Arizona Chickens

[desertmarcy]

I'll vouch for DesertMarcy's line of Black Coppers. My three are absolutely gorgeous and the rooster is my favorite of my entire flock. They lay the traditional medium brown eggs, rather than the dark chocolate eggs that I wanted, but I am very happy with them regardless. My two pullets just started laying about a week ago and have been my most consistent layers in this heat. The left egg is one of the new eggs from my Black Coppers.

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Yay, I'm glad they are laying. A couple of mine hatched early this year are starting to lay and laying eggs that look like that. Wish they were darker! It is hard as heck to get the birds to the breed standard AND lay the dark chocolate eggs. And as any Marans breeder will tell you, there are a ton of culls with this breed as we strive to get them "perfect". I've got a new bloodline growing out, will have to wait and see how they turn out. For those of you just starting into the breed, remember Marans is always spelled with an "s" even if singular

. They were named after the town of Marans in France where they originated.

 

[desertmarcy]

Wings, my white turkey is dead. What ever it was it took her fast.

That's the 3rd loved turkey this summer. Banner my young tom Royal Palm, My 6 year old Blue Bell and now wings. Lost all those chickens, including my 6-7 year old Tumbleweed, silky roo, with the coyote finding a way in under the fence in the wash. WE are down to one Maran hen and two worthless young RR mix roos and one turkey tom heading for November dinner. Almost don't care anymore about having fowl for awhile.

So Sorry

 

[Demosthine]

Yay, I'm glad they are laying. A couple of mine hatched early this year are starting to lay and laying eggs that look like that. Wish they were darker! It is hard as heck to get the birds to the breed standard AND lay the dark chocolate eggs. And as any Marans breeder will tell you, there are a ton of culls with this breed as we strive to get them "perfect". I've got a new bloodline growing out, will have to wait and see how they turn out. For those of you just starting into the breed, remember Marans is always spelled with an "s" even if singular . They were named after the town of Marans in France where they originated.

I also watched two successful matings from the cockerel. So now I can hatch BCM over BCM, over Barred Rock or over Birchen Marans. Not that I need to get in to that hobby yet! It does give me options for my next broody, though. Only the straight BCM would really be worth hatching and selling.

Which reminds me, can you hatch from the new layers still, or should the eggs be a certain size first?

 

[City farm]

Wings, my white turkey is dead. What ever it was it took her fast.

That's the 3rd loved turkey this summer. Banner my young tom Royal Palm, My 6 year old Blue Bell and now wings. Lost all those chickens, including my 6-7 year old Tumbleweed, silky roo, with the coyote finding a way in under the fence in the wash. WE are down to one Maran hen and two worthless young RR mix roos and one turkey tom heading for November dinner. Almost don't care anymore about having fowl for awhile.

Awhee, sorry for your losses.. When we have the next hatch, you are welcome to have them at no charge..

 

[Demosthine]

I leanred a very valuable lesson tonight. Turkeys are NOT afraid of the barbecue grill! I lost a large chicken breast when one of the turkeys yanked it straight of the hot grill. Luckily, I grabbed it back in time to be spared another ten minutes cooking time. Well, until the sneaky rat got it again, despite my best fancy footwork keeping them away! That time they got it to the dirt before I could grab them...

So the moral of the story is this: Feeding table scraps makes for poultry who think everything exiting the house is food. And not even a smoking hot barbecue is in the safe zone!

 

[SAZUGT]

New to BYC. Been raising chickens since last year. Absolutely love it. Quick question for anyone who can help. I've been asked to give a class on backyard production and am having a heck of a time finding the city ordinances regarding chickens for Sierra Vista, AZ. Can anyone point me in the direction to get this info? I've looked at the zoning ordinances and county ordinances and have had no luck. Any help would be great. Thx

-SAZUGT

 

[desertmarcy]

I also watched two successful matings from the cockerel. So now I can hatch BCM over BCM, over Barred Rock or over Birchen Marans. Not that I need to get in to that hobby yet! It does give me options for my next broody, though. Only the straight BCM would really be worth hatching and selling.

Which reminds me, can you hatch from the new layers still, or should the eggs be a certain size first?

You can hatch the small pullet eggs but most people prefer to wait until the eggs are bigger. Chicks hatching out from those small eggs will be very small is the reason. They should grow and be as big as any other I have heard. Personally I wait for the eggs to get to a bigger size unless there is some overwhelming reason I am in a hurry to hatch chicks from a certain bird or breed.
Just because they are mating, does not mean the cockerel is fertile. Fertility goes down in the heat.

 

[desertmarcy]

I leanred a very valuable lesson tonight. Turkeys are NOT afraid of the barbecue grill! I lost a large chicken breast when one of the turkeys yanked it straight of the hot grill. Luckily, I grabbed it back in time to be spared another ten minutes cooking time. Well, until the sneaky rat got it again, despite my best fancy footwork keeping them away! That time they got it to the dirt before I could grab them...

So the moral of the story is this: Feeding table scraps makes for poultry who think everything exiting the house is food. And not even a smoking hot barbecue is in the safe zone!

Just like dogs stealing food from the table, how funny.

 

[squeakyballs]

I have a huge colony of harvester ants that have just discovered my grape vines... they are trekking from one side of our yard, around the house, and over a wall to get to the vines! My husband is hellbent on destroying the colony, but hasn't had any success.

What would happen if I gave the ants a ton of seeds right next to their home? Would they leave the vines alone then? Or, would the colony just get bigger?

 

[Jordi15]

I"ve been looking for really good Wellies for a long time now. I may order hatching eggs when it cools off a bit...

hatching eggs seem to be my only option! I am not against it but I would rather buy chicks or pullets.