Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

The lavender Australorp eggs are still in the incubator, but I fully intend to cross them with my NNs. Nearly all of my girls have been slow to return to laying after a very hard season of molt this year, so I haven't done any NN breeding yet. I have a pen of girls set up for focusing on black, white and blue NNs and NN crosses as soon as they're all laying consistently.

Ok, because I have already started looking for a cream legbar cockerle to breed into mine to try to get that blue egg gene, and might have a lead on one already.

 

[Salty Skroob]

Got some more work done yesterday with my dad. Planning on working again this afternoon.

 

[DesertChic]

Ok, because I have already started looking for a cream legbar cockerle to breed into mine to try to get that blue egg gene, and might have a lead on one already.

Thankfully, I have blue egg layers already in my flocks, though most of them lay greener eggs than blue. I'll actually be crossing one of my best blue Nn egg layers with my blackest NN rooster in the very near future. I don't think he's a carrier of the gene, but she's a very strong carrier.

Crossing the NN with the Legbar may also give you tufted skull caps, and possibly blue or white ears, barring, and probably a smaller stature. Be aware though that I've been reading more and more posts from people who's Legbars are not producing blue eggs. I don't know what breeders out there have been doing to those poor birds, but they're beginning to breed out one of the most sought after aspects of the Legbars.

 

[DesertChic]

Really? Do you have some nn blue hatching eggs? I know here I go again, and I might have to pull my incubator out again! But I want to put some blue egg genes in with these new crosses that I hatched out last.

I'm sorry....I completely misread this last night. I WILL have some blue and green hatching eggs from my NNs as soon as production picks up a bit. My strongest blue egg layer is a very black Nn - a cross between one of my former NNs and an EE. Her eggs are HUGE, the last one weighing in at 2.65 ounces.

I also have several other NN/EE pullet crosses laying bluish and greenish eggs (currently weighing in over 1.8 ounces) that favor more red and buff coloring and barring that I'll be crossing with one of my largest roosters, a red barred Nn who also carries the blue egg gene from his sire. This is the rooster I've paired them with:

 

[Bobby Basham]

Got some more work done yesterday with my dad. Planning on working again this afternoon.

That one wall is really tall. I wish ALL my walls were that high, then my run wouldn't have to be 5' tall to constantly crouching while walking around.

 

[Salty Skroob]

It’s 6’. The back wall is really short. Only 4’. Because of the slope, the front of the structure varies from about 6’ to 8’ between the bottom of the beam and the ground. I can get under there to take with ease and the level beams look real nice.

Little set back today as my air compressor broke down. I borrowed one and I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Like they say, if your tools don’t work, you don’t work.

 

[MagicChicken]

It's a shame that chickens don't get the same respect as the more highly respected dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc. bred for different traits as shown in those televised AKA SOP shows. It would be nice to see a poultry show on occasion and give them some recognition.

This is a dual-purpose critter that will provide you well, if properly cared for. These are amazing animals and it behooves me how they can be ranked so low on the totem pole. Everybody can't afford/or want that big juicy steak, so the next go-to is chicken and/or fish.

There are poultry shows in Arizona. We have a large one here in Tucson every November. There is one coming up in Safford in January.

 

[Bobby Basham]

It’s 6’. The back wall is really short. Only 4’. Because of the slope, the front of the structure varies from about 6’ to 8’ between the bottom of the beam and the ground. I can get under there to take with ease and the level beams look real nice.

Little set back today as my air compressor broke down. I borrowed one and I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Like they say, if your tools don’t work, you don’t work.

Your set up looks huge. How many birds do you plan on having in there?

 

[MagicChicken]

I'm preparing to start culling down some of my 3-year old birds because of light laying....but I have so many birds here already with more about to hatch out that it's necessary for me to keep the soup pot stocked, irrespective of sentiment. That was the deal I made with my husband when he gave me the okay to start this. That said, there are two roosters here who've been officially "pardoned" by both of us. They're just too amazing and affectionate to be anything other than pets. So far I've only got a couple hens that approach that level of affection, and my little Silkie hen, who I expect will be bossing around the bigger birds long after she's stopped laying. She's just too darn cute to cull.

At my place the "pardoning" is getting out of hand. I don't have space for many roosters. My oldest rooster has faced down three dog attacks, takes really good care of his hens, and has earned his place in the best run of the yard even though he has some cosmetic flaws that would disqualify him from showing.

One of my cockerels has been unusually calm since he was a chick. I wing-banded him when he was a week old and even then my notes about him say "CALM." He is almost a year old now and he is still the calmest bird I've ever had. I don't want to breed him because he is knock-kneed. But I can't bring myself to eat him, either. So he is in charge of the second pen of laying hens. Sign.

This means that two of my five pens are occupied by "pardoned" birds. That doesn't leave much room for the show-quality breeders. So it goes.

 

[Bobby Basham]

At my place the "pardoning" is getting out of hand. I don't have space for many roosters. My oldest rooster has faced down three dog attacks, takes really good care of his hens, and has earned his place in the best run of the yard even though he has some cosmetic flaws that would disqualify him from showing.

One of my cockerels has been unusually calm since he was a chick. I wing-banded him when he was a week old and even then my notes about him say "CALM." He is almost a year old now and he is still the calmest bird I've ever had. I don't want to breed him because he is knock-kneed. But I can't bring myself to eat him, either. So he is in charge of the second pen of laying hens. Sign.

This means that two of my five pens are occupied by "pardoned" birds. That doesn't leave much room for the show-quality breeders. So it goes.

Maybe it could be a physical trait specific to him and not necessarily a genetic thing. Maybe hatch a few of those eggs fertilized by him and see what it yields.