Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Good thing that I don't have any ostriches, because I'd hate to have to get them ready for the grill.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

Do young roos lose their crow? Big Ben crowed the first few days he was here, but I haven't heard him since. He seems OK otherwise. I miss hearing him sing. Edited to add a pic of him.

 

[BlueBaby]

Do young roos lose their crow? Big Ben crowed the first few days he was here, but I haven't heard him since. He seems OK otherwise. I miss hearing him sing. Edited to add a pic of him.View attachment 2391959

Not that I know of. They pretty much crow when they want to. Some will crow more than other's.

My Naked Neck cockerel will be 5 month's old on Nov. 2nd. I haven't heard him crow yet, but I seen him breed the pullet when I went to lock up a while ago. She's the one that started laying egg's about 3 week's ago.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

Not that I know of. They pretty much crow when they want to. Some will crow more than other's.

My Naked Neck cockerel will be 5 month's old on Nov. 2nd. I haven't heard him crow yet, but I seen him breed the pullet when I went to lock up a while ago. She's the one that started laying egg's about 3 week's ago.

Are you planning to hatch any of those fertile eggs?

Rereading my question, it sounds a little weird. I was thinking that maybe he quit crowing because he wasn't feeling right or something was wrong. I want to take the best care of them possible.

 

[BlueBaby]

Are you planning to hatch any of those fertile eggs?

Rereading my question, it sounds a little weird. I was thinking that maybe he quit crowing because he wasn't feeling right or something was wrong. I want to take the best care of them possible.

No, I'm not going to do a hatch until the other younger one's catch up. They are getting bigger, but most of them aren't old enough to start laying egg's yet.

 

[BlueBaby]

Here's a picture of my cockerel that I seen breeding the pullet earlier (her head is showing in the picture also). He's almost 5 month's old and she's about 6 1/2 month's old.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

Here's a picture of my cockerel that I seen breeding the pullet earlier (her head is showing in the picture also). He's almost 5 month's old and she's about 6 1/2 month's old.

View attachment 2392298

He's pretty. I like his speckled coloring.

So far, I haven't noticed any breeding in my group. One pullet/hen is the right age to lay, and the other two are a week or two behind her in age. I put a pair of ceramic eggs in the nest box so they might take the hint. One of them smeared a little dirt on a ceramic egg. Guess it looks a little more real now.

 

[BlueBaby]

He's pretty. I like his speckled coloring.

So far, I haven't noticed any breeding in my group. One pullet/hen is the right age to lay, and the other two are a week or two behind her in age. I put a pair of ceramic eggs in the nest box so they might take the hint. One of them smeared a little dirt on a ceramic egg. Guess it looks a little more real now.

I have finally decided to give him a name. His name is now Louie.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

I have finally decided to give him a name. His name is now Louie.

That fits him!

And Big Ben is crowing again.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

So today I am working on disassembling the mini coop and reassembling it. I did a poor job the first time around, so the trays drop a lot of litter where they don't sit square with the frame. This is in anticipation of relocating them to my oversized waste-of-space hallway. It is the size of a bedroom.. but.. its a hallway, not really useful for much. Except chickens!

I have ordered an avian spectrum light for them since they will be farther from the windows. I will have two lights on timers, the spectrum light, and another dim bulb that will signal the sun rising and going down, so they aren't just shocked by light/dark.

I also picked up some pine that is even finer than the expanded horse pellets, and it is mixed with guar bean gum to make it heavier/not dusty and also helps it slightly clump (apparently it is a poor clumper based on reviews, which is great news for the chickens). It has no scents and is all natural, so I am going to give it a shot. If it works well, I will keep it and integrate the baby chicks. Otherwise, I will just wash some sand really good and use that. I don't think it is the best idea for floors that can scratch, so I am crossing my fingers on this other stuff.

The cochin chicks are turning out soooo cute!!! They of course have grown a lot, 5.5 weeks old now.. still looking like girls.. actually I am not even worried about sexing them. The males were obvious within 1 week.. seems like their comb starts so much lower on the face and is thicker, even before the color change. These two act like girls and are so cute. Some slight pink on the waddles, but the shape of the comb still looks small and straight.

I did see a post where someone's young cochin chick was scalped by the older girls so now I am worried about that. They are side by side still, and kind of copy each other -- when the big girls dust bathe, the little girls dust bathe.. when the little girls scratch, the big girls scratch. So hopefully that is a sign that they see each other as flock mates. But I was aiming to integrate next week at 6 weeks.

Sooooo.. I will post pics shortly. I want my family room clean and looking good! I finished remodeling my living room, so I am on a kick to get it all done now