Arizona Chickens

[DesertChic]

@DesertChic too funny! The easiest match for hen to egg is Dina who is the only speckled egg layer, and punky who has a little calcium swirl design on the point every time lol

Who else has weird tells for their eggs?

My girls have a lot of tells on their eggs. Two of them lay torpedo eggs, but one is tinted white and the other a jumbo brown. One girl lays an egg that's teal blue/green, while most of them lay celery green eggs. One of those green eggs always has a funky swirl texture at the narrow end. One is always super glossy and another is always matte and a third always has green spots on the fat end. I have one olive egger. Two lay speckled eggs, one with dark brown speckles and the other with a pinkish calcium buildup speckle. And one lays the most bizarre shade of grey-green. One girl lays a very round egg that starts out pinkish brown at the wide end and fades to pale beige at the point end. One girl lays a MASSIVE terra cotta colored egg. One of my little frizzle EE lays a jumbo blue egg that's darn near the size of her whole body and usually weighs around 2.8 ounces. (I really feel sorry for that little girl and give her her own feed dish every time she gives me an egg. She always looks exhausted, as she should.)

There are many, many more.....

 

[azurbanclucker]

I can tell 3 girls' eggs specifically, and then the eggs of 7 more generally. My EE lays a nice minty colored egg, my Maran Mix is a coppery brown, and my GLW is cream with brown speckles. The 2 bresse lay a medium white egg but I can't tell which one, and the Silkies and svary honas all lay a small white egg, but again, i can't tell you which silkie or svart apart from that all the silkies use one box, and the svarts lay on the deck of my kids' swigset.

The other girls all lay a l/xl brown (barred, rir, delaware) and unless I see them laying I can't usually tell who is who.

 

[DesertChic]

I've read about giving them wet cat food to up that protein, but what about the other types of meat? Is it some raw ground hamburger, sausage, or is it cooked? Then again, chickens eat raw things. If they can run around and catch insects, worms, frogs, mice and lizards...

I know a lot of people who use cat food but a lot of cat food contains chicken. I just can't bring myself to feed chicken to my chickens. And the fish used in cat food smells so strong to me, and it can make the eggs taste fishy.

Realistically, any meat will do. I've fed mine both raw and cooked...they really don't care. They love both. Most meat you'll get at the grocery store has been irradiated to destroy bad bacteria, so as long as it's still fresh it should be fine to feed raw. Heck, I've even fed my chickens fresh, raw snake that I skinned after killing. They loved it! They also love fish, but like I said, it needs to be fresh and not "fishy". They peck clean the carcasses I throw them from the Tilapia I raise. And during the rainy season I often see my chickens carrying small frogs, lizards and rodents around while others chase them and help pull the little critters apart before devouring. They're still little dinosaurs at heart.

 

[nicollee]

@nicollee I know!

I "think" this is the place to tell them we want the chicken emoji's back
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/smilies-code-feedback-needed.1185656/page-2

 

[meetthebubus]

I figured out the feed issue, it was the dishes, I guess despite washing them it just must of smelled bad or something, they were older dishes so I threw them out and bought 2 new hot pink ones lol, anticrombial advertised for horses, etc. And they are eating once again!

 

[meetthebubus]

Turned off our deep freezer today, the one I use just to house ice bottles for the animals during the hot season! Yayyyy!

 

[Bobby Basham]

I was having that problem too, but I think I figured out how to fix it. At the top of the page, in the white menu bar, there's a "watched threads" link. if you hit that, and make all those threads current, you get notifications again when a thread you're watching has activity.

What I think is happening is that you only get one notification when there's new activity on a thread, so if there are several responses in between times you view the thread, you don't get new notices if you didn't view it when the initial alert came up.

it's been working for me since I started checking watched threads, so hope that will help you also.

All my threads were checked as Watched, but they somehow slip between the cracks on occasion.

 

[igorsMistress]

I've picked up the wading bowls and closed the umbrella. Tossed the freezer bottles from this year and made another shade area in the yard out away from the house.

@meetthebubus glad you got it figured out! Were your bowls plastic? Would like to know in case I have the same problem!

 

[igorsMistress]

Just had to share this pic of my beautiful girl Scarlet

 

[meetthebubus]

I've picked up the wading bowls and closed the umbrella. Tossed the freezer bottles from this year and made another shade area in the yard out away from the house.

@meetthebubus glad you got it figured out! Were your bowls plastic? Would like to know in case I have the same problem!

It's nice to and easier fall and winter isn't it?

They were plastic I had them since they were chicks, I don't bleach my dishes I wash them often with dish soap and apple cider vinegar but eventually though they looked OK I think they became porous and housed smelly bacteria

So the new ones were from walmart, 5 bucks each, advertised for horses but they aren't too deep, and have worked well so far and I like that they didn't smell like plastic you know? Like the Rubbermaid totes do?