from the killer chickens.

All the chickens are fine. I think the dog was more traumatized. I sooo should have gotten video. I was more interested in stopping the chicken anti-pooch crusaders than taking pics at the time. Clearly my priorities need work.

I gave the chickens some ice water, and they seemed to be fine after promptly all taking a victory bath in my catnip plant.... well it was a catnip plant. Now it's more like an very large mostly empty teacup with potting soil spread all over the place.

 

[tsuninight]

I seriously love my chickens. They provide so much entertainment. That was something I didn't expect when I got them.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

With all this heat talk I'm glad my husband and I were able to provide our hens with more shade. We also provide them with 20oz ice bottles, 8" ice pies, fresh greens and cleaning/watering the run every couple of days.

This is the finished project!! The hubbs added a lattice to the other side of the fence inside the garden to provide the hens with that early evening shade. Didn't get a picture of that.... yet.




In the process of raising the roof.....


Removed all the light fixtures that came with the coop from our dear friends Vinnie and Amanda. Will save and use them during the winter months.


So this is the coop before the improvements.


So glad we were able to do this for the hens. We have been watering the backyard (patches of grass here and there) in the evening (530-600ish) and let the chickens free range in the yard after the sprinklers are turned off. They LOVE it!!! Kinda get mad if we don't let them every night. Thinking about adding a "bird bath" along with all the other measures we take to keep the girls cool during this summer. Thanks for all the posts about the weather and even the tragedies (I'd cry if that happened here). Makes me realize all the hard work will hopefully pay off.

 

[flower]

I doubt it's a reflection of what you're feeding them. My husband was raised on a dairy in Wisconsin and they had chickens. He said normally right when chickens first start laying the eggs will often be oddly shaped and/or thin-shelled. The fact that you haven't had more thin-shells is probably a testament to what you are feeding them rather than a criticism. But it's just their bodies getting used to laying. Congrats on all the eggs!!

About thin shells, sometimes I find a very thin shelled egg but most of the time they are OK. But different breeds do lay different type of shells. My Hamburg's shells are usually very sturdy and I do not remember finding one that is softer than her daily egg.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

I've asked a few times (in other forums) about our waterer. We have the galvanized can that was given to us by the previous owners when we adopted the chickens. I'm noticing a shiny film on the water after a day or two. We were keeping the waterer on the ground like this first picture but then raised it off the ground (as part of the chicken projects we did a couple weeks ago) like it is in the second picture. I'm not noticing the film as quickly as I did when it was on the ground, but it does still show up 4-5 days later. I also am noticing quite a bit of rust in the water. Is it time to replace the waterer or is there a way to fix this problem or is it just something we as BYC owners in Az have to deal with? I figured maybe some of my Arizona BYC peeps would have a better answer for me.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Sad night over here!! Just got finished with cleaning up my first loss of life this summer. I was woken by the screeching of babies so i ran outside as fast as i could to find that a king snake had somehow managed to climb up into the brooder and kill two babies. He was working on his 3rd but i soon made him realize whats thirds really meant!! The chick he had in his mouth is alive and well but the others arent. My mom probably thinks im going to become a physcopathic murderer because of the blood bath that ensued. I never expected to have snakes not only in a suburban place but then have them get be able to get my chicks.

I do know your frustration, having just lost two chicks to a bull snake a few days ago. Normally, I like snakes & respect the place they have in the ecosystem - getting rid of rodents & whatnot. If they would just stick to that, i'd have no problem with them. But snakes, like most predators, are opportunistic feeders & will not turn down a free easy meal of baby chickens on account of their strong moral ethics!

So very true. In calm mind I would prefer to capture and relocate. But! after seeing a couple of my chicks gobbled up, I would have done the same thing. Maybe. I can't say. It didn't happen to me.

 

[bcluff]

If the snake had just been chilling out in my yard i probably would have screamed, panicked then taken him to the nearby wash. But i guess in my mind i was hoping that i could save the chicks partially inside. After i slept on it i do feel bad for the snake guy. I mean its like someone was advertising free chick-fil-a!! I wouldnt have passed it up!

 

[countrygirl74]

I doubt it's a reflection of what you're feeding them. My husband was raised on a dairy in Wisconsin and they had chickens. He said normally right when chickens first start laying the eggs will often be oddly shaped and/or thin-shelled. The fact that you haven't had more thin-shells is probably a testament to what you are feeding them rather than a criticism. But it's just their bodies getting used to laying. Congrats on all the eggs!!

X2 - normal for new layers

Sad night over here!! Just got finished with cleaning up my first loss of life this summer. I was woken by the screeching of babies so i ran outside as fast as i could to find that a king snake had somehow managed to climb up into the brooder and kill two babies. He was working on his 3rd but i soon made him realize whats thirds really meant!! The chick he had in his mouth is alive and well but the others arent. My mom probably thinks im going to become a physcopathic murderer because of the blood bath that ensued. I never expected to have snakes not only in a suburban place but then have them get be able to get my chicks.

I like king snakes but I would be more upset about my baby chicks than the snake at that point... especially if he was working on the 3rd! So sorry for your loss!

Funny Story.

I work from home 2 days a week, and I'm pretty glad yesterday was one of those days. It was about 2pm (so sunny and freakin hot), and I look outside and my four chickens are leading a literal charge around the yard chasing a small dog, who was pretty much terrified of them. I do not own a small dog. I'm not sure what prompted a full on dog chase by my chickens in the 2pm sun (normally they're squished up against the house panting and moving as little as possible) since they don't chase my cats for more than 6", but they were going to eat this freaking dog. I was worried about the chickens and confused about the dog.

I found the owner a couple doors down wandering around looking for her dog. I know the dog couldn't have gotten in because my chickens can't get out. It had to have been someone opening the gate and putting the dog in the wrong yard. I'm sure it was an accident. She was pretty happy to have the dog back, and I'm pretty sure the dog was happy to get away from the killer chickens.

All the chickens are fine. I think the dog was more traumatized. I sooo should have gotten video. I was more interested in stopping the chicken anti-pooch crusaders than taking pics at the time. Clearly my priorities need work.

I gave the chickens some ice water, and they seemed to be fine after promptly all taking a victory bath in my catnip plant.... well it was a catnip plant. Now it's more like an very large mostly empty teacup with potting soil spread all over the place.

Haha - funny story, guess that little "sample" dog got his exercise for the day.
*We call small dogs "samples" - you know, like sample-sized. LOL