Arizona Chickens

[Bobby Basham]

@meetthebubus It sounds like she got too hot. Did you dunk her in cool/cold water by chance. They do suffer in the nest boxes because they want private rooms but sometimes I notice they come out really, really hot. I have a pan of water right near my nest boxes and they generally step right into the pan of water and begin drinking.

Since living in Arizona, I'm gonna add some small ventilation ports across all the external nest boxes for some air circulation. Back to the drawing board to come up with more plans. A hot hen is not a happy hen.

 

[meetthebubus]

It could be she was hot I turned on the air for them today just in case, though it's hard to say with this particular hen it's happened before and not always in the heat, but she will drink water and eat ice chips but nothing else. Other times this lasted for a couple weeks where she acts aloof. She gets over it though so I'll keep watch thanks for the input, I think this might be some sort of disability with Mohawkie this Wednesday my girls will have been laying for 1 year, in fact she was the one laying when I found the first egg next to her.

Praying she gets well her vent looks ok, and she is having droppings

 

[azurbanclucker]

Soooooo pissed off. Something got over the fence and killed my flock matron, as well as injured one of my GLW's. Don't know what it was, but I do know it wasn't my dogs. They were crated because we were gone.

Not sure the GLW is going to make it either. I've got her inside and have done what I can for her.

 

[FeatherPugs]

@azurbanclucker So sorry are you in an area where there are bobcats or other type of wild cats? Dogs would have done in the flock where I think a bob will just do one and come back. It take a while to have a good flock matron too!

 

[FeatherPugs]

@Bobby Basham It would be great if you'd invent a way to make the nest box cool with a frozen bottle or such as that and NOT get the bedding wet! I've tried so many things but just haven't figured it out yet. LOL - the things we do.......

 

[Bobby Basham]

@Bobby Basham It would be great if you'd invent a way to make the nest box cool with a frozen bottle or such as that and NOT get the bedding wet! I've tried so many things but just haven't figured it out yet. LOL - the things we do.......

With the overhang of the roof over the nest boxes, plus the coop being covered with a 12x20 tarp, it will not get wet. The coop is only 6x6 feet.

 

[Bobby Basham]

Soooooo pissed off. Something got over the fence and killed my flock matron, as well as injured one of my GLW's. Don't know what it was, but I do know it wasn't my dogs. They were crated because we were gone.

Not sure the GLW is going to make it either. I've got her inside and have done what I can for her.

So sorry for your loss. I may live in an HOA, but this is exactly why I am doing 1/4 inch hardware cloth across the top, all the way down the sides, and extending at least 24" outward, topped off with raised garden beds all around the perimeter. Only flies and mosquitoes should be able to get in. The Chicken TV observation deck will not be covered. Even in the city, you don't know what critters may come out the woodwork when you start raising chickens.

You folks have seen my run ad nauseum, it's just missing the constantly redesigned coop and the babies. I just don't want any drama and have to sit out there with a firearm picking off all the neighborhood critters.

I hope the GLW makes it. --BB

 

[azurbanclucker]

So sorry for your loss. I may live in an HOA, but this is exactly why I am doing 1/4 inch hardware cloth across the top, all the way down the sides, and extending at least 24" outward, topped off with raised garden beds all around the perimeter.

Sounds great My girls free range in the yard sun up to sundown, so the exposure risk is much higher. I don't have enough yard to accommodate a run for them that the tortoises won't destroy, so this is the compromise.

 

[BlueBaby]

Sounds great My girls free range in the yard sun up to sundown, so the exposure risk is much higher. I don't have enough yard to accommodate a run for them that the tortoises won't destroy, so this is the compromise.

If they are kept in areas where predators can get to them, eventually they will.

 

[BlueBaby]

@azurbanclucker and anyone else who might need this great info Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...commandments-of-good-flock-management.129278/