Arizona Chickens

[MagicChicken]

Quote: Bet they get cold durring the winter..

And hot in the summer. Feathers insulate from heat as well as cold.

 

[pipemum]

Those silver hamburgs are so pretty! I don't think I've ever seen one before.

 

[Billiam]

I have fertile eggs! I'd happily give anyone on here as many eggs as they want, if they let me pick a hen or two (and maybe a rooster, if you are in an area that allows them) out of the chicks hatched. I'm always trying to improve my breeding stock, but to be honest, out of every 10 chicks I'll only get one that I consider OUTSTANDING. Problem is they need to get raised to about four months to see what sizes you have really got. (Though a lot can be culled before then for other traits.)

I haven't been able to hatch and raise nearly as many chicks as I wanted to the last couple of years, been traveling a lot. I need to raise at least 150 chicks to get the best flock!

Photos on Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/sommerprosser/aloha-chickens/

The Blog here:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/

I'm breeding an Amerian version of the Swedish Flower Hen. When done, will be earlier to mature than the Swedes and come in even more colors! Right now they are looking fabulous but are still a bit small (like Leghorn size) and there is a lot of variablilty in body type:

That would be perfect! I'm in Gilbert, but work in Phoenix so I could easily get some from you. Due to my small hen house I would be worried about getting too many chicks and then keeping most of them until four months. Would six fertile eggs be too few to make it worth your while? Am I being silly? The hen house is 3' x 4' with half that roosting space and three nesting boxes along the 3' length. It's pretty tight in there now with the eight hens I've got now. I guess as it gets too cramped I could make a meal out of a few of my older hens. I can't have roosters so unless you keep them for your breeding, they'd be dinner too...or re-homed

Add: I should mention they have a 10' x 40' fenced area to free range in.

It's been about a week now I think since my hen became broody. Will hens sit until something hatches or will then get off right at the three week mark?

 

[City farm]

Here's a recent picture of our little flock.

They sure look happy.. Thank you for posting photos..

 

[cyanne64]

DUCKLINGS? Hoping to have a Merry Quackmas this year!
We have been raising laying chickens/roosters for a few years now. I believe we have 29 now. I tell my son stories about my grandmother having a duck that followed her everywhere when she was a girl and how one year a duck hatched her eggs in the bushes next to the family headstone where she is buried. My son has been asking for a (pet) duck and I thought this would be a good Christmas gift for him. I'm not sure if one can find ducklings this time of the year, but I thought I'd give it a try. I really only want to get one so I thought it better to get one locally than to have just one shipped. Does anybody around here have any ducklings for sale? I prefer Peking (crested if possible),Cayuga or Black Swedish (not sure how they do in our heat). I would like to get one before Christmas or put an order in for one and I can put an IOU on the tree.
Any pointers or advice about raising ducks around here would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks and Happy Holidays to all

My e-mail is [email protected] (please put BYC in the heading so I know it isn't unwanted junk mail))

 

[alohachickens]

DUCKLINGS? Hoping to have a Merry Quackmas this year!
We have been raising laying chickens/roosters for a few years now. I believe we have 29 now. I tell my son stories about my grandmother having a duck that followed her everywhere when she was a girl and how one year a duck hatched her eggs in the bushes next to the family headstone where she is buried. My son has been asking for a (pet) duck and I thought this would be a good Christmas gift for him. I'm not sure if one can find ducklings this time of the year, but I thought I'd give it a try. I really only want to get one so I thought it better to get one locally than to have just one shipped. Does anybody around here have any ducklings for sale? I prefer Peking (crested if possible),Cayuga or Black Swedish (not sure how they do in our heat). I would like to get one before Christmas or put an order in for one and I can put an IOU on the tree.
Any pointers or advice about raising ducks around here would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks and Happy Holidays to all

My e-mail is [email protected] (please put BYC in the heading so I know it isn't unwanted junk mail))

I have a neighbor who wants me to hatch some of his duck eggs, but it will be well after Christmas before they would hatch! LOL.

Is there much of a demand for baby ducks? I never have tried selling on Craigslist. A friend of mine has a bunch of ducks but culled his drakes. I suppose we could add another this Spring if there is need for baby ducks, but I talked to my local feed store and they didn't seem that interested in baby ducks, even purebred ones. Hmmm! What do you guys think? Are ducks just kind of an Easter thing and that's it?

 

[alohachickens]

That would be perfect! I'm in Gilbert, but work in Phoenix so I could easily get some from you. Due to my small hen house I would be worried about getting too many chicks and then keeping most of them until four months. Would six fertile eggs be too few to make it worth your while? Am I being silly? The hen house is 3' x 4' with half that roosting space and three nesting boxes along the 3' length. It's pretty tight in there now with the eight hens I've got now. I guess as it gets too cramped I could make a meal out of a few of my older hens. I can't have roosters so unless you keep them for your breeding, they'd be dinner too...or re-homed

Add: I should mention they have a 10' x 40' fenced area to free range in.

It's been about a week now I think since my hen became broody. Will hens sit until something hatches or will then get off right at the three week mark?

If you only want six eggs, that's fine with me. You might end up with four roosters and two hens, (and then one of the hen-chicks gets eaten by a cat, and of course it's the pretty one, because that is ALWAYS how it seems to work, LOL!) Sorry, just venting there, a-hem. Let's think positive!

I'd still enjoy watching them grow, regardless. With that few, I don't know if any of them would end up "keepers". Usually only 1 in 10 of the chicks I raise makes the cut to the breeder pen. But if you shared pictures, at least I would know how they turned out. You just never know. Once I gave a chick to my friend because I was positive it wasn't going to be spotted because it didn't have a speck of white on it. Guess what? It ended up totally spotted and GORGEOUS. And luckily, becuase she was a friend, she emailed me photos and later, I was able to get hatching eggs back! So I say, what the heck! Go for it. LOL.

I think at one week you're still good, but it it goes too long she might become discoruaged. Depends on the hen. Some of them REFUSE to give up until you stick babies under them, others kind of get bored and wander off if nothing hatches after a while . . .

 

[cyanne64]

Do you feed your chickens crumble in the area you found the mold? When I first started raising chickens my entire run was dirt and every so often I would loosen the dirt, add diatomaceous earth and turn it and discovered the black mold you mentioned that was so strong it would burn my eyes. I thought it was the chicken poo, but quickly discovered what smelt so bad was the crumble, mixed with water and a little time to ferment. I put brick under my feeder that hangs and hose it off daily and I no longer have the mold accumulating underground.

Depending on the time of year, sometimes I will dig a hole in my empty garden and dispose of the remains of cleaning my coop or brooder (wood shavings) and cover it with dirt and keep it damp. Later when I turn the dirt it is really dark, there are tons of worms and the smell is so strong and atrocious it burns my eyes. Imagine what it does to the fragile respiratory systems of chickens inside of a coop when they scratch at it! Old, wet, chick starter is even worse than the crumble and neither take long to mold!

 

[chicksurreal]

Those silver hamburgs are so pretty! I don't think I've ever seen one before.

Thanks!

We love them. They are definitely flighty, but still a lot of fun.

 

[chicksurreal]

They sure look happy.. Thank you for posting photos..

You're welcome. They are really sweet birds and I've noticed that I carry a camera outside with me a lot more these days.