Arizona Chickens

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
It is my experience that EEs have a hard time in the heat. Others have said the same thing. An EE was the only one I lost to heat and I have almost lost a couple other EEs. All my other chickens seem to do alright. I wasn't going to get any more EEs but I love the blue/green eggs.

 

[cbnovick]

I believe she is a light brown Leghorn bantam.

X 2

 

[cbnovick]

A few pictures of some of my chickens.




Another picture of the Ameraucana that is making me nervous.

This looks like a male...reddish larger pea comb...thick legged and looks like some sickle feathers are developing in the tail.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I have a broody BA too. I never had one before this year. Is she going to survive this heat? I take her off the nest a couple of times in the hottest part of the day and put her in the wading water to cool down. She usually eats then before she goes back to the nest box. My daughter is getting ready to go away to camp so she wants me to wait for her to get back and then give her chicks if she is still broody. Of course if we get more chicks we'll have to expand the coops. I guess we are destined to have our legal limit of 25 hens eventually.

Isn't a 'legal limit of 25 hens' the same as the speed limit? If it says 'Speed Limit of 55' then we feel the need to drive at least 55mph...haha!

 

[maryhysong]

Got another brown egg today, seriously not sure who is laying because now my 15 week old red sex link is frequenting the nest box and clucking like crazy in it....and squatting when you pet her....Can the same chicken lay significantly different sized eggs?




And here's one of the girls enjoying a treat! How's the saying go? Happier than a hot chicken with frozen watermelon?

Many girls begin laying a small egg and it gets bigger with time. If the small one was laid first then it is quite probably from the same pullet.

 

[cbnovick]

Birth Announcement:

Just hatched 11 rare Buff Rocks (Standard Bred)....eggs came all the way from Virginia.
These should be gorgeous, large birds...excited to watch them grow out!!
I will try to post pics in the next few days.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

We just did the frozen watermelon too. It was gone before the end of the day. DD2 thought of putting grapes in the tubs of water we freeze and they love those too. Fun to come up with different ways to spoil.... I mean keep our chicks cool during these hot summer months,

Not sure about the egg thing, kinda new to this as well. But my little experience tells me different egg, different chick. I could be wrong, but those two eggs are quite different in size.

I have only one layer...all of the others are only 10 weeks old. I get different sized eggs from her several days a week. Usually the larger eggs are double yokers so that explains the size differences. She is just over 5 months old so still a new layer, fluctuations are normal it seems.

I do the frozen watermelon as well. I make frozen cakes too with a mix of what ever left over veggies and fruits I have in the fridge. The LOVE those!

 

[MagicChicken]

Officially a female chicken is called a pullet until one year of age. Being broody means that the hens system has an increase in hormones which causes the hen to sit on eggs for three weeks until she can hatch them and become a mother. While sitting on eggs, she does not lay eggs, get off the eggs once a day to eat,drink and poop. If you do not want your chickens to become mothers because you already have enough chichens and just want her to lay eggs, you need to try tricks to change her.

So a broody hen is called a broody for short. Male chickens are cocks until one year of age and then they are called roosters. We all do not want or need many roosters, so if you plan on keeping chickens be prepared to "harvest" or process young male birds and/or old hens who do not lay any longer. This is only practical since feed is expensive. In my opinion once you buy animals, you are responsible for them.

Technically a male chicken is called a cockerel until it is a year old. When it is more than a year old it is called a cock or cock bird. "Rooster" is a generic term for a male chicken of any age. "Roo" is BYC slang that is not recognized as a term outside of forums like this.

Good advice regarding extra roosters and spent older hens, Flower.

 

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Many girls begin laying a small egg and it gets bigger with time. If the small one was laid first then it is quite probably from the same pullet.

The bigger egg is from yesterday, the smaller egg is from today. I haven't got another blue one since Monday...

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

The bigger egg is from yesterday, the smaller egg is from today. I haven't got another blue one since Monday...

That's what my one new layer does. Todays egg is small, yesterdays was much bigger, tomorrow who knows. I found that her bigger ones are usually double-yokers (which explains the bigger size). It is quite normal for a new layer to lay different size, color, and shaped eggs when she is just starting out laying.