Arizona Chickens

[howesmr]

i had A Thelma & Louise, once....

That is an excellent story. They certainly were lucky you drove bye. Seems Thelma and Louise are popular chicken names when you have 2.

 

[cactusrota]

i have guineas 8 of them they are very smart and have gotten rid of the bad snakes...! but not my AZ king snakes i want them to live on my land , they are very helpful..! my guineas sleep in the tree just out side my front door they love being free and are great guards sounding the alarm if strange things are going on in my yard...!!! plus every one gets along well all the wild cats have killed off all the mice and the Guineas keep guard and the chicken are amusing and lay the best eggs..!! and i loved my geese , i had every kind of goose on my farm in CT back in the 70's & 80's . they are amazing , so smart indeed , almost as smart as dogs and will do what you ask them to do , in fact i had all those geese i hand raised , to protect my dogs...lol. after the time the cops started shooting any dog they see when entering onto your land , so i never let my dogs out alone, and instead my geese became the best ever yard guards , and they would do a great job of it , defending their/our home well , and the cops would run from them....lol..HA that was the best part ...lol... & geese are great guards for a flock out free ranging..!! i spent the whole summer out with my baby geese in CT training them plus making them a big swimming pool they loved..! so nature will be your best friend if you can understand how to let them help you and use their natural instincts to help you & them to live a better life..!

I had guineas once. Their need for freedom cost their lives. Not being in the pen with everyone else lead to being plucked from their night roost by Great Horned Owls.. The predator problem here has to be managed in sort of a custom way I guess. Geese probably do well against certain problems, but I doubt they'd hold up to a pack of over 10 coyotes. There have been packs counted over 20 pulling dairy calves out of pens and away from their mothers in this area. In the summer they only come out at night, but this time of year they're out in daylight too. So anything that doesn't stay behind a chainlink fence and go into the coop at night is at risk around here. A couple years ago our next door neighbor lost a couple cats to a mountain lion that was traversing the wash. The called the Game Warden and he showed them the tracks in their yard. We just got my sister in laws German Shepherd and he does a good job of keeping things warded away, so far.

 

[MagicChicken]

I hope i am in the right spot... I am in Queen Creek AZ and looking for more laying hens that are already laying.. i currently have 6 and want to up that to about 10. Any suggestions on where to go to get some or if even possible?

Kris

Hi Kris, welcome to the AZ thread! I'm in Tucson. I would be willing to sell you some laying hens but I'm not sure how to get them to you.

My birds are supposed to be black javas. Despite my best breeding attempts they still show a mixture of black breeds in them including Australorp. So these are basically black backyard birds. I've been working with them for a few years now. They are dual purpose birds. They handle the heat fairly well. Eggs are large and brown. Right now I'm getting about 6-7 eggs/day from a pen of 19 pullets/hens hatched last January and February. I'm not sure if some are laying and some are not, or if they are each laying an egg every three days or so. Late last spring I was getting a dozen per day from the same birds.

Message me if you are interested. I will understand if you want to find some birds that are closer to you.

 

[cactusrota]

Hi Kris, welcome to the AZ thread! I'm in Tucson. I would be willing to sell you some laying hens but I'm not sure how to get them to you.

My birds are supposed to be black javas. Despite my best breeding attempts they still show a mixture of black breeds in them including Australorp. So these are basically black backyard birds. I've been working with them for a few years now. They are dual purpose birds. They handle the heat fairly well. Eggs are large and brown. Right now I'm getting about 6-7 eggs/day from a pen of 19 pullets/hens hatched last January and February. I'm not sure if some are laying and some are not, or if they are each laying an egg every three days or so. Late last spring I was getting a dozen per day from the same birds.

Message me if you are interested. I will understand if you want to find some birds that are closer to you.

Just curious, did you get your Java's from Dan Pennington? I saw a pair of his at the show last weekend and his wife says he's been breeding them for years. I had a hard time telling the difference between them and Australorps, but I'm not all that knowledgeable about knowing the difference anyhoo...

 

[SonoranChick]

I had guineas once. Their need for freedom cost their lives. Not being in the pen with everyone else lead to being plucked from their night roost by Great Horned Owls.. The predator problem here has to be managed in sort of a custom way I guess. Geese probably do well against certain problems, but I doubt they'd hold up to a pack of over 10 coyotes. There have been packs counted over 20 pulling dairy calves out of pens and away from their mothers in this area. In the summer they only come out at night, but this time of year they're out in daylight too. So anything that doesn't stay behind a chainlink fence and go into the coop at night is at risk around here. A couple years ago our next door neighbor lost a couple cats to a mountain lion that was traversing the wash. The called the Game Warden and he showed them the tracks in their yard. We just got my sister in laws German Shepherd and he does a good job of keeping things warded away, so far.

This is exactly why we haven't tried Guineas yet. The neighbors had a big barn that they roosted in at night, and they did have strength in numbers. Perhaps that's why they did so well over there.

 

[FeatherPugs]

The new girls in their pen - you can see it is covered, has a roost, food and everything wanted by newbies! I got them from @BlueBaby. The black Aussie is Pearl Jam, the pretty blue Aussie is Gracie Lee (isn't she a beauty!) and the NN girl is Bare Naked Lady - we call her Lady. We laugh as we see her at the one who already knows everything as she's been all over the yard and chased back again!! We haven't named the other on yet - we're working on red headed singers - we thought maybe Reba but it just doesn't seem to fit. They are doing great - they have been getting out to the big yard a little bit each day. Most ignore them but the lower girls are still making certain they know where they stand! Today they were out for most of the afternoon. About 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Went well. Soon they will be introduced to the coop.

Here is Lady checking out the feed bucket. This is where she roosted the first night - just in case it the bucket was thinking of running away! Everyone knows where the feed is.

And here is one of that pretty Gracie Lee. Thank you Barbara - I'm really having fun getting to know them.

 

[BlueBaby]

@DesertChic I was wondering if I could create an auto-sexing Naked Neck from 3 Transylvanian NN hens that are buff in color, but have the barring look in the feathering. I also picked up some of those Crested Cream Legbar's, but those have to grow up first. Will I be able to make some auto-sexing NN's from these?

 

[BlueBaby]

The new girls in their pen - you can see it is covered, has a roost, food and everything wanted by newbies! I got them from @BlueBaby. The black Aussie is Pearl Jam, the pretty blue Aussie is Gracie Lee (isn't she a beauty!) and the NN girl is Bare Naked Lady - we call her Lady. We laugh as we see her at the one who already knows everything as she's been all over the yard and chased back again!! We haven't named the other on yet - we're working on red headed singers - we thought maybe Reba but it just doesn't seem to fit. They are doing great - they have been getting out to the big yard a little bit each day. Most ignore them but the lower girls are still making certain they know where they stand! Today they were out for most of the afternoon. About 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Went well. Soon they will be introduced to the coop. View attachment 1238432 View attachment 1238433
Here is Lady checking out the feed bucket. This is where she roosted the first night - just in case it the bucket was thinking of running away! Everyone knows where the feed is. View attachment 1238434 And here is one of that pretty Gracie Lee. Thank you Barbara - I'm really having fun getting to know them.

Thank's for posting the pics of them! They look like they are all happy over there with you. Lady should be ok, as long as the feed bucket doesn't grow legs and run away. Keep us updated. I know that color of eggs those 2 Australorp's will lay, but not the other 2.

 

[DesertChic]

@DesertChic I was wondering if I could create an auto-sexing Naked Neck from 3 Transylvanian NN hens that are buff in color, but have the barring look in the feathering. I also picked up some of those Crested Cream Legbar's, but those have to grow up first. Will I be able to make some auto-sexing NN's from these?

I wish I could help you with this, but color genetics is where I'm weakest. I've thought several times that I may have sex-linked birds based on chipmunk coloring, but the results have been inconsistent.

 

[BlueBaby]

I wish I could help you with this, but color genetics is where I'm weakest. I've thought several times that I may have sex-linked birds based on chipmunk coloring, but the results have been inconsistent.

I'm thinking that I really would want to try to do them, as I'm not into having a ton of boys and having to figure out ways to get rid of them.