Arizona Chickens

[Stynch]

Quote: Good luck with your surgery on Friday. Hopefully you will have a speedy recovery after a successful procedure

 

[Stynch]

I totally understand the right hand thing! I am so very right-handed it makes it hard to do things from the opposite side still using my right hand - I know crazy. Get better fast. Positive thoughts and prayers are coming everyone's way from my place in Eloy.

Thanks

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I came home tonight after dark and went out to close the pop door on the hoop coop - which happens to be housing 7 laying hens, my main rooster, and six 3 month old cockerels.  Halfway to the coop I found a clump of long black feathers.  Uh oh.  We've had a bunch of hawks around lately and I assumed one of them had finally grabbed itself a cockerel.

With a sad heart I went into the coop and did a head count to see who was missing.  1, 2, 3... 12, 13, 14...  Huh?  Recount.  Yep, 14 birds.  All present and accounted for.  So where did all those feathers come from?

Turns out the feathers were from my poor rooster, who is now missing his entire tail.  I have no idea what came after him.  Whatever it was must have grabbed him by the tail and hung on.  I couldn't see any tracks in the dark.  Probably was a dog or maybe one of the kids from up the street.  I doubt a hungry coyote would have given up with just a mouthful of feathers.

Rooster boy is looking bedraggled but content on his roost with all his girls around him.  He only has a couple of small wounds that I could find but the exposed skin is raw from having his feathers yanked out.  I sprayed BluKote on the wounds and on the exposed red skin. Hope the follicles weren't damaged.

Now I get to hide for several days while the BluKote wears off my fingers.  Silly me, I remembered to put on old clothing before spraying.  Forgot the gloves. 


I am proud of the rooster.  He must have put up a good fight against whatever it was.  Poor boy gets extra protein treats while his tail grows back.

Amassing rooster, it is Possable he was protecting his girls, and lost his tail. Brave boy. De earned extra treats.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

 

 
Thanks.  I'm crazy nervous but I know it needs to be done and I'll be so glad to get it over with.  I appreciate the positive thoughts and prayers.

Best wishes for your surgery and recovery. It is normal to be a bit nervous. Try to think of the good results that will be a welcome relief after you heal. Not having the problem repaired only allows that problem to get worse.


What a group ! Three of us needing orthopedic surgery. Did Manda have her knee tendon fixed yet ?



I waited much too long to have my right shoulder repaired. I have reported the problem to several doctors and never got a good response, finally I am on my way to have it repaired this friday in Flagstaff. The recovery period is what worries me. How will I manage not using my right arm ? I am not to adept with the left arm !

I totally understand the right hand thing!  I am so very right-handed it makes it hard to do things from the opposite side still using my right hand - I know crazy.  Get better fast.   Positive thoughts and prayers are coming everyone's way from my place in Eloy.

I am sort-a packed. My membership is still in good standing in the Procrastinator Club. I will just thru the rest in the car. MHC friend came over for last minute instructions. It is such a relief to be able to go. I am still worried about my girls. I can't help that. Dose anyone stop worrying about their kids completely, even if at Grandmothers? I know they will be fine.

I am bring 2 of my girls up with me. Sylvia will be staying however. So she is not all alone when she in introduced. I hope she remembers Angle, she probably will. I am looking forward to seeing what they produce. I would love a NN that has lovely yellow feathers and extra dark eggs.

Well off to dream land, a long day. Pay for dry pavement for my trip to Flowers.

 

[southerndesert]

Hi All, just checking in... Still have chickens and all is well in Morristown.

 

[Demosthine]

Quote:
She's having her knee done the Wednesday the 19th. It took us three weeks to get a date scheduled, but it's finally done. They are working on my paperwork for me being off from work, so things are all going well. We are fortunate enough to have insurance through each of our employers, so hopefully it'll be very inexpensive for us. God blessed us by guiding us both towards having the dual insurance this year and it will already pay for itself with this surgery, I think. One of the great many blessings we've received this year.

I kept wondering what your surgery was for, but hadn't seen you around lately to ask. I think the shoulder would be far easier than a leg, even if it is your dominant side. You can always use your other arm, even clumsily, but I'm sure it's frustrating to be unable to walk for even a week. For me, that would be my downfall. I don't do well sitting idle. I'm not sure I even sit through a single movie without getting up at least once. Or worse yet, a friend's Mom was thrown from her horse years ago and broke her pelvis. I can't even imagine the pain and torment that would cause!!!

Flower and Stynch, I wish you both a speedy and great recovery. You'll be added to the prayer list, too.

 

[AZHotChicks]

Just ran across a new (to me at least) online catalog with lots of chicken goodies!

They seem to have very reasonable prices. Might be worth a look if you need to do some shopping for your birds.

http://cutlersupply.com/

City Farm they also have bee keeping supplies

 

[desertmarcy]

Just ran across a new (to me at least) online catalog with lots of chicken goodies!

They seem to have very reasonable prices. Might be worth a look if you need to do some shopping for your birds.

http://cutlersupply.com/

City Farm they also have bee keeping supplies

I have ordered from them. Shipping was a little higher than some. Good selection of products. Not a very fast shipper, if you need something quickly. That was my experience.

 

[City farm]

City farm My chicks are very colorful and healthy. They are integrated into the flock. I have a diverse group with Bantam and Large Fowl mixed, a few with crests and feather feet and one crazy NN hen with very shiny green/black feathers and a beard. Her name is My Own Thing.

Anyway the teenagers from your broody are very nice. Of course they ARE ALL FEMALE !!!! ha ha The young rooster Angle from LKD is calm but does know that he is a MAN !
Can't wait until I have a broody to hatch out a few from my flock. The pretty hens are making pretty eggs again hoooraH !

Wow, all girls that is awesome... So glad to hear that.. We would love to see photos when they are older..

 

[Ivytwilight]

After months of waiting we finally got our new chicks, about two weeks ago! They are becoming quite the little social butterflies. We got 12 straight run chicks. 3 Spangled Russian Orloffs, 3 French Black Copper Marans (c1-c2 bloodline), 6 Blue Ameraucanas. They are all adorkable chicks, but I have to say my favorite chicks so far are the Orloffs. They are the sweetest little cuddle bugs. (I hope no one minds that this post is going to be photo heavy...if so I apologize. I am just so excited about these little guys.)

We used to have a rather large chicken tractor our 4 previous hens lived in, but after the coyote attack we built a more substantial coop/run. We have desert at the back of our house and sadly people like to dumb their trash back there. We were walking a few months back and found wood fencing someone just tossed away. It was quite a distance from our house, but I managed to convince my husband to help me lug it through the desert and into our backyard. (I'm sure our neighbors thought we were insane.) I only got one cholla in my foot during the whole process. Great success! I wished to use the wood to make our new coop/run. I wanted it to look like a little run down shanty shack...

This was the pile someone just dumped (Seriously some people!)
But one person's trash is another's treasure. I'm all about salvaging materials, plus for a little extra work it was free.

This is what we ended up with. I am not through with the decorations yet, but it is coming along decently. Well, for two inept people I think we did alright. I call it the Unruly Hen. I will eventually have a little chicken sized hitching post outside, and there is a sign post not shown I have made too.

Now for some pictures of the little ones, they are so cute.
This is our tiniest of the 12, hopefully a pullet. I have named it Nimbus.

The middle sized Spangled Russian Orloff. There are three so I named them K, G, and B...get it? This is G.

This is the largest of our French Copper Black Marans ( I love the fuzzy legs) Am I silly for thinking this is a cockerel? The other two don't have nearly the comb, wattles, or the size of this little one.

This is one of the little Blue Ameraucanas. They are very pretty, though not as friendly as the others.

I only plan to keep 6, at the most, out of the 12, even if there are more than 6 pullets. I am not keeping any of the cockerels. My neighbors loved our 4 hens before and are excited about these new birds, but I don't think they would welcome a rooster, neither will my husband for that matter. I'm thinking one of the Orloffs is a cockerel. That one and the French Black Copper Maran are the only ones I have my suspicions about so far. I will be giving the little cockerels away when I am positive they are male. If any one would be interested in taking any of them that would be great! I will also be selling (inexpensively) most of the Blue Ameraucana pullets at some point, once I figure out which one or two I want to keep. If anyone would be interested in any of them in the weeks to come feel free to PM me. All the chicks are handled every single day and are accustomed to our dog and cats.
I hope I didn't bother anyone with the overload of pictures. I just think they are all so cute, and having gone a few months without chickens I was going through some serious withdrawal!