Arizona Chickens

[Bob's Henhouse]

pipemum, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I have the same problem way too often since my birds are free ranging most of the time. I don't know what would have crawled through a 4 inch hole, or used a trellis to get in though. Kind of like Gallo said... If you have it secured now, and are wanting to replace your meaties, I bought 25 from McMurray a month or so ago, if you are interested I could part with however many you want. The sickening dead weight in the pit of your stomach when you find just a few feathers left from your flock doesn't get any easier each time it happens. My heart goes out to you.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

My girls seem to have made a truce with my youngsters. Very little chasing. All of them hange out on my porch. I put down straw, not for them but for me to help clean it up. The picking order is established. I'm sure as the young ones get older there will be a few power grabs.

I am getting a steady 3 to 4 eggs a day with an occasional 5 egg day. I'm looking forward to February, my youngsters should be starting to lay by them.

I am getting nerves again about my girls, their coops are not coyote proof. I have failed at chicken proofing my garden. I have only had one harvest of my Swiss Char...... They have figured out how to test the bottom od mt netting untill one gets her head under, then she is in. For a dum chicken, they are not so dum. I think they have been watching Ernie when he is ready to come in. Figured out tapping the glasse, I may come.... Then a nummy treat.

 

[Stynch]

Worst of the worst in chicken news. Something dug into my broiler coop and all 8 are gone. Without a trace. The rain washed away any prints bit the hole was fairly small. I can't believe all 8 are gone. Whatever got them would have had to leap the fence repeatedly. Looks like they used a trellis i had on the adjacent wall as traction to scramble up, it was broken in a heap. We have a billion coyotes so i guess it was coyotes. I really hope the broilers were sleeping and relaxed when taken. It doesn't look like signs of struggle in the pen.

I'm so sorry. It seems as though no matter how hard we try to protect them, sometimes it just isn't enough

 

[Stynch]

We got our first egg from our RIR this morning... So now we have two layers! My 7 yr old wanted to claim it was from her chicken since we keep threatening to stew her beautiful but non laying 7 m old EE. However it was a nice brown egg just a bit darker than our BR lays.

Congrats on your first egg! What is it with the EEs that aren't laying? Big Red is pushing 8 months old, keeps showing "behavior", but no eggs (meanwhile, the three younger birds lay every day like clockwork). I've started reading recipes for chicken stew, chicken pot pie, chicken soup, etc., but she just looks at me like I'm crazy (maybe she's on to something there!!).

 

[kevs-chickadees]

So, does anyone out there have a pineapple guava? I saw them for the first time this week at the Tucson Botanical Garden and I sampled a fruit, it was pretty good. It looks like two kinds are commonly grown here, Coolidge and Nazemetz, anyone have experience with them?

I might be thinking of another fruit but aren't the guavas the ones that take about 9 years to fruit?

 

[Angelray]

Question: My chicks hatched the end of Sep. so they are about 8 weeks old now. I have a heat lamp outside for them as our low is in the low 30's. I have 2 red stars & a favarolle. Do they still need heat?

 

[roostereggs]

Sorry to hear about the 8 missing chickens! I think I would be scarred for life if I went out one morning and found my 8 missing.

I have some good news, though! I have an EE who acts broody a lot and is always in the nest. When we first got her, she was in full molt and looked really dumb, so we named her Brainless. She also is the bottom of the pecking order and runs around crazy. The problem is that she sits NEXT to the eggs rather than on top of them.

Last night I went out to collect eggs and she was sitting ON them, so I left two under her. Not sure if she will continue to be a good Mommy, but I think it would be good for her to have a purpose in the coop other than being low man on the totem pole.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Hi everyone, I finally have my coop and everything we need to get started (hopefully). Now all that's left for us to get are our chicks. I am located in N. Phoenix and am trying to get our birds from a local breeder. Here is our wish list in proper order. 1.-Silkie (prefer buff or white)...2.-Buff Orpington...3.- Easter Egger...4.- Speckled Sussex... We want chicks and really want pullets (baby girls-right?).. I understand the difficulty in all of that and that's why it's our "WISH LIST" -lol.

I am not good with the computer and keep losing this thread on this site. Yes, I know it's me... If anyone can help me out it will be greatly appreciated. My 7 year old son and I just want friendly pets that happen to give us some eggs. These birds will be receiving tons and tons of attention. I have been looking into this for so long I realized that I actually had hair at the beginning of our chicken/coop/feed/breeds/etc. research. If anyone has some of these babies for sale please contact me on my email since I don't know how long it may be before I find this thread again-LOL.

My email is - [email protected]. I know that it's rare to be able to sex the chicks at this point in time but I see some places do it (somewhat). If anyone has that ability we would love it. Being new to this we are a bit leary about roosters although I understand that "poop happens", especially with chickens. I feel confident that the brilliant Arizonian breeders will come through for us.
Seriously though, Thank You All and God Bless.


Best R egg ards,
Foghorn leghorn 9 -aka TD

Welcome to the thread! Now that you have posted here it should be easy to find us again. Each time you log into BYC and are directed to the home page, there is an item called subscriptions up at the top right If there are new posts in a thread you have posted in, there will be a number in red telling you there are posts you haven't seen. Click on the word subscriptions and it will list those threads. Wait for the page to load, then hover to the right of the thread you want to look at and you can click on last page then just go back a page or two to read what you might have missed. You should also get emails telling you at someone has posted or quoted you and you can click right to the thread from your email.
I hope you find us again and keep us posted on your search for chicks!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Worst of the worst in chicken news. Something dug into my broiler coop and all 8 are gone. Without a trace. The rain washed away any prints bit the hole was fairly small. I can't believe all 8 are gone. Whatever got them would have had to leap the fence repeatedly. Looks like they used a trellis i had on the adjacent wall as traction to scramble up, it was broken in a heap. We have a billion coyotes so i guess it was coyotes. I really hope the broilers were sleeping and relaxed when taken. It doesn't look like signs of struggle in the pen.

So very sorry to hear Pipemum. I saw your pics too. How did the critter even get the chickens through the 4" hole?? Such a bummer.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Question folks, Do you let your chickens free range in the rain? I open the coop & they go in & out as they want, but just want to be sure its OK. The polish look terrible with their crests soaked & flat!

I let mine out both Friday eve and Saturday eve and it was raining. Their coop and run stayed nice and dry as we didn't really have wind with this storm. They looked a little soaked after their playtime but they didn't seem to mind too much. They cuddled right up in their roost at bedtime and were dry by the next morning.