When I first started thinking about chickens in AZ I googled Arizona coops and yours was one of the first ones I saw (the one with the corrugated metal on it) and it always stuck with with me and was influential when I built mine. Did your coop page get lost with the BYC migration to the new system? I couldn't find it when I looked again. It's great to see you posting here!
Thanks for thinking of me. I've been gone from here for a long time. BYC got sooo popular, I found too many threads happening to keep track. It seems every question was answered, before I had a chance to offer any advice. I have several friends that are interested in getting chickens, that I thought I had better refresh my knowledge a little.
The chickens we have now seem to get by almost without us. We still haven't had any predator losses and the hawks still circle without taking an interest. The mules have given up trying to stomp the chickens. Chickens don't run in a predictable manner and the mules gave up. The incubator hatches we do, go just fine. Actually, the only unordinary things have been a blind rooster chick and an unknown cross breed chick that is the size of a bantam. I think she is a cross of Orpington/EE rooster and NH Red hen. Unfortunately, "Stevie Wonder" started attacking anything that moved and had to bet sent to freezer camp. "Runt Runt" amazingly lays normal sized eggs, she just doesn't lay them in a nest. We always find her eggs laying around the coop somewhere. She also has some sort of brain disorder, as she is fearless and will try to peck your shoes to death. She is the only chicken we have that you can just walk up to and pick up. She also could care less for the rest of the flock and spends her time by herself.
Egg production is doing well, as long as the ravens keep out of the coop. I couldn't figure out exactly why we were getting so few eggs, until I started seeing the golf balls around the property. Evidently, ravens can't eat the golf balls stolen from the nests and drop them in the field.
If you had followed the story of "Bob", the amorous Orpington rooster lacking in social skills (he was the one pictured in my little chicken tractor), you'll be happy to know he avoided freezer camp and was adopted by a nice family in Patagonia, that also bought eight young laying hens from us. I never herd from them again, but I'd like to think Bob lived out his remaining days as a happy rooster. His brother Kramer died last year, of old age.
We're well into our fourth generation of chickens. About a 50/50 mix of hatchery chicks and our own mutts. I have a broody hen sitting on a dozen mutt eggs, right now. We usually discourage broodiness, but did a head count and decided we could add a few to the flock. That, and give some away.
Our only old girl left is "Charlynn", an EE/Golden Laced Wyandotte cross. Named for a bitchey neighbor lady. Charlynn will scream bloody murder, and peck viciously, if you open the nest lid while she's laying (the hen, not the neighbor). That's why we named her after the neighbor. I haven't gotten an egg from Charlynn for about a year, but she is still looking good and the first one out of the run in the morning. The neighbor is not aging as well as the chicken.
My wife thinks I should change my avatar picture, but I'm still the same, so, the horse's butt is still there. You can take that anyway you like.
Thanks for the welcome back.