Arizona Chickens

[chicksurreal]

Here is jaquelyn, i really should spell her name right. .
Jacqueline. .the bantam queen

She's beautiful!

 

[MagicChicken]

While checking my eggs tonight I found an egg with a hole in it. There was a light dust like covering over it that collapsed when I touched it. I've noticed that the egg color has gotten lighter in the last week or two as well.

Has anyone else experience this before? I feed them layer pellets, black sunflower seeds, and oyster shells freely as they need them. I'm hoping there is nothing wrong with her...

I will find eggs with holes in them when the birds are getting calcium depleted. It happens. Some birds have thinner shells as they get older. Or when they are getting ready to molt. Or when they are starting up again after molting. Or when it is hot. Or... yeah. Just about any time of the year. I think that kind of hole is accidentally punched by a beak or a toenail when the egg is getting turned or when a bird is moving around in the nest.

Eggs also tend to get lighter as the season progresses, and as the birds get older.

Some diseases can also cause thin shells and egg breakage.

If you are finding occasional eggs with holes I wouldn't worry about it. If it a regular occurrence you might want to track down potential causes.

In my flock there are some individual birds who seem to have trouble maintaining sufficient calcium levels. They don't eat the oyster shell, and they have chronically thin eggs. They are on the list for conversion to stew this fall, when the weather cools down enough for culling again.

RE: MONSOON


Here are a couple more pics after clearing away some of the wreckage:

Arrgh! What a bummer. Did you manage to recapture all of the chickens?

Thanks for reminding me I need to replace the tarps on two of my chicken pens. They have been up all of four months and have totally disintegrated. One won't last another storm. The other is close behind. Sigh...

 

[MagicChicken]

So, I have 30+ chickens that hatched this spring. All but two have been roosting on the perches for months. The other two keep roosting on the ground in a corner of the coop. Every evening I hear a lot of flapping and scraping against the wall after everyone else has gone to roost. When I go in to check, these two birds are desperately trying - and failing - to get onto the roost.

Why are they failing?

(wait for it...)

They are facing into the corner and trying to fly up the wall onto the perch. Which is behind them.

My chickens are "Special."

 

[kacklinkelly]

Oh Cyborg - that is a lot of work. You and your wife seem to take everything in stride. I get so frustrated when I get things set up just the way I like and mother nature has a party at our expense. It could always be worse I suppose. I'm confident you will be back at it getting things up and running in no time. Did you lose many birds to the dogs or the storm?

 

[kacklinkelly]

Magic Chicken - that is too funny. I have a pretty special chicken too. She's a hen that lays an egg just about every quarter. I guess she doesn't want to wear herself out. Seriously, any other person would have made a fine meal of her. DH likes her ornery personality so she stays.

 

[cyborg]

Oh Cyborg - that is a lot of work. You and your wife seem to take everything in stride. I get so frustrated when I get things set up just the way I like and mother nature has a party at our expense. It could always be worse I suppose. I'm confident you will be back at it getting things up and running in no time. Did you lose many birds to the dogs or the storm?

No, as far as I can tell, everybody is back home. This is a guesstimate, right now, I have 87 chickens crammed into 2 10 X 15 pens that are more or less intact. They are crowded enough that a headcount is pretty much impossible. Luckily, my brother and sister in law came by for a visit, and helped my wife with the chicken rodeo.
I spent most of this morning dismantling the demolished pens, and trying to drag the remainder back into position. (the back end of the pen moved over about 8 feet, lots of bent and broken roof supports. The fence panels are soft enough steel that I straightened them out, more or less. Might have to do a little more disassembly tomorrow to get everything repositioned, then start putting everything back together again.

 

[DesertChic]

Well, I am stuck at work until midnight, but the DW called about 4:15, and it sounds like I lost the back 10 feet of the chicken palace to a windstorm. She had a good time trying to round up about 90 chickens before my dogs got them. The really bad part is I ordered a couple boxes of earth auger type tiedowns, and they arrived about an hour before I left for work!

Man, that just sucks. I hope you treat your DW to a nice dinner out for all that chicken wrangling.

 

[DesertChic]

RE: MONSOON


Here are a couple more pics after clearing away some of the wreckage:

Looks like you have a busy weekend ahead of you. I hope the repairs go easily.

 

[DesertChic]

So, I have 30+ chickens that hatched this spring. All but two have been roosting on the perches for months. The other two keep roosting on the ground in a corner of the coop. Every evening I hear a lot of flapping and scraping against the wall after everyone else has gone to roost. When I go in to check, these two birds are desperately trying - and failing - to get onto the roost.

Why are they failing?

(wait for it...)

They are facing into the corner and trying to fly up the wall onto the perch. Which is behind them.

My chickens are "Special."

What breed are they?

 

[DesertChic]

Our beautiful new girl's Faith & Faithful from DF @Sill
Thank so much for them.. their combs are a bit red,

They were curious when i went out. . Came & hung around me..
Their dad is a bielefelder, mom E.E. can't wait for their beautiful egg's. .
We got so much rain here last night. .that was a crazy storm

They are such pretty girls! I love that red color! I actually have a pure breed red Ameraucana cockerel I was thinking of crossing with my Biel girls in the future. Now I'm more tempted than ever!