Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

MandyFitch: If you want to find a no-kill home for your rooster, the good news is that its easier to find homes for desirable breeds, and Marans and Lavender anythings are popular right now.  On the other hand, 50% of all chicks are male, and the ideal ratio of males to females in a flock is somewhere between 1:6 and 1:10, depending on who you ask, which means that the vast majority of roosters are out of a job.  Personally, I have trouble processing roosters that I've raised from a chick, so I generally pass my roos on to someone who is going to eat them, and I have other people who send their extraneous roos to me for the same reason.  The way that I look at it is that a back yard raised rooster has a good life with plenty of fresh air, sunshine and treats, and will have a quick, humane death.  That is better than what 99% of the chickens eaten in this country get, so by increasing the supply of humanely reared chicken meat, you're helping to decrease the total amount of suffering experienced by chickens.

City Farm: Bleach makes me sick as well, but I'm paranoid enough about mold that I make an exception.  Last time I needed bleach, I got the 'linen scent' kind at my sister's suggestion, and it didn't make me as sick as regular bleach.

Ok great idea on the bleach..
Now about roosters.. One of my detest friends that has another Kent Jr. Has decided to re-home.. I guess he is to agressive
towards the girls.. He is a silkie.. Kent senior is a partarridge. His mom is a buff.. I can tell you from the reaction of a few while
we wer processing our Kent Jr.. His testicles were 3x larger than the biger birds we processed.. So who knows if that has any
thing to do with behavior?? Our Kent Jr was more agressive to our girls as well. & a louder high pitched sound when he cock-a-doodle
DO!! Unless there is another processing get-2gether, she would like to find a home for him.

 

[flower]

From the reports of those who are hatching, another processing would be in due sometime during the cooler weather. It seems that Marans discover their rooster noise a little later than the Mediterranean type breeds and the Leghorn type. I learned that Phoenix area backyards require tall boots if a person does not want to have their feet attacked by ants that bite. Does the cooler weather put those insects to rest ?

They are here in the north also but not a vicious !

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Kentson, or theSon of Kent: the o
Little white peanut was the average maximum size, that and smaller,
the Brizel Nut was Son of Kent

His would put a New Jersey Giant to shame ! He may have even challenge a Turkey. :/

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JUST A NOTE: no one should feel bad about not wanting to seed chickens or anything you raise for food to CAMP FREZER.
My late husband's grandfather died in the early 60's at 100 years putting out a grass fire. He arrived in the Western Rockies at age 13/14 in the hay day of the Mountain Man and knew many of them. By the time he was 20 he had been in gun fights. Get the picture, not Billy the Kid, but killing a human was not unusual. When Harold was a small boy he overheard a conversation that in clouded something like "ya, Chout was so mad, I thought he was going to kill that man". Answer, "he has really mellowed, must be getting old, I know the day he would have". Of course that is not the conversation, but it shocked Harold, he saw his Grandfather totally differently, he wouldn't kill any one. He found out later thru his other Grandfather that he not only has killed man but several men.

WHEN it came time to possess his steers or pigs, he traded with a neighbor. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't even hunt on his own land. He would watch the Elk, Dear, and Antelope birth and grow, so he and his ruff and gruff neighbors would hunt on each others land were they did not get to know the animals. His neighbors had their own history of staying a live in a ruff and lawless period in the west.

No sham. In fact it makes sense.

 

[maryhysong]

Ok great idea on the bleach..
Now about roosters.. One of my detest friends that has another Kent Jr. Has decided to re-home.. I guess he is to agressive
towards the girls.. He is a silkie.. Kent senior is a partarridge. His mom is a buff.. I can tell you from the reaction of a few while
we wer processing our Kent Jr.. His testicles were 3x larger than the biger birds we processed.. So who knows if that has any
thing to do with behavior?? Our Kent Jr was more agressive to our girls as well. & a louder high pitched sound when he cock-a-doodle
DO!! Unless there is another processing get-2gether, she would like to find a home for him.

I have noticed when processing young roos that the more aggressive ones do tend to have larger testicles than the smaller ones. I think a lot of it is hormone related....

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

First ones, 1 more 50% zipped & 1 cracked, 2 others chirping. I have them wrapped an keeping Humidity high. I hope all of them hatch at this point. I think there is a coup that have not chirped yet, this is day 20, I have about 35 hours to go for day 22. If not ready just not ready. I read it could take even longer, but if hatched often the chick will have clubbed foot or a deformity because in the egg to long.


The last to hatch.... Has its membrane, I think attacked to it. Is it safe for me to cut it off? It is attached I think to where the egg ask is in the Pep. Will it bleed to death? If cut, wait until dry, see if it falls off?

 

[flower]

LKD I would leave it be for now and just watch to see if it dries and falls off by itself.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

The humidity is so very high, non are drying

 

[maryhysong]

The humidity is so very high, non are drying

if no more are pipped right now you could remove the water and open the vents all the way to help them dry off. Or just be patient it will happen eventually....

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

thanks for the tips sonoran silkies. yea, i might get the wristbands this time. i cant take kids to the fair and not ride the rides, lol. i think we might take the light if it goes that way. i've only been once before, a few years ago.

http://www.azstatefair.com/Discounts Lots of good discounts

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Here's a question for you. How large was his comb? Comb size is supposed to relate to the amount of testosterone in the bird....

Sometimes a change in flock dynamics changes the attitude. And sometimes it is who they interact with. A friend was deathly afraid of one of her roosters...he bit her EVERY time she went into his pen, and she became very afraid. I could see it in her when she opened the door to show me. I wasn't afraid (he'd never bitten me), and he acted just fine to me when I went into his pen and picked him up. Animals are often very good at reading emotional signs and reacting to them. It's part of how they stay alive in the wild... FWIW, this lady is the same one who was afraid for her great pyr and chased it out of a pen with a bobcat---and took on the bobcat herself.