Arizona Chickens

[Gallo del Cielo]

I am excited to announce that I will be a grandma again in September. Cooper (3) found out he is having a sister!

Oh, what great news!

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Barbarino (l) and Vincenzo (r) decided to put on a show for me this morning.







Almost jumped right out of the frame!



When all was said and done, they left together to check on the girls.

 

[UrbanPHXChicks]

Does anyone have any experience buying chickens from FFA or 4H kids?
I was naive and went to the Maricopa county fair for the small stock auction on Friday thinking I would just bid on and actually win a few pullets or hens to bring home. Boy was I shocked to see them go for well over $100 and some up to $500! So much fun to see those kids projects go for so much, but NO WAY am I paying $500 for a chicken!

Anyway, I'm interested in buying a few of the "losers" who didn't make the grade for the auction. It seemed the kids really take good care of them, most of the hens at the fair were quite friendly. Anyone know how I would go about doing this? Do you contact the FFA leader? Someone at the fair mentioned just going there when they release the animals and talking to the kids outside the show barn.

 

[City farm]

So an update on Boss Hogg. She got two doses of antibiotics yesterday and one this morning. She definitely doesn't like me holding her mouth open, but she's been pretty good about it. But she's already gotten her voice back, so the drugs seemed to have kicked in pretty quick. She never stopped laying in all of this either. But she seems like she's got a little more pep in her step too. She's our favorite, so I'm just really happy that it was nothing major and seems quickly curable.

Awhee, so glad she is feeling better... It s nice when everyones heathy & happy...

 

[City farm]

I have re-homed 2 of my girls, and my yard looks more empty. I miss little Tina my Leg Horn, I spent so much time just looking to see if she was still alive, and lessening for any commotion. She was so badly picked on. She could not sleep in the coop with the others, never layer her eggs in a nest box, when she tried to eat someone would chase her away, even if they were not eating.

But I hear that she is now accepted into a group, eating and enjoying treats. This makes me so happy. She was so stressed by being so picked on. I bought chicken diapers for her, but they upset her, she just collapsed on the floor. So I had to return her to the outside. Even Black China, the little Silkie is no wares close to being picked on when she was first introduced as little Tina.

Chicken drama, huh!!

 

[City farm]

I am excited to announce that I will be a grandma again in September. Cooper (3) found out he is having a sister!

Awesome!! Have you found a place to live that you like?

 

[City farm]

So we've had quite the adventure today. I came home yesterday and Our very sweet Boss Hogg had lost her voice. I couldn't find anything helpful on the forums about it. Seems it's happened to a few people but since she wasn't symptomatic in any other way, it was a mystery. I think I went into hyper-chondria this morning because I swore she was walking funny and I got really worried. My friend, who is a nearby vet and also has chickens, said to bring her in and she'd watch her until she could get in with Dr. Funk. She let Boss Hogg hang out in the treatment area and she was very popular there this morning (pecked a cat though). Btw, Dr. Funk is at Mesa VCA and works with a lot of chickens if anyone ever needs a vet. It's on Country Club and 8th. Turns out it's chicken laryngitis probably due to a mild bacterial infection, so she's on antibiotics for the next 5-6 days. He said she's otherwise very healthy, no parasites or anything like that. But she had quite the day, I think she enjoyed her day out.

Amazing!!! I do have a questions for all chicken holders.... aren't you afraid of your chickens poop on you? I know that birds usually don't hold their poos...

Oh yes totally!! Eeegats.. Yuck.. Stuff stinks.. But when it happens to someone else, not at all.. I have been wearing a black apron when I do chicken chores.. Now I am not afraid..

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Awesome!!

Have you found a place to live that you like?

Am going to rent Bonnie's house (LadyKotadoria)

 

[a little chiken]

Amazing!!! I do have a questions for all chicken holders.... aren't you afraid of your chickens poop on you? I know that birds usually don't hold their poos...

I have been pooped on by so many animals (including my own kids) I cannot even count anymore. What is way worse than chicken poop was when I raised dairy goats and I had to midwife them. Hand inside a goat for half an hour not so much fun. But hey that is what soap and hand sanitizer is made for. I even sit in my chicken pen so I have sat in poo too. no biggie it all washes.

 

[alohachickens]

I wanted to mention to AZ folks, I have this HUGE Aloha Chicken baby boom due at the end of this month! Maybe as many as 150-175 chicks? I want to raise a huge group to replace my current breeding flock. But, 150 is a lot for even me to handle! If you might be interested in raising a batch of 15-25 chicks in exchange for returning one or two hens back to me (at 3-4 months old when the color starts to show) please send a PM. Chicks would be FREE in exchange for getting a hen or two back. Typically only one out of 10 hens really "pops" for me anyway!

I also have two really, really special breeder groups at my friend house in New River. These are extemely rare bloodlines!!!

One pen has a pair of Buff Sussex that I drove to California to get. Buff Sussex are super hard to find. These were pictured on the cover "BACKYARD POULTRY" MAGAZINE - Feb/March 2014:

http://www.naturalark.com/sussex.html

(Scroll to bottom of page to see magazine cover.) This breeder's Buff Sussex chicks are $15 each plus shipping!!!! And he has a minimum order. So it usually ends up costing about $100 just to get a handful of them. I have only one purebred Buff hen, so the pen also includes a few Speckled Sussex and a couple other hens.



I'm actually more interested in the crosses with the spotted hens, so any pure (non-spotted) Buff Sussex chicks out of the Buff hen would be all yours to keep.

Mostly interested in a good rooster from this pen, and maybe one hen? (Especially a spotty hen!)

I also have rare "Cinnamon Sussex" rooster over small Aloha hens! These chickens are rare because they care the DUN gene, which is usually only found in Seramas and Polish.



Here is the breeder's web site that I got the eggs from:

http://cinnamonsussex.blogspot.com/

He typically sells the hatching eggs for $50 to $60 per dozen. This is a really RARE color to find in other breeds. If you are into Ameraucanas or Black Orps or other breeds, you could use these Dun crosses to add this rare Dun color to your flock! I have two chicks hatched with the Dun color already, which is why I'm now willing to share in exchange for getting a hen or two back.



I have an incubator full of eggs from these two pens. 42 eggs from these pens in development! I've had a hard time getting these eggs (turns out the hens were EGG EATERS) so this is the first time I've had a full 'bator of these eggs since these pens were set up last September! (Finally!) So excited to see what hatches.

Now that I have some, if the girls keep laying for a couple more weeks, I am interested in seeing if any good BYC'ers out there would be interested in raising a very small group of chicks from either pen? I would like to raise these chicks apart from the others, so I can keep track of the bloodlines. I'm going to have a hard time doing that if I've got a huge group of 100 chicks growing out here! LOL.

Hens have not been laying that great, so would not be a lot of chicks. Perfect project for someone who can only handle raising 3-8 chicks at a time.

PM me if you want some fun and UNIQUE chicks to raise!