Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

Let the chicks out for the first time on the omega foraging blend. They seemed pleased. Guess I need to plant more.

Wow, that is wonderful... Thank you for posting the photo...

 

[City farm]

Home from the Tucson show. Had a great time and learned a lot watching, listening and talking to a judge and other breeders. Grats to desertmarcy for her Black Copper Marans cockerel that won Best Continental and I beleive it was her Naragansett Tom that won Best Turkey.

My Buff Plymouth Rock cockerels were 1st & 3rd with desertmarcy's taking 2nd. My pullet went was 3rd, desertmarcy's was 2nd and cbnovik's took 1st. Cindy's pretty Buff Orpington pullet was 2nd  in her class with loads of comments from the judge and others that her color was stunning. ;-)

I brought home the Buff Rock pullet from Cindy to join her hatchmates here along with 4 young silkies that I won in a raffle.

That sounds like so much fun!! Congradulations to you all..

 

[MagicChicken]

I forgot to note--all 6 of my chickens are laying now. The last holdout was the smallest Polish/silkie mix. Found her egg yesterday. Huge for her size. Poor thing, the egg was smeared with blood. Bigger than her sister's egg, who has been laying for a couple of weeks now. They both lay the pretty ivorish/pinkish eggs.

In our temps, would a Brinsea Eco Glow work outside this winter? In the day at least?

If you use the EcoGlow outside I would supplement it with an infrared heat lamp, assuming you have room for both and the chicks can still get away from the heat when they need to. They spend a surprising amount of time NOT under the heat. The EcoGlow might be fine by itself if it's just during the daytime, the brooder is protected from drafts, and the days are not too cold.

My brooder is outside. It is 4' x 4', made of plywood, with a plywood cover. It stands about 30" high in back and 24" high in front. Half of one side is screened with hardware cloth and there is a plywood door that can cover the screened opening. The brooder is set directly on the ground. I added a couple inches of sand to the bottom and topped the sand with a couple of inches of TerrAmigo bedding (wood pellets). Last winter my day-old chicks arrived on January 16, at the tail end of that horrible three days of hard freeze. I used a 50 watt Sweeter Heater (similar to an ecoglow, but it is rectangular and hangs from a chain) and also had an infrared heat lamp in there. When the chicks wanted more heat they would sit under the heat lamp, and when they wanted protection they would scoot under the Sweeter Heater. I put the heat lamp on a thermostat so it wouldn't get too hot. I also kept changing out to lower wattage bulbs as the chicks grew. Most of the time I left the door open during the day so the chicks could get some sun and see outside, then closed it at night to hold in the heat better. It worked pretty well. The chicks were happy and healthy.

I also put a small pop door in one side that opens into a temporary pen. It would have been better if I had the whole brooder enclosed in a dog run or something because the temporary pen attached to the brooder was a pain in the butt. So I may reconfigure it for this year.

If you can monitor the chicks and you have a backup plan for when the EcoGlow can't handle the temps, go ahead and use it outside!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Let the chicks out for the first time on the omega foraging blend. They seemed pleased. Guess I need to plant more.

Remind me what this pasture blend is again? Is it something your order online? Could I overseed my existing lawn with it? Did you need to protect the seed from wild birds before it germinated?

 

[Timskins]

Remind me what this pasture blend is again? Is it something your order online? Could I overseed my existing lawn with it? Did you need to protect the seed from wild birds before it germinated?

http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

You can overseed your lawn with it, Demosthine did it he would be able to comment on its success. Mine was not on existing grass. I had no issues with birds for some reason. Most of the seeds germinate very quickly, I had some sprouts after 2 days.

 

[katmotley]

OK, I just went out to check on my one laying hen, and I found one of my reds on top of her, holding her down. I was not sure if we had any roosters because they all seemed to be quiet and fairly calm. No crowing at all from any of them. So is this one a rooster if it was pinning her down like that? Here's some pics:



It's the one right in the middle here:

 

[FeatherPugs]

OK, I just went out to check on my one laying hen, and I found one of my reds on top of her, holding her down. I was not sure if we had any roosters because they all seemed to be quiet and fairly calm. No crowing at all from any of them. So is this one a rooster if it was pinning her down like that? Here's some pics:



It's the one right in the middle here:

Beauties all of them but that one is a Roo - he's gonna have a super tail too!!

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
He's a roo. Can you show us a better picture of the one on the far right too? It also looks suspicious.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Definitely a roo. See the large, red comb and wattles? And the hackle and saddle feathers? All indicative of a boy.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

X2!...

x3     Totally agree!  Ah to be a few years younger!!

X2!...

x3     Totally agree!  Ah to be a few years younger!!

X4