Arizona Chickens

[Sheof3Angels]

we just got home a little bit ago from swim team and some errands. kids went out back to discover one of my beautiful wheaten ameraucanas torn to bits, parts everywhere courtesy of my beagle. I don't know how she got out, but I am soooo mad. my beautiful fluffy faced girl. sucks.

That's just horrible. I'd be devastated. May put that dog on the chopping block!! J/K but would be pretty upset. Makes me think maybe we need to do some extra security (locking the gate) on our chicks we are chick sitting. We have two labs and they get sooo excited when the girls are out of their coop and stretchin' their legs. Always supervised but I have thought "What if ???" Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Ok, I need an answer from more experienced chicken ppl. I have seen recently, some very large roosters for sale. I mean huge compared to what I thought was my "large" rooster. These roosters were of various breeds, some blue ameraucanas, a cream legbar, and a barred rock. Their legs were easily 3/4 inch thick with 2"sharp spurs. They stood at roughly 16 to 18" tall (I measured). My question is what makes these birds so darn big? How do I get my birds that big? Is is freakish breeding ? But seriously my ee roo worths 9 lbs, and these birds were twice his size.

Birds from exhibition lines tend to be significantly larger than those from hatchery stock.

 

[chickgrl]

Hi everyone,
Getting hot in Mesa, my hens had a rough time for a couple days, but last weekend we got the mister up in the coup and things are much better. My girls are laying again, one slacked off for two days guessing from the heat, and also based on what I've read. They are also eating much better.

I have one girl who is a big bully I've named her Hilda, she will chase everyone else away from anything, water treats food, but she doesn't realize that while she's chasing one away the others are munching and she's just missing out. My youngest stepson spends a lot of time with the hens so he just picks Hilda up and holds her for a minute, lets the others get treats then we feed her from our hands. I don't know if we're teaching her anything at all but trying anyway.

I have plans on making a fenced yard for my girls to forage in during the day, just don't know how to do it yet. I'm worried about all kinds of things, like them flying over the fence, my dogs would love it if one did I'm sure.

Well, gotta go check my chickies, have a good morning all!

Steph

 

[City farm]

Well, well, well... Our speckled Sussex has decided to go broody in the middle of the summer.. Day 2..
If anyone want to hatch some eggs today or tommorow would be the day to get them to us..

I now know why we ended up with so many silkies.. Karen our buff silkie pushed out Lorraine so she could lay..
I took out half of the eggs last night so there is room for others...
I will be in Scottsdale till 9 pm this evening.. Call me at work if you want to drop them off there..
480-941-4447

 

[Menmyrc]

Does anyone in the East Valley or Maricopa have any day old EE chicks or fertile EE eggs for sale? I have a Barred Rock that really wants to be a mom and we have lots of requests for the green/blue eggs.

 

[Menmyrc]

Does anyone in the East Valley or Maricopa have any day old EE chicks or fertile EE eggs for sale? I have a Barred Rock that really wants to be a mom and we have lots of requests for the green/blue eggs.

Or even Casa Grande area!

 

[tsuninight]

So keep reading about all the heat losses, and hope I'm not part of that. So far they've been doing okay. They pant a lot and hug the walls of the house in the hottest part of the day, or go hang out in the damper ground near the trees, but so far they haven't been completely lethargic. They'll get up and wander around if needed or if they think I'll give them something. If I'm working at home I'll give them a bowl of ice water mid day. They are always pretty happy about that.

We don't have a mister up, but we've considered it. Though the prospect of the chickens having automatic watering/cooling system before my trees is somehow odd to me. What we do is give them ice water in the morning, though really I'm pretty sure it's melted and warmed up long before the hottest part of the day. When we get home we water the trees (somewhere between 5-6). We've got one Tangelo tree that's shaded by then so we fill the little moat/dirt ring we have around the trees in the sun then fill the moat in the shade. The hot water is out of the hose by then and the chickens have come to love it. They dash over and drink the water (they are never out of water in their water dish) and stand in it and cluck (well the one that actually clucks now (Peep), and Cad is starting to cluck at us a little) at us if we 'take too long' to get their temporary water feature functional. I then proceed to spoil them with the barley we're now growing on my kitchen counter with hydroponics, top off their food (we wouldn't want the wild birds to go hungry), or a seed mix I made for them.

As it turns out I really need the sucker stamp on my forehead for the chickens. They bum rush me and look at me with pathetic chicken looks and I go get them a few treats of some kind. They definitely have me trained. I don't mind though. The amount of entertainment I get from my chickens really wasn't something I was expecting when I got them. I wish I could teach them not to poop on my porch, but I figure scrubbing it a few times a week isn't the worst thing in the world. Watching them literally charge across the yard to greet me in chicken waddle run is somehow heartwarming.. even if I'm pretty sure they only do it in hopes of getting something. They are rarely disappointed.

 

[flower]

Yup your chickens like you because you take care of them and FEED them. I used to live just south of Death Valley and the summers were just as dry and hot as southern AZ. My birds survived with having foot baths and occasionally when possible wet earth from just spraying their runs. I did not use ice or misters. Now I live in Northeren AZ and the temperatures are in the 90s and they get the same treatment plus of course lots of shade and there is more air movement during the day since the temperature drops nicely when the sun goes down. Happy to be back home in N AZ !

 

[Arizonachicken]

Does anyone in the East Valley or Maricopa have any day old EE chicks or fertile EE eggs for sale?  I have a Barred Rock that really wants to be a mom and we have lots of requests for the green/blue eggs.

Let me know if you find any chicks. It's such a bad time of year to be broody.

 

[desertmarcy]

WOW - did I ever have to catch up on a lot of posts!! I was at our homeschool convention for a couple days then back to a crazy work week, so got really behind!!

I tried to read/skim what I could...

A rattlesnake every day???!!!! I need to send you some of my baby king snakes when I start seeing some hatchlings around here. I try to save them every chance I get and put them back out into the prairie across the street - they keep the rattlesnake population down!

Well maybe that was a slight exaggeration

but at least a couple times a week. I think they are the same individuals over and over again. They hang out in the same general part of the yard. I don't mind them being here---really! Unfortunately, they like to sit right in the middle of my walking paths and I have literally tripped over them. They are usually as startled as me. They make life interesting and keep me on my toes

I kept snakes in captivity as a hobby for 30+ years prior to my poultry obsession, so I am quite familiar with them, and I know how to read their body language.