Arizona Chickens

[CaroleW]

No ice here, but have some wind blowing today. Did the chicken's eat the mouse?

NO my chickens don't seem to be mousers. But I have plenty of cats around the corners of the coops at night. THe ice/water seems to be best at catching them tho.

 

[CaroleW]

Beautiful! Does she ride them or do they pull carts/carriages?

I haven't seen them pulling a carriage - I'll have to ask - it's my neighbors neighbor and their driveway is from a different road so I've never talked to that Clydesdale owner since no adjacent fence or thru road. Some driveways around here are 1/2 mile long since we are on Ag zoning with most people having at least 5-10+ acres. We only have 3.9 and are on a shared lane (not a thru road).

 

[BlueBaby]

NO my chickens don't seem to be mousers. But I have plenty of cats around the corners of the coops at night. THe ice/water seems to be best at catching them tho.

We used to have a cat named Loki here until he died of old age. He loved mice and would play the catch and release program. The next door neighbor's at that time kept a pile of wood that they had cut from the limb's of tree's that fell on thier roof during storm's sitting next to the fence that's between us. All types of critter's were living in that pile. When they moved and the piles of wood were removed, the critter's all had to find new home's.

 

[CaroleW]

We used to have a cat named Loki here until he died of old age. He loved mice and would play the catch and release program. The next door neighbor's at that time kept a pile of wood that they had cut from the limb's of tree's that fell on thier roof during storm's sitting next to the fence that's between us. All types of critter's were living in that pile. When they moved and the piles of wood were removed, the critter's all had to find new home's.

I keep reminding my DH not to pile anything next to a fence because you are essentially making an open gate for critters (not just a fabulous home/hiding place). You shorten the fence by as little as a foot by making a pile or parking a wheelbarrow and almost anything can scale it. I don't even park my car closer than 6 or 8 feet outside our yard fence that keeps in the dogs.

 

[BlueBaby]

I keep reminding my DH not to pile anything next to a fence because you are essentially making an open gate for critters (not just a fabulous home/hiding place). You shorten the fence by as little as a foot by making a pile or parking a wheelbarrow and almost anything can scale it. I don't even park my car closer than 6 or 8 feet outside our yard fence that keeps in the dogs.

Good thing you and I have big enough yard's that we don't need to park by a fence, huh?

 

[BlueBaby]

I moved 3 of the cockerel's down into the other cage/pen today. That will give them all more room to continue growing, and now there's 3 less boy's to push the girl's away from the feed by hogging it. The 3 boy's can be eaten if they don't get taken as another flock rooster for someone that need's one. Right after I moved the boy's, Hawkeye was down there trying to keep the hen's away from them. Maybe he finally discovered that they are boy's?

 

[CaroleW]

@BlueBaby I noticed last week that Roger lost one of his spurs (about 4" now down to 1"). I was worried so reading on BYC I found out they lose spurs occasionally or some people might cut/trim/file them. There is a bone in it but not the full length. He seems to be doing fine.

If some of the younger roos were nicer I might trim their spurs because they seem to have a hard time walking with them sometimes even at 2" long.

 

[BlueBaby]

@BlueBaby I noticed last week that Roger lost one of his spurs (about 4" now down to 1"). I was worried so reading on BYC I found out they lose spurs occasionally or some people might cut/trim/file them. There is a bone in it but not the full length. He seems to be doing fine.

If some of the younger roos were nicer I might trim their spurs because they seem to have a hard time walking with them sometimes even at 2" long.

Yes, I've heard of people trimming the rooster spur's before. I guess as long as there's no sign of infection, it should be ok.

You caught me up on Amazon doing some window shopping.

 

[BlueBaby]

I noticed that the 2023 New Year's hatch-a-long has been posted here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bycs-14th-annual-new-years-day-hatch-along-2023.1555103/

If anyone here want's to join it, but need's fertile hatching egg's for it, I have some that will be available for it. All of my egg's will be the Bielefelder's though, and you will be able to tell the sex of them right after they hatch and are still in the incubator drying off by the coloring of them.

 

[BlueBaby]

I decided that it was best to stock up on my chicken feed and scratch before the Black Friday and Christmas shopping madhouse begin's. I don't like crowd's too much, so I try my best to avoid them during the Holiday's. TSC was out of my regular feed that I get, so I had to pick up another brand.