Arizona Chickens

[LadyKotaDoria]

I have not taken a lot of pictures of my new chicks, here is a picture of Tipsy the Red Star, Lind the Buff Orpington, the Partridge Barred Rock dose not have a name and the Barred Rocks, you can see the one on the right hand side is darker and has more feathers. What do you think? The other two Roos? Is it to early for me to try to re-home the two I believe are Roos. I only want the pullets. They are Good Shepherd from Desertmarcy so you know they are good stock. Anyone interested? Please tell me what you think, pullet or roo?

I have three BR. Two are already grown and laying. They had their tail feathers grow out like the one at the farthest right side and one is darker than the other. The third one is about 12 weeks old and its tail feathers are growing like the one at the bottom right and is on the lighter side. I'm thinking they are not quite the same type of BR and maybe have a different type of tail feathers. Just my experience and that only accounts for three BRs.

I got all three from Desertmarcy, they are the same type, all three are Good Shepherd Barred Rocks. Her reputation is spotless.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Are you able to see any height difference yet? How about a thickness in their legs? I always go by these two things when they are the same breed and age.

 

The two lighter ones stretch out more in hight. I will observe the legs more. They make me think of a been pole, kind of scrawny, but all chicks look like that, in comparison just a tad more.

As far as dinner, I have thought of that. I will have my family, my sister would be up set, my nephew, the one that is a Prepper as I am, might spelt in two. The soft half and the harden survivalist. Don't want to see that. My mom, will she was born in 1916, she grew up with chickens and chicken dinners. She would probably want some white meat. The rest of my family runs on a scale from 0 to 10, about a1 to 9. They cancel themselves out. The tie breaker is ME. I know I can, but I hate the feeling, do not really want to unless I have to.

So it comes down to 1) when they start to crow [need to get to 26 weeks] 2) if I want to kill a semi-pet, by 6 months they will be name or no name. If I'm going to do that I mind as well get a couple of turkeys.
-----
POST SCRIPT: I have been a Prepper sense I was a little kid. The first Prepper thing I did was build a line-to in the woods. The next year when we came back to the area, it was still there, and it didn't look bad. No ropes, only bark, and weaving the green branches. The roof needed patching after the winter. If I read it, heard it, or saw it, I had to try it. I found out writers had a terrible sense on time it takes to do anything. My nephew is of my blood, he inhabited the same that I have. The first time trapped by weather, I vowed to have supply's on hand for a few weeks, just incase. Because of that, when I had a power outage that lasted about a week, I found I had to add a generator and gas to my list. No refrigerator and deep freeze. I still have the generator on my list. some day I will be able to get one . Now I have dry food in my pantry.

 

[AZKat]

The Blue Marans that I got from Mahonri started laying a couple days ago. I'll have to post a picture of her eggs, they are a gorgeous dark brown, I think around a 4 or 5 on the Marans chart. I also need to post a picture of the Splash Ameraucana I got at the same time. When I got her, we were sure she was a girl, but the neck feathers and tail feathers are making me nervous. I hope that I'm just paranoid, because this is a seriously beautiful bird.


On the subject of dealing with heat, I agree that shade and fresh water are the two keys, but once the temperature gets above about 105, you have to do *something* to provide additional cooling, or else you're going to start having losses. It can be cold food, ice blocks, pans of water, misters or whatever, but at a certain point its just too hot outside for any animal to live. Everyone has to figure out what works best for them, personally I find that running a mister for a few hours a day, say 11 or 12 until 4 or 5 in the afternoon works well to keep my chickens alive and relatively comfortable, while not causing any problems in terms of smell or breeding files or parasites.

 

[cbnovick]

she's more feathered in, has a tail of decent length already and lower stance/longer body and above all her barring is wider. females have 1 barring gene and males have double barring genes producing narrower bars and overall lighter appearance when mature.

Here are, I hope better pictures, the one I believe to be a pullet has light fluf on her chest below the crop and a dark spot on her beak. I tried to get he'd shots of the back of the heads to see the spots, and profile.

the one just above looks like a cockerel (young male) to me...upright stance, slightly thicker appearing legs and less feathering overall

Can anyone tell any better roo from Pullet? To me she has a little different look and personality. The 2 I believe to be Roos want always to be in the middle or under someone. She is usually on the outside.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

My coop is coming along.
The access doors go up higher on the frame.

The ramp to the pent house

I forgot to say, the coop looks great!! It looks like you've made a lot of progress since you last posted pictures. Very nice. Hope the progress continues swiftly, I know how it is to be putting in all that hard work and just chomping at the bit for the finish-line. I'm sure your chickens will love you for all your hard work.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

cbnovick that's what I thought. To in experience to really know. The one you pointed out as a pullet has the dark spot on the beak. Thank you. Now I really wish to rehome them. Once one of then crows I could have a knock on my door. I have one neighbor that loves to use the phone.

 

[Billiam]

I got all three from Desertmarcy, they are the same type, all three are Good Shepherd Barred Rocks. Her reputation is spotless.

I was referring to my three BRs not yours.

I got the two older ones at Cactus Feed and the younger one at Pet Club. Most likely came from different places and therefore different types?

 

[pipemum]

Oh man, hot weekend. My chickens are not happy, even though I'm doing what I can to keep them cool. I was worried about what I'd do with 9 chickens once they are full grown (about 2-3 too many), but I don't think they'll all make it through the summer. They are 100% in the shade, given ice water in the mornings, I've got tons of waterers, an old toilet lid and plant saucer filled with water for them to stand in and cool off, wetted down some areas for them to kick around and lie in...maybe I'll get some misters this weekend. Inside the enclosed run, I took off a panel of their coop to make it essentially 3-sided to keep it cooler at night. The chickens were still hot at 7pm last night, even though it had cooled down substantially by then. I guess they'll either make it through the summer or not.

 

[tsuninight]

I'm not sure that misters would work for me since we're still watering the trees manually lol. Good 'ol garden hose. Getting an actual sprinkler/drip system for the yard is on the list, but not sure how soon/far away that will actually occur.

I considered the ice bottle option, however we leave around 7am. The ice would be melted long before 1-3pm, and we don't return until around 6 pm. As far as I can tell the only time they spend in the coup is at night, so I don't think airflow is an issue. There is also always some shade in the yard somewhere. They have access to the whole fenced back yard. I rarely see any of my chickens hanging out in sunlit areas regardless of the temperature unless it's a full on charge across the yard for some reason. They actually follow the shade of the wall in the evening too when they do their daily perimeter check for tasty things, or well exercise who knows.

I really appreciate the responses! I think I'll let them be, not let them sucker their way into the house every time they look pathetic... seriously I have the sucker stamp on my forehead and they know it. Yesterday I went outside mid day to grab some trash that had found its way into my yard and before I'd gotten across the porch they'd all high tailed it from the corner of the yard they were in and into the kennel (which I have failed to yet put away) and looked at me expectantly. They wanted to go inside again.... how a chicken can train itself in one day to bum rush a bit cat carrier when it's hot is beyond me. Sometimes I think they're just kind of dense since it can take me splashing around in their water (which is in an always shaded spot) for them to seemingly get the point that there is always water available. They'll all come over and get drinks.

I think I'll see if they can handle it, or if I completely wus out I'll put them & the coop in the garage and just restrict their free time to a couple hours a day. It's not air conditioned, and I think it's a good point that it's probably not good for them to go from 100 to 76 at any given time.

Thanks again everyone I really appreciate the responses.

 

[MaddBaggins]

My dog has been spending her days in the yard since we got her 8 years ago. She has no misters or coolers. Just a big bowl of water and shade wherever she finds it. If we're not home she's outside.
My chickens seem to be handling it as well. I do think I will get a pan to put red bricks in with water. Sounds like a good idea, won't take up much space and won't flood the yard.