Arizona Chickens

[alohachickens]

Brr, I saw that on the news - of course it had to happen just when I have new peeps hatching, LOL! I'll probably move the babies into my art studio those nights, if they are still here. Got 16 new babies hatched!

Going to list these babies on Craigslist today, but I'll have MORE PEEPS arriving on January 18th - I'm setting more eggs today! So if anyone wants those, please mark your calendar! I also ordered a new incubator, and it will arrive by the end of this week. I'll be saving eggs to fill it up as well, so there should be even more peeps about a week after that, so figure last week of January or Feb 1st for another batch.

Anyone wanting Aloha chicks - get ready for babies third and fourth week of January! (I'll put another reminder on here in a couple of weeks.)

They will be $2 each if you pick out just a few, or $1 each if you agree to take whatever hatches. (The whole batch, whatever number that is.) I start with 40 eggs in the 'bator but not even close to that has been hatching so far. Usually about 15-20 with the lower hatch rate I've been getting thanks to my roo being spread too thin among so many hens. He's been "skipping" some of the girls, so about a third of the eggs have been infertile so far, LOL. Going to pen off a few hens with one of the other juvinille roosters to help correct that soon!

Sommer

 

[ca]

Get the blankets out! The National Weather Service states:

"BY THURSDAY EVENING COLD AIR WILL PLUNGE ACROSS THE REGION DROPPING TEMPERATURES WELL BELOW NORMAL. THIS COMBINED WITH THE CONTINUING RAIN EVENT WILL LIKELY PRODUCE A RARE OCCURRENCE OF SNOW ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE GREATER PHOENIX AREA. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS THAT AREAS AT OR ABOVE 2000 FOOT ELEVATION ARE LIKELY TO SEE SOME SNOW BUT WITH LITTLE OR NO ACCUMULATION. HIGHER ELEVATION AREAS SUCH AS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY MAY SEE UP TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.

TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE IN THE LOW 20S UP TO 30 DEGREES ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA SOUTHWEST ARIZONA AND SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA FOR BOTH THURSDAY NIGHT AS WELL AS FRIDAY NIGHT. THUS THIS IS LIKELY TO BE A HARD FREEZE FOR MANY AREAS. PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT EXPOSED PETS AND PLANTS SUSCEPTIBLE TO FREEZING TEMPERATURES.

TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN WARMING BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

Sure hope they are exaggerating!

 

[NoSkiveez]

Quote:
Wow. I'm sorry to hear all that. My dog got valley fever. First sign anything was wrong was his eye looked like it was going to explode. I took him to a canine eye specialist in Gilbert and that's what it was. We ended having to have the eye removed. He will likely have it forever. I had him until Dec 2009 and had to rehome him after we both became unemployed and couldn't afford his meds.

 

[NoSkiveez]

I lost a Silkie hen. She was all nestled up with the others last night and when we went to feed this morning she didn't get up. I don't know what happened to her. She looks perfect still. She is the oldest, she's about 2 years old. I guess I will need to put a few of her eggs in the incubator now, as if I really need more chickens.

 

[ca]

Quote:
NoSkiveez, sorry to hear about your silkie! And your dog

. My dog is on fluconazole (not very expensive) and is doing phantastic as long as he gets the meds. I'll try to take him off the meds in a couple of months and see if he is cured

. He was just not himself and started limping. With the fluconazole he is running around like always.

Hope you get some of your silkies eggs to hatch!

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
NoSkiveez, sorry to hear about your silkie! And your dog

. My dog is on fluconazole (not very expensive) and is doing phantastic as long as he gets the meds. I'll try to take him off the meds in a couple of months and see if he is cured

. He was just not himself and started limping. With the fluconazole he is running around like always.

Hope you get some of your silkies eggs to hatch!

My dog had valley fever when she was 1 year old. I first noticed because she got pancreatitis. She was very ill. I had to give her sub-Q fluids and she wouldn't even look at her ball.
It didn't take her long to bounce back after she started taking Nizarol(sp?) Of course, this was 20 years ago so I don't know if they still prescribe Nizarol, but we got it in Mexico because it was very expensive here. She fully recovered after about 6 months on meds.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Quote:
NoSkiveez, sorry to hear about your silkie! And your dog

. My dog is on fluconazole (not very expensive) and is doing phantastic as long as he gets the meds. I'll try to take him off the meds in a couple of months and see if he is cured

. He was just not himself and started limping. With the fluconazole he is running around like always.

Hope you get some of your silkies eggs to hatch!

When my dog was on Fluconazole it was $4 per pill! $1400 a year. Guess its obvious I loved that dog.

 

[azmotogirl]

Hey gang.... Quick question..... I'm fairly new to this chicken thing and this is our first "winter" (if you can call it that in Arizona)..... do you take any special precautions when the temp drops like it will in a night or two? From what I have read, the chickens should be fine, but my husband seems to think we should be doing something extra to keep them warm at night. We have a Little Tykes Playhouse Duplex with the windows closed at night (but they can still get some airflow) What do you all think? Any advise would be appreciated!

 

[ca]

Quote:
Oh my! That is a lot to swallow (no pun intended). Now you can get them for $0.40. And you can also get generic versions. Hope chickens can't get valley fever. My dog eats the pills with a piece of meat. Would be interesting to feed pills to a chicken

.

 

[ca]

Quote:
I am not worried. Here the forecast for my corner of the world (guess I just saved another trip to Alaska):

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 21.

New Year's Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 27.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 47.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.

I have 7 week olds and just leave a red heating lamp on to take off the edge. Really chickens should be fine except AZ chickens are not much used to this extreme cold. If your coop is fairly small/low ceiling and you have more than a few chickens they should be able to heat it up with their body heat.