Arizona Chickens

[kpgoldstar]

SO sad to read about Sonoran Silkies. Lots of love being sent to her and her family.

I have been working the past 2 weeks for more permanent means of chicken proofing our yard. I had posted pics a long while back of a temporary fence I had made out of trellises that contained the chickens ok but was very unstable and kept falling over and was only held together with zip ties.

This one...



So I spent last week making



It is lined with chicken wire so the ladies can't get through between the pickets.

I also needed something better to keep them out of the veggie garden because I had plastic mesh and chicken wire being held up with garden stakes and it kept falling over and was terrible. So I made...





The whole thing is hinged so it folds up into a section of 3 and a section of 5 panels. It still needs one more coat of stain but they're calling for rain so I am going to hold off on that.

The chickens are ticked because I have denied access to all things fun like eating my veggies and pooping all over the patio.

And on a side note my late bloomer Tea (Welsummer) has continued to lay almost every day. While I was building the garden fence I had the girls locked in the run for a few days so she was forced to lay in the nest box after her first 2 eggs were laid under bushes. Today she was let out during her lay time and she attempted to find a place in the bushes but ended up heading to the nest box in the end. I'm hoping that will continue. Her first 4-5 eggs alternated between medium brown and light brown with speckling and have finally started becoming a nice darker brown. Here's her last 2 compared with my Black Sex Links on the right.

How tall are those garden barriers? They look to be about 30". My original barriers were 24" to keep out the bunnies and I had to add another 18" up top of chicken wire to keep my girls from flying up to the top then into the beds to wreak their havoc. I finally have chicken proof beds and I can let them out free range without watching them every minute to be sure they aren't in the vegetables. Such better peace of mind.

 

[desertmarcy]

Well, then these wee ones should know better since they are not hatchery stock either...lol! If they want to sleep in the box, I don't particularly mind. I clean out the coop every day anyhow. I just put it up because I thought it was adorkable, a precious moment. My other hens did the same thing, but once they were larger moved to the roost. We will see. Most of the Blue Ameraucanas won't be staying anyway, we only plan to keep 4 to 6 at the most of the straight run 12 we got. We already rehomed a very pretty French Black Copper Maran cockerel. You breed Spangled Russian Orloffs, yes? I know it takes quite awhile to tell the boys from the girls? How long does it usually take? Do I just wait until they start crowing? I have three and have a suspicion two of the three are cockerels . Which makes me sad since they were the breed I truly wanted. The others were my husbands choice. Isn't it always the way of it? Any helpful hints for telling the boys from the girls?


Excuse the poo, they were helping us add the final touches to the run/coop, and by help I mean pooing every and anywhere. The orloff in the front is my favorite of all the chicks, but the chicken novice me thinks he is totally a cockerel The breed has a very upright posture anyhow, but this guy stands very vertical all the time, has since the moment we brought them home, and is always the first one to call out a warning.

The Orloffs are really difficult to sex until they get older. 4-5 months is a guess, I've forgotten now, but it took forever until I was sure on mine. I had one last year I thought was going to be cockerel by the attitude, but turned out pullet. If you see a lot of spangling on the back, they are going to be a pullet.

Marans. Black Copper Marans, always with an "s" even when singular but "silent" when pronounced unless plural. Named after the town Marans in France. I am still seeing this breed misspelled a lot, and they really aren't "new" anymore. Sorry, a pet peeve of mine

. Particularly reprehensible when someone is "propagating" them. Wouldn't want to call them "breeders" because that presumes some care and thought to the process. The "propagators" don't even bother to research the breed. Kind of like chicken equivalent of puppy mills in my mind.

 

[Ivytwilight]

Thanks for the information.

 

[Twinklin]

How tall are those garden barriers? They look to be about 30". My original barriers were 24" to keep out the bunnies and I had to add another 18" up top of chicken wire to keep my girls from flying up to the top then into the beds to wreak their havoc. I finally have chicken proof beds and I can let them out free range without watching them every minute to be sure they aren't in the vegetables. Such better peace of mind.

They're 41" tall.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

 

Ain't that the truth?!?  When we had our dogs, we had several complaints and were told that if they had one more complaint, they would site us for violating the sound ordinance.  So far, after having a cockerel that crows for the last ten months or so, we've not had a single complaint so far.  Knock on wood...  Pretty ironic, if you ask me.

Not sure about the bill, but it passed the Senate with flying colors.  I think it was 29-1.  That's a very, very strong sign to send to the House.

My neighbor has a dog across the street from me that bark-bark-barks a lot. If I walk up the street to my mailbox and back, I have to listen to this dog barking at me the whole time. It's not like I am close to their house, we are zoned one house to 3.3 acres minimum. I find barking dogs MUCH more annoying than roosters crowing. I am not going to complain about their dog since I don't want them complaining about my roosters and my macaw who lives outside and likes to scream at the top of his lungs. Have to say though, the parrot was here years and years before they were.

Correction, your Macaw is singing if it is not a single screech. I used to visit a (bird) pet store that had one, not for sell. When people it liked came in to visit him he would sing to them. If they (& I) would start to pay attention to other birds it would start screaming at us. Very, very loudly. When you go back to him he would turn his back on you and mutter to himself. It was so funny. He was quite a character. The owner of the store breed them. He was to people attached to breed. She had a Blue Macaw she would sell me for $5,000.00 as soon as it was ready. She was very picky about who she sold her parrots to. Macaws are a long time commitment. This one was only leaving the nest, would probably out live me.

 

[mom-to-5]

First egg today!!! Woo hoo!!!! I'm pretty sure it was from Dolly, my barred rock.
What a wonderful way to start the day!

 

[desertmarcy]

Correction, your Macaw is singing if it is not a single screech. I used to visit a (bird) pet store that had one, not for sell. When people it liked came in to visit him he would sing to them. If they (& I) would start to pay attention to other birds it would start screaming at us. Very, very loudly. When you go back to him he would turn his back on you and mutter to himself. It was so funny. He was quite a character. The owner of the store breed them. He was to people attached to breed. She had a Blue Macaw she would sell me for $5,000.00 as soon as it was ready. She was very picky about who she sold her parrots to. Macaws are a long time commitment. This one was only leaving the nest, would probably out live me.

So true. Mine will be 34 years old this summer. He came to live with me at 4 months of age, from captive breeding. Probably will still outlive me. So many people get these long-lived parrots without really thinking it through, or on a whim, just not sure why, many reasons I am sure. Then life changes, kids come along, moves, etc and suddenly the bird has to go, or they are not equipped to handle problems that might arise with the bird, behavior issues and so on. My neighbor runs Tucson Parrot Rescue http://www.tucsonparrotrescue.com/ . She loves birds and is doing a good service helping people with their birds.

 

[Demosthine]

We've gotten some absolute down pours last night and this morning. It got so bad, I had to shut the windows! Puddles and running water everywhere. I'm loving it.

My girls are outside playing in the rain. It's a beautiful thing.

Stay safe and dry out there.

 

[Sill]

It's an absolute downpour and my pullets are huddled in a corner as far from the rain as they can get! Last time it rained they were in a brooder and didn't experience it. I don't think they like this super heavy rain and deep puddles outside. Oh well, it's nice for the plants.

 

[kpgoldstar]

First egg today!!! Woo hoo!!!! I'm pretty sure it was from Dolly, my barred rock.
What a wonderful way to start the day!

That's Awesome! Yay for Dolly!!