Arizona Chickens

[CheerfulHeart2]

Hi Everyone!

I am back from vacation and enjoyed catching up on all the news. The paintings posted were nice. I laughed more than once at your humor and am still worried about Mohonri. Laree - glad things are looking up. Welcome back to the one who hadn't visited us since page 5. Welcome to the newbie. Enjoyed the photos of the birds and accommodations. Congrat's on new babies!

As for the heat...mine are all outside the 2 mo olds, the 4 week olds and of course the adult hens. The youngest were hatched outside, the older ones have been outside since 3 days old. They all have access to full shade at all times of the day and lots of readily available water.

My little (hah) flock is doing well. I have 3 sex-linked roosters that I have to decide what to do with. I am wondering if I can personally process and eat something I worked so hard to keep alive. The lady we got the sex-links from was going to take the roosters back when they got bigger, but fowl pox made it to my place so that put that to rest.

I have a stubborn broody. I isolated her for a week to no avail. I have been wetting her underside for a couple of days, but she is going on 2 weeks. Really, I have too many chickens....not sure what to do.

For the non-sex linked that have the BWA daddy, when can I tell the pullets from the cockerals? Will all the ones with dark feathers be boys?

 

[dandelauren]

Hi All,
Just back to Flag from the valley with 4 new chicks. I already have three 13 week old hens and one roo that is going to a new home soon and don't know when I can introduce the new chicks to the older ones. Anyone have suggestions? Also, they need to stay inside at night because it's too cold in Flag for no feathers so I don't know if that complicates anything.

Thanks!!

 

[chickchalet]

Greetings fellow Zoni's!

The heat is on hot and my girls are not laying they started laying mid May and this last week only 2 of the 6 have laid daily. Is this normal for our climate?
I was out of town for a few days and my kids thinks they went on strike because I was not home.....is this possible?

 

[Mahonri]

The headache is almost gone, but I am SORE. When I told my brother he was upset I hadn't gone to the ER. Oh, well. I'm still alive. I guess when you get knocked out like that your brain can bleed and sometimes buildup pressure to the point you die. I guess I'm OK.

Lost a wheaten juvie pullet to the heat today. She was fine at 2PM, dead at 5PM.

I can't wait till September.

 

[rufus]

Well, my stupid barred rock finally gave up on hatching those golf balls. She was an absolute pain. She wouldn't let the other hens near the nest box, so now I have them laying all over the yard now. That is what my grand daughter's assigned chore is now. She has to look all around the bushes and find the eggs before they go bad from the heat.

We went to Pratt's yesterday to buy chicken feed. It was 117 degrees when we got into the car. We must be crazy for staying in the valley at this time of the year.

My neighbor that is selling his chickens sold most of the roosters this weekend. He still has hens. People buy the roosters for brujaria or santaria. They always seem to want the best looking roosters. They don't use the hens. I hate to see good stock used that way, but it is their money and their religion. Who are we to judge?

I wish they would use cats instead. I am up to my neck in alley cats. It seems like this is the designated unwanted kitty drop off spot.

Rufus

 

[NoSkiveez]

Quote:
When it first started getting hot my girls egg laying got all funny. They have beenn pretty consistent lately. My Silkies should all be laying now. But out of 6 girls, I have gotten 3 eggs since the 24th. I had one laid earlier in the month and it went in the bator and unfortunately it wasn't fertile. I'm really hoping that these eggs are fertile and hatch.

 

[chickchalet]

Quote:
When it first started getting hot my girls egg laying got all funny. They have beenn pretty consistent lately. My Silkies should all be laying now. But out of 6 girls, I have gotten 3 eggs since the 24th. I had one laid earlier in the month and it went in the bator and unfortunately it wasn't fertile. I'm really hoping that these eggs are fertile and hatch.

I guess my girls are normal.......

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

When everyone here was talking about their wild bird problem I was feeling lucky that I didn't have that problem.
Well, the birds moved in and were eating all of my expensive organic feed. My daughter (12) had the idea that if we fed the birds, they would leave our chicken feed alone. We tried that but then they knocked so much on the ground the chickens were eating too much of the bird food. So... we put our dog exercise pen around the feed on the ground and it seems to have solved the issue for now. The chickens eat their food and the birds eat theirs. The doves miss out though because the wire of the pen is too small for them to go through and they can't seem to get the "fly over it" thing. They just keep walking around the pen in circles thinking that they'll be able to reach it around the next corner.

Anyway, I found plans on another thread for a treadle feeder. It may solve our problem (if the chickens can learn to use it) and it'll make a nice project for my husband who likes woodworking. They learned to use the nipple waterer quickly maybe they can do this?

Anyone here have any experience with them?

http://www.woodworkingcorner.com/feeder.php

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Quote:
I have been wondering about this. Anxious to hear how it works.

PS Did you see the video of the chicken using it?

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
I have been wondering about this. Anxious to hear how it works.

PS Did you see the video of the chicken using it?

No. Where's the video?
I worry about the scenario that one chicken is standing on the lever while another is eating out of the side. 1st chicken steps off...