Arizona Chickens

[countrygirl74]

Alright, I'm looking to see what y'all have to say about the sexes of these birds. All were hatched from eggs from Desertmarcy about 14 weeks ago.

New Hampshire Reds--all of them look remarkably similar:

bird 1:




birds 2 and 3:

I'm not as good with the other breeds you posted, but on these reds I would guess at least 2, if not all 3, are cockerels... bummer!

Question for everyone: Does anyone cut one side of their chickens wings so they can't fly to high up? My girls are just 3 weeks old and can get up about 3ft and it worries me. I've heard you can cut one side to basically lopsided them Suggestions would be helpful!

I did my in-law's rooster's wings for them - just one side as he kept flying into a "danger zone" where the dogs were. There's some great youtube videos explaining exactly what feathers to clip and how far in so you don't cut too far and they bleed. Never had to do the girls... also, didn't do his until he was about 5 months old or so.


It's nice to come on here and laugh today - get my mind on something else. We welcomed our Hot Shots home today... harder than I thought it would be, especially when the 2 that I knew drove past. I released a purple balloon for each one. Thanks to all of you in Phoenix and elsewhere who showed your support - we appreciate you guys very much!

 

[notinoz2007]

Question for everyone: Does anyone cut one side of their chickens wings so they can't fly to high up? My girls are just 3 weeks old and can get up about 3ft and it worries me. I've heard you can cut one side to basically lopsided them Suggestions would be helpful!

i watch my aloha 2 month olds while they walk across the top of my 6ft fence, i worry that one day they will hop over to the neighbors - VACANT - yard, which at the moment still has green grass. In my experience, when pullets get old enough to fall in love with my giant brahma rooster (who can barely fly to the 2 ft high roost) they dont leave him, they lose all interest in the neighbors yards, lol

Does anyoneknow how to get rid of ants? It's been raining lots here and now both of my coops and my brooders are swarmed with ants. I can't go anywhere near the coops without getting bitten half to death by ants so I can't imagine what is happening to the chickens. I moved some of the chicks, but the others are in with their momma hens. The ones I could see had ants on them. Will DE work? Is there anything else I can do?

i have put DE in the nesting material to cut down on ant invasions. i read that it doesnt kill ants, but it irritates them and they try to avoid it. you can also put a barrier of DE around the run to discourage them coming in. i had one bad colony last year and had to keep my chickens locked up and put out ant bait stakes, the same brand name as gallo mentioned. no more ants after 2 days!

 

[notinoz2007]

Was anyone else in the North Valley or West Valley looking at ordering the Omega-3 Chicken Foraging Blend from Grow Organic? I'm planning on doing my order this coming Friday and wanted to see about combining orders. We can save on the seeds themselves ($3.99 under 5-pounds, $3.60 for 5 to 10 pounds, $3.41 for 10 to 50 pounds...) and on shipping. I'm already in the 10-pound range, so it's discounted. Shipping is $7.99 up to 40-pounds, so we can save a bit there, too. PM me if anyone is interested.

If you are anywhere else in the valley and want to meet downtown for the order, my wife works near 19th Avenue and Southern Avenue, while I'm at 4th Avenue and Washington Street. Between the two of us, we can meet any day of the week.

i love the way it looks, does it come in one pound bags? i just cant get anything to grow in my yard i've tried sod and seed and both times failed.
keep us updated once you get yours growing so i can get jealous

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: I will be sure and let the folks that will process the meat for us to be careful, Thanks.
Blue bell may have just had the weakness since she wasn't to well anyway. She has servived 2 dog maulings and 3 eye infections during her life. I do miss my poor sweet baby.

 

[desertmarcy]

Crud. That's what I suspected. The cape feathers are a bit on the narrow side. All three are so very similar in leg, feather, wattle, comb, overall size, etc. that I think they are indeed one sex.

I have a hard time telling from photos. Look hard at the saddle feathers. If you see any coming in that are shiny gold, it is a cockerel. There are only a couple feathers of that color at first, but if you see them, it is a dead give away = male. I have extra pullets if you need them.

 

[desertmarcy]

The Russian Orloffs are terribly difficult to photograph.

bird 1:




bird 2 (on right):



I think they're both cockerels.

Orloffs can be real foolers. I would not be too hasty to judge what sex they are. I cannot tell from these photos.

 

[desertmarcy]

Thanks for your thoughts! Yep, they all came from Marcia.


Here's my three BRs:

bird 1:




bird 2:




bird 3:




I'm thinking all pullets, anyone think otherwise?

These 3 are definitely all pullets.

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are my last two Orloffs:

Bird 3:




bird 4:




I'm pretty sure just by appearance and behavior that bird 3 is a pullet but I'm not so sure about bird 4.

Oh boy, the ants are trouble right now. We were bitten terribly yesterday. DE might work on some ants. I've had relatively good luck with DE during the drier times of year on smaller species of ants, but with this humidity the effectiveness of DE will be greatly diminished (it works best at humidity levels lower than 65%). Once it gets wet it is completely ineffective. I had very mixed luck with leaf-cutter ants. I killed two of three colonies with DE earlier this spring. The two colonies that succumbed I managed to hit right as they emerged this spring and they never recovered. The third (and larger) colony has suffered greatly, but they still carry on. If they are in the coop near chicks I'd probably go nuclear on them and use an ant killer like this that the chickens can't easily get into. I also just found a box of Borax, which I have yet to try. It's supposed to work well with less of a toxic risk compared to the proprietary ant killers. I'll let you know how it works.

Thanks for your thoughts! Yep, they all came from Marcia.


Here's my three BRs:

bird 1:




bird 2:




bird 3:




I'm thinking all pullets, anyone think otherwise?

These 3 are definitely all pullets.

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are my last two Orloffs:

Bird 3:




bird 4:




I'm pretty sure just by appearance and behavior that bird 3 is a pullet but I'm not so sure about bird 4.

Gallo, last year when I raised Orloffs, I did not make final decisions on sex until the birds were about 5 months old. They are one of the hardest breeds to sex.

 

[Demosthine]

Notinoz, it comes in any poundage you want. Have you tilled your yard before laying seed or sod? It is vital for the first time seed and pretty important for sod. It has to be loose enough for some drainage.

If you can't get a tiller, you can lay down the seed and then spread a good 1/4" to 1/2" layer of manure across the entire yard. That will allow roots to develop and gives it a perfect food source from the manure. It also creates a nice layer to absorb and hold the moisture. You can find endless supplies of manure on Craig's List.

Or a cheap alternative is to watch for free pot belly pigs. They'll root up your yard in no time! Just kidding.