Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Not much in the way of flowers around here, and I'm not much of a gardener either. Just some herbs growing in pots on the porch.

Yesterday Lacey cracked me up. I checked for eggs, and she dropped one. I took it out of the nest box and she looked at me, thought about it, and then had a delayed reaction--BAWK! BAWK! and lots of flapping, running from the nest box. Now, what was THAT all about?

Maybe she thought that you were going to take her too?

 

[CaroleW]

If you have a large sized plastic dog crate that you could put them in now, that would at least keep them contained so they can't run around on your floor for now.

I use some indoor /outdoor carpet (very cheap from HD or Lowe's and sometimes even cheaper if you ask about remnants or already cut pieces) to line some nest boxes and crates. You might want to use something like that to make sure they don't slip & slide on the plastic or metal crate bottoms.

You can just spray it off with water when dirty - maybe need to weight down with rocks or a paver. You can put straw or shaving on top if you like. It just makes sure they don't get to bare plastic and splay their legs.

 

[CaroleW]

AAAAGGGHH!

Yesterday I noticed that the new Little Giant egg turner that I bought last fall for the swap meet eggs did not seem to be moving. Since it moves really slowly, I kept an eye on it. It's not turning. I took the eggs out and checked everything. It's set up right, and I didn't get any water on the moving parts. So now I have eggs that may not have been turned since Sunday. They were moved just a few minutes ago when I took them out to check the setup. When TSC opens, I'll call them and see if the turner can be exchanged. I made a thread on this in the hatching section asking for ideas/recommendations for a better setup. It should not have failed with only a few weeks total use. /end rant.

Update/edit: I shook it, and it seems to have started up. Not using this equipment again.

Incubator Warehouse (either on their own website or Amazon) should have a new turner motor for that. I think it's a very simple motor hook up on that incubator. The motor might be $10. --EDIT--sorry it's $20

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Ok.. i did another calcium pill.. this time i dissolved it in about a teaspoon of water then sopped it up with a small piece of bread. Elsa ate it right up and laid another egg, 3rd day in a row.

Would you guys say i can stop w the calcium pill? Is the soft shell something that happens temporarily with new layers?

Surprisingly, no egg song today. Not complaining, she is loud

 

[father0fnine]

Hey fellow Arazonians,

Does anybody know of a tarp for our “wonderful” weather? I use a tarp on my run to keep the hawks out but I end up replacing it at best every season. It seems to sun-rot/UV rot very quickly — even in winter just slower.

D

 

[springvalley123]

Hey fellow Arazonians,

Does anybody know of a tarp for our “wonderful” weather? I use a tarp on my run to keep the hawks out but I end up replacing it at best every season. It seems to sun-rot/UV rot very quickly — even in winter just slower.

D

I use shatex brand shade cloth, 10 x 10 with grommetts built in, but just for shade. It slows down the wind but water'll go right through it unless you double or tripple it and/or put it on a frame with an arc to it. For now I've got the walmart/home depot tarps and hope to catch them before they disintegrate into a million pieces...

 

[BlueBaby]

Hey fellow Arazonians,

Does anybody know of a tarp for our “wonderful” weather? I use a tarp on my run to keep the hawks out but I end up replacing it at best every season. It seems to sun-rot/UV rot very quickly — even in winter just slower.

D

I use shade cloth with gommet's also, but I use it over my horse panel's with no climb wire attached to it over the top. No hawk's can get in. My current shade cloth has been on there for 3 years now, but I had originally bought 2 of them so I would have a spare. The spare is still in my house.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Parront How are your future ducklings hatch coming along? Have you candled them again? My future NN chick's will be starting the lock-down on Wednesday for the Friday hatch.

 

[CaroleW]

Hey fellow Arazonians,

Does anybody know of a tarp for our “wonderful” weather? I use a tarp on my run to keep the hawks out but I end up replacing it at best every season. It seems to sun-rot/UV rot very quickly — even in winter just slower.

D

I use a 6' wide roll sold as clear groundcover that I got on clearance from either Farmtek or Greenhouse Megastore a few years ago. It's UV stabilized, very thick. It's lasted as a sort of floorcovering/weed barrier in the greenhouse for years and I just started to use it on the hardware cloth covered windows on the coops as a windblock this winter.

Whatever you use it has to be UV stabilized to last more than a season here.

 

[Parront]

Ok.. i did another calcium pill.. this time i dissolved it in about a teaspoon of water then sopped it up with a small piece of bread. Elsa ate it right up and laid another egg, 3rd day in a row.

Would you guys say i can stop w the calcium pill? Is the soft shell something that happens temporarily with new layers?

Surprisingly, no egg song today. Not complaining, she is loud

Sometimes a new layer could just lay shell-less, or funny shaped or strange looking eggs at first. Or really tiny eggs. The worst problem is a too large egg, sometimes an egg has 2 yolks and the new layer has trouble laying it. Keep oyster shells out for her, she might eat some.