Arizona Chickens

[pipemum]

MHC, those pictures are adorable!

LKD, I'm not sure what breed Slyvia is (some type of marans, right?), but my black copper marans was the biggest chick of my group, and has always been timid and a loner. Definitely not a leader. She's still the biggest pullet I have. I'd say she's low in the pecking order, but I'm not sure it's that...nobody picks on her or bullies her. She's just extremely timid. That's just my experience with ONE marans, so it obviously doesn't have much pull!

Gah. I hate Mondays. I missed my run this morning (I hate getting up in the dark, even though the temps are perfect now) and lack of endorphins makes the day even worse at work. Blah!!!!!

Still waiting on eggs. My remaining EE is now 24 weeks old, and her face and comb have finally reddened up well. The other pullets are now 20 weeks old. None of them look ready to lay yet. So far, not one of the crew has replaced the noticeable personality hole my deceased EE filled.

I made a tiny bit of progress on my garden sink/processing station this weekend. My 4-year old helped, and I was really surprised, but she actually helped. Gave the kid a roller and we finished triple coats of primer in no time at all. That was Saturday, but yesterday was too windy to paint the color on.

 

[City farm]

Well crud, our first dead chicken..1 of our black cooper Marans. She just started laying about a month ago.. The only thing
I can think of is, one of the girls from the 2 that I got from Boston Bryce had a hard time laying her egg?? Not sure? One
of them either was using her beak or nails & scratched up her egg every time. There were marks on the egg.. It was white from
where she had been scratching, or another hen would come in behind & do it?? Besides the shape of the 2 different eggs from them was the
scratch marks.. I didn't think anything of it.. Those two girls loved eachother, BFF..They were some of the most lovable girls. Always hanging
around me & wondering what was happening.. The other thing was, one of them got a lizard yesterday.. A gecko..
I found her by the fan later yesterday evening.. I brought her in and forced her to drink vitamins & electrolytes.. When I had cat food in
my hand for a treat she did not even peck to eat.. I was bummed, what chicken wouldnt like a treat, huh..
Her crop was not ful, no stuck egg, her comb was lighter than her sisters.. She just seemed lethargic..
After the 3RD attempt of making her drink it was bed time. She put herself to bed. This morning she ate watermelon & yougart.. Any way,
who knows..

 

[Trixy318]

MY pets are spoilt well cared for I am not ignorant , none of our other birds needed fans since they are in large open shaded area and thier own pool . Sometimes accident is just accident and the chicken we had only had for 3 days and dont know age . they werent laying . I cared for them they passed in two hours and have no idea other than heat ..

 

[Twinklin]

So for those of us who can't hatch chicks, I found that all you have to do is plant a chicken tree and within minutes it's covered in chickens.







Right now my gardens are empty but since we shouldn't have many 100 degree days anymore I'm getting ready to plant stuff again. The chickens have claimed the empty garden beds as their own though. I'm going to have to put a fence of some kind up when I get the veggies planted so I decided to make the girls a play area to try to distract them from the veggie garden area.

My bf ripped out an old fruit tree and it has been laying in the side yard waiting for bulk trash day. I kept finding the chickens on it. You know you're obsessed when your chickens decide they like a dead tree so you make a special spot for it in your yard. That corner of the yard is always shady so it's like impossible to get grass to grow there anyway. I filled the dust bath pit with loosened dirt, some sand, and some potting soil. Now they have a nice place to play and bathe and they can stay the heck out of my gardens. Well, a girl can dream right?

 

[pipemum]

City farm, sorry to here about your chicken.

twinklin, love the chicken play area. I had to sacrifice one of my garden beds to the chickens--it's up against a wall with too much shade and wasn't growing anything anyway (though I had big plans for garlic and onions this fall...) but the chickens decided it was the best dust bath area ever!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well they seem to like their new digs. It's hot out here though. They all have their beaks open (panting?) and they are drinking plenty of water. It's about 100 in the shade where they are. I gave them a bowl of frozen blueberries. They are nibbling at them. Anything else I can do to keep them cool?

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Turn on that ceiling fan--on high will move more air.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I've heard that slower feathering in is a male trait, but I'm not sure that applies to marans. Also take anything the What's This forum tells you with a grain of salt--I've had 3 chickens "misdiagnosed" as males when they were pullets. Your BCMs look much lighter than the ones I had, of course, they all ended up being over-melatinized (all black, no copper)(and that has nothing to do with gender, just noticed a difference).

Also wait to judge a chicken on other features besides the comb development. The 3 chickens I mentioned above all had fairly rapid comb growth by 6 weeks (2 were barred rocks, and one was a BCM). I mean, sometimes I guess it is super obvious. My RIR was so obviously a cockerel at a young age it was ridiculous.

From what I've seen in the "What Breed or Gender Am I?" section, those who respond are often inexperienced or ignorant. You get that is all the sections, but that one seems to pull in the most inacccurate advice (at least of the sections I read--there are several that I've never even investigated at all).

 

[tsuninight]

Ah yes, my sister sent me a recipe for a blueberry scone. I think I have a new use for at least one of my eggs. lol

http://fedandfit.com/2013/07/28/paleo-blueberry-scones-2/

In other news Cadbury has been a busy girl! She is still giving me about 1 egg a day. She's missed exactly 1 day so far. It's definitely her though. We've caught her in the act! We also got one from our Silkie Firey... which kind of surprised me because she's a month younger than both Chell & Peep (who haven't started yet). I realized something very important though... I think I'm going to be giving my co-worker some eggs when they all start getting started lol.

It's beautiful today! I opened up the house and when I went downstairs to make lunch (working from home today), I decided to open up the screen to let the cats out for a bit. Well Peep & Glados invited themselves right in. When I was watching cutthroat kitchen and eating lunch Peep hopped in my lap and watched TV with me. This is super odd for her. She must be feeling attention starved. She's by far my most friendly chicken, but this is the first time she's wanted in my lap. I think she'll be laying soon too though since she has been flopping on the ground for pets lately. Glados just chased Bishop around the island until I chased her back out.

 

[bcluff]

Hey! Hope everyone is doing well! I was wondering if anyone had any fertile eggs they would be willing to sell/trade. I have a broody silkie and figured it would be a cheaper alternative to chicks! Also was wondering if anyone knew about composting small scale

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Sylvia isn't a Marans, she's a Naked Neck

Dakota, Basil, and Angle are Marans. Sweet Pea and Vony 2 are EE's. Tina is a White Leg Horn, and Rosy (short) is a Minorca? (I think she is a Plymouth Barred Rock).
the other 4 are Georgia is a PBR, Ginger is a RIR, Coney is a SL Wyandotte, Gloria is a GL Wyandotte.