Arizona Chickens

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I've had many breeds over the long number of years I've had chickens. I look for chickens that do well in the heat knowing I can off set the colder months. I have found my full feathered EEs stand in the water pans the most to cool in the summer. The austrolorpes stand in the pans less and my welllingtons are like the aussies. I don't do feathered feet because I really don't like them and I don't do small breeds. The orpingtons are like the EEs. I also raise cross bred for the eye candy effect Naked Necks. The NN do the very best in the heat but do require a coop that is a bit warmer in the cold weather. They probably don't totally need it but I feel better when the coop is pretty closed up in the winter months. I get all the breeds I enjoy with the cross bred NN, barred, penciled, speckled (like sussex) and many others. As of right now, if I got new birds they would be cross bred NNs. I don't do roosters in my flock but I've had NN roosters to rehome. They were beauties - one was an orpington cross and the other was a wellington cross - the person I rehomed them too said their babies are gorgeous. Hope my ramblings helped. Happy New Year all........
 
BlueBaby said:
2 of the 6 egg's have now hatched and are in the brooder. I'm still waiting for the other 4 to hatch.
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have you had any more hatch yet? I keep telling myself I do not need anymore chickens at the moment, lol, but everytime I pick up eggs out of Charlie's coop, I keep wanting to put them in the incubator..lol..
 
Happy New Years a bit late, hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a bright new year.. Beyond some hatching a while back and having to re-do the roof on the big coop, nothing much going on here. I decided to be thrifty when we were building the coop and didn't want to spend the extra money for tin, so the roof started leaking, my girls and guy's track in dirt and mud, the leaking roof was turning it all to mud.. I'd be out there cleaning the coop, one of them would come running in and go sliding across the floor.:eek: now that I am waiting for rain to insure that the new tin roof is doing it's job, we've had nothing more than a slight sprinkle. :lau. Am getting ready to create a bachelor pad, far more Roo's than I should have for the number of hens, I'm wondering if that combined with winter is what is affecting my egg production. Putting out more in feed than I am making back in egg sales. I'm going to be inching my way to a total NN flock eventually and dramatically downsizing the flock, Hubby and I have been thinking about traveling and asking a house/pet sitter to deal with 50 +/- chickens is beyond unreasonable. I do have a question for all of you, how do you dispatch your younger Roo's, heck for that matter how do you dispatch them period? I've done in 2 roo's so far. One was a lesson in how to do it, the other was a 2 hour skinning job..lol. Ended up just taking the legs/thighs and the breast. Those you tube videos make it look so simple.
 
starri33 said:
have you had any more hatch yet? I keep telling myself I do not need anymore chickens at the moment, lol, but everytime I pick up eggs out of Charlie's coop, I keep wanting to put them in the incubator..lol..
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Yes, a 3rd chick hatched this morning. It's still wet with the unabsorbed part of the shell with it. All 3 of the chick's have the naked neck's.

I was shown the 3 method's of dispatching rooster's a couple of year's ago, in case that it would ever become necessary that I would have to do that. Of the 3 method's shown to me, I liked the broom handle one the best. The 3 rooster's that we did at that time were skinned out. Now I just try to find the extra boy's home's, or I cull them before they can eat much food if I can't find someone else that want's them.
 
@starri33 Egg production is down here too. My theory is the NNs who are now in the 2 year old area (in March) are laying less AND they need a warmer coop at night. Another thing that happened is - remember about 6 weeks or so ago I had a dog get in my yard and kill 3 chickens. That trauma along with the cold we have been having - mostly in the 30s at night for quite a long time. Days it isn't as cold at night I have more eggs. We build for the warmest weather but when the cold gets here we're trying to make it warmer in the coops. Most of you know I will be selling my home of 20+ years as I cannot support it without that extra income that I lost when Glenn passed. SO my girls will be going to a super good home where they will also be more useful than eggs. They will be providing hot compost for "hugel" ditches. Its a long story. Long run I was able to get in on the bottom floor of them building their tractor coop. Tractor means it moves so is on wheels and has that wonderful space where they can get under the floor of the coop. PLUS it will have open and close windows for storms and warmth in the winter. I'm working on getting them a pop door as a gift when they move. Attached nest boxes - floor ladder roost (I've never used them). I'm pleased anyhow and I believe the girls will be happy campers. Stay warm folks. I'm freezing - must have AZ blood now!!
 
FeatherPugs said:
@starri33 Egg production is down here too. My theory is the NNs who are now in the 2 year old area (in March) are laying less AND they need a warmer coop at night. Another thing that happened is - remember about 6 weeks or so ago I had a dog get in my yard and kill 3 chickens. That trauma along with the cold we have been having - mostly in the 30s at night for quite a long time. Days it isn't as cold at night I have more eggs. We build for the warmest weather but when the cold gets here we're trying to make it warmer in the coops. Most of you know I will be selling my home of 20+ years as I cannot support it without that extra income that I lost when Glenn passed. SO my girls will be going to a super good home where they will also be more useful than eggs. They will be providing hot compost for "hugel" ditches. Its a long story. Long run I was able to get in on the bottom floor of them building their tractor coop. Tractor means it moves so is on wheels and has that wonderful space where they can get under the floor of the coop. PLUS it will have open and close windows for storms and warmth in the winter. I'm working on getting them a pop door as a gift when they move. Attached nest boxes - floor ladder roost (I've never used them). I'm pleased anyhow and I believe the girls will be happy campers. Stay warm folks. I'm freezing - must have AZ blood now!!
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Too bad you have to part with all of your girl's. I remember when you were looking for the Naked Neck's in the eye-candy color's. I hope that if they move the chicken tractor that they don't accidentally run any of them over. I have heard that can happen sometime's.
 

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