Arizona Chickens

[MagicChicken]

Howdy Folks!

I know I've not been around recently (or not even lately) but we're about to order a bunch of peepers.

....
With a little luck you may be seeing me around here a bit more.


CYA'll

Mikey

Mikey, welcome back! We've missed you!

Quote:
City Farm, if I remember correctly Mikey's flock had Mycoplasma gallisepticum: http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/504 . The details of his flock's ordeal are in this thread somewhere but I can't find it. It was a difficult time, and all I was doing was reading about it. Maybe he will chime in with a brief synopsis?

 

[City farm]

 
[COLOR=FF0000]NORTH DAKOTA  has four feet of SNOW with 15 feet drifts.............YUCK !  [/COLOR] ​

oh big yuck here too. I like where I live; just enough snow to be pretty for a couple days then goes away. Rarely much below 24 degrees and then it still warms above freezing during the day most of the time.

 

Well DONE !  All that work but some good eats !  Yes wouldn't a plucker be a big asset !  I like your web-site BTW

Thank  you,yes good eats. I am hoping I can find someone to go halves on a plucker. Thank you, glad  you liked the website.

Mary, maryhysong, Mary..
I just love you we site as well.. The photo of your egg basket is wonderful !!
Soon for us, soon.

I don't think that your girls are laying just yet, BUT

Mary, Flower, Mary..
I think one of your girls is laying.. Bluish.. Yee Haa!!!
Molly, the lighter one has been giving us the large olive w/ speckles for about 1month
now.. I can't wait for he feathers to come in on her legs.. She is a sweety pie...

 

[MandyFitch]

Oh no that totally sucks! We got three chicks from her as well.. Did you
go in on that order from the hatchery ?? We did.. They are suppose to be
sexed..

She ended up getting rid of her whole flock.. H.O.A.!!! Told her no more chickens..

 

[City farm]

Howdy Folks!


I know I've not been around recently (or not even lately) but we're about to order a bunch of peepers.


....

With a little luck you may be seeing me around here a bit more.



CYA'll


Mikey

Mikey, welcome back!  We've missed you!

 

Howdy Folks!


I know I've not been around recently (or not even lately) but we're about to order a bunch of peepers.


From the original flock of 28 we have four left (the infamous poultry show virus incident);


The two Gretchens (barred rocks)

Meow - (Production red)

and Princess'es sister (Wellsummer)


 

Will you or anyone elaborate on poultry show virus?? Symptoms ? We had

one girls that just crooked for no reason.


Yes it is so good to have you back! How is your family? Welding ?

City Farm, if I remember correctly Mikey's flock had Mycoplasma gallisepticum:  http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/504  .  The details of his flock's ordeal are in this thread somewhere but I can't find it.  It was a difficult time, and all I was doing was reading about it.  Maybe he will chime in with a brief synopsis?

Ok, just linked three some of the photos & symptoms.. Now, does it spread threw
the flock quick? & other than our chicken looking depressed that was the only symptom
that got my attention.. Also, is there a cure? Man that really is a bummer.. He did loose
a lot. That is why I wondered if it moves threw fast?

 

[City farm]

What do you plan on making with the 8?

Your girls are frolicking about the run.. They are so beautiful I just love all of their

bearded feathers... I don't rememeber if I told you what we named them?

The darkest one Fiona.. The lightest one is foxy lady

you're welcome. Glad they went to a good home. A couple of those boys plucked out pretty nice so I will leave them whole for roast chicken. Most of the others have so many feathers in the skin that I am going to end up skinning them and cutting into pieces. They will be all sorts of things, stir fry, chicken caccitore, ect.

I still have about 8 EE pullets left for sale; starting to lay pretty blue and green eggs

I bragged about how beautiful the girls we got from you on the E.E. braggers blog.
Try to say that 10x real FAST..

 

[MandyFitch]

how did you determine they are roos? where did you get them? You could get another group of 3 now but you'd have to do the whole brooder box with heat lamp again until they are old enough to go into the coop with the others. I have seen people who have a brooder box with a heat lamp in their coop. They're usually made of wood and have a screen top to prevent the possibility of the lamp falling and catching things including the chicks on fire. It's getting colder at night though so you'd need a decent heat lamp to get the temp up high enough. Here's a thread where people have discussed it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/631359/brooding-chicks-outside

 

[notinoz2007]

i never had mine diagnosed with the mycoplasma so that might not have been our problem, but my whole flock had sniffles around the same time as mikey was battling it. as i recall quite a few of us mesa people reported constant sniffles in their flocks. as for depression, i consider everything is depressed if they have a cold so it didnt stand out to me. i culled a lot of mine and then started the remainder on fermented feed. anyway, i dont know if thats what fixed it, but i dont recall any problems after i was done with fermenting. i only did that about 6 months - and havent restarted even tho its on my list of things to do. i never really paid much attention to it actually until alohachickens and i were talking about sniffles last week.

MikeyD, we've missed you.

 

[MandyFitch]

Does anyone in Arizona breed Blue Copper Marans?

 

[Demosthine]

Hey all! Just checking in briefly, since things are so ridiculously busy here.

If you are in to canning, check your local Lowe's for canning supplies. They are all running half-off right now, but it's very much of a regional thing. My local stores don't stock the canning stuff at all, but many other parts of the nation are. I was able to ad-match some at WalMart, but they are picking up ridiculous amounts of jars elsewhere. Hopefully, you all have better luck than I do. The East Valley tends to have more of this type of stuff. Both Show Low and Tucson show the sale on their website.

Gotta go get the day moving. Enjoy this weather!

 

[Twinklin]

Great
Great reply! I agree with planning for the most restrictive. I had a hawk and had to confine the girls for a while. Or, do you want to get somebody to let them in out if you go on vacation? Mine free range a lot, but still have a fully secure coop/run that they can stay in if need be. Personally I would stay around 10+ ft for that, but every flock is different!

We don't typically travel due to having the chickens, a dog and 2 indoor cats. It's too costly to board them for a week. If we DID go somewhere we'd fly my boyfriend's parents out for the week and they'd be here with them and let them out. It ends up being just as much for a plane ticket as kenneling the animals. It's nice that they're retired and can come out for a week whenever we want. We do have a run. It's pretty secure. The galvanized mesh is a bit larger than I'd like but we did double it up on the bottom 2 1/2 feet and skirted out on the bottom. It's 8x8. If we got 3 more chickens for a total of 7 they'd each have ~9sq ft run space and then a 41 sq ft coop as well. I think I'll make a nipple watering system to get the water bucket up off the ground too. After reading everyone's advice and opinions I decided we definitely won't put more than 7 in there. I told my boyfriend last night if we want more than that down the road we have to expand, and he actually didn't say "no we're not taking up any more space" like I thought he would... he just kind of stayed silent about it. lol Not sure if that's a good or bad sign. I think 7 is a good number for our set up in case they ever needed to be confined to it instead of ranging. I think I'll definitely add another roost bar though.








Oh and on a side note, we just switched to a trough style feeder and we're all loving it, especially little Phillie who doesn't get shoved out as much now. Since the roofrats tried to eat through the PVC feeder (I had fashioned a PVC sleeve that slid down to cover the holes at night and the rats didn't like the denied access) and the girls spilled any other type of container I tried to use I needed something they couldn't spill that was also light and easy for me to lock up at night to deter the rats. So far they haven't spilled a single crumb all week. And it was free since we have a zillion bricks laying around and I had a flower pot.






Thanks everyone again, SO much for your words of advice. It's always so helpful and I'm such a terrible decision maker so I need it