Arizona Chickens

[ChicksOfHazzard]

^^^ Okay, so the poster is pretty sure that she was dumped for some reason. But it's seems she was almost certainly a backyard chicken because she said she was very calm and friendly when she picked her up on her walk. Anyone near San Tan Valley / Queen Creek interested in adopting?

 

[MagicChicken]

Hi AZ chicken folks. I've had hens for years but just decided to incubate. I don't have a rooster. I'm curious where you keep the humidity in your incubator at? And my hens do well in the heat, they have shade from a massive eucalyptus tree and the sprinklers go off. But what about chicks? They're due to hatch next week, then in the brooder for I don't know how long, the heat outside will practically be where the brooder should be. And are they more sensitive? I plan on keeping them til they're laying and decide which to keep. I put all the channels in the incubator with water to get 40% humidity but haven't added water and the channels are dry I think but the humidity still remains at 40%. Maybe the eggs are putting off moisture? Its definitely not 40% in the house with the a/c running.

When my incubator is full I have to run it dry to keep the humidity at a reasonable level. The eggs give off a lot of moisture. Didn't have runaway humidity issues when the incubator was only half full. I was using a ReptiPro 6000. Will be using something else next year - the door latch broke.

 

[mom-to-5]

The bird in the picture is a cross since the Standard of Perfection for Turkens IS A STRAIGHt COMB and she has a pointed type rose comb. Maybe she is crossed with a Wyandotte which do often go broody. I have Turkens mixed with Seramas and they also tend to be broodies. But from the information of the NN thread broodiness is not usual for Turkens (NN) unless they are not pure for NN.

I'm sure she is a "mutt" and not a pure NN, but she is the sweetest, most loving chicken we have. She stayed on the nest all night and has only been off once today for about 10 minutes so I'm guessing she is broody.
I put a food and water dish close to her so that hopefully she will stay full and hydrated.
I really didn't want to ship eggs in but I'm having a hard time finding anything local so I found someone in CA who I can get 3 of each welsummers, silkies and crested cream legbar. We will hopefully have at least 3 pullets from that that we can keep. Then give away any extras. I'm interested to watch the hen raise them instead of doing it myself...call me lazy I guess

 

[kacklinkelly]

Is anyone (probably in the San Tan Valley) missing their chicken? This picture was posted on the San Tan Valley Queen Creek Pets page of Facebook. She says she found it and is trying to give her away for free. However, based on the way that chicken looks, I'm guessing she belongs to a backyard chicken enthusiast. And probably close to wherever it was found. Can you guys network and see if she belongs to anyone?

Chicks of Hazard - I think this is so kind of you to go the extra step to try and return this beauty to her "peeps". I hope she finds her home or another good one. What an interesting find on a morning walk. I'm not sure I would have taken it from the area though. Oh, well - best of intentions.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

Chicks of Hazard - I think this is so kind of you to go the extra step to try and return this beauty to her "peeps".  I hope she finds her home or another good one.  What an interesting find on a morning walk. I'm not sure I would have taken it from the area though.  Oh, well - best of intentions. 

I know, I felt the same way. I asked her if she had tried going around to the neighboring houses. It seems to me that she must definitely be from a backyard flock. But she said she was very far away from any homes. I still would have gone around looking for a coop. I hope she does too though, thanks.

 

[brlracr624]

How big of a run do you guys have. We have 8 chicks and are starting to get materials to build a fully enclosed run. But I'm not sure of how big to make it. We are using an old fort as a coop. It is about 8x10ish and we will fix it up for them. Much cheaper than a new build yea since we are on a budget. But we were trying to figure how much welded wire and hardware cloth we need for the run since that isthe biggest expense.

 

[Timskins]

How big of a run do you guys have. We have 8 chicks and are starting to get materials to build a fully enclosed run. But I'm not sure of how big to make it. We are using an old fort as a coop. It is about 8x10ish and we will fix it up for them. Much cheaper than a new build yea since we are on a budget. But we were trying to figure how much welded wire and hardware cloth we need for the run since that isthe biggest expense.

A rough estimate is 4 square foot per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per bird in the run. Bigger is always better. If you have 8 chicks make your run at least 100 square feet to account for chicken math. The cheapest place I have found hardware cloth is wayfair.com. Their price is the lowest and theres no tax or shipping charges.

 

[kacklinkelly]

We only have 3 hens. DH built an A frame chicken tractor. It looked huge when they were little. Now that they are fully grown, it's just about right for the 3 of them. They have 8 ft x 5 ft covered run when they are not free ranging. It has also become a favorite hang out for our 2 rabbits when they are also free ranging

 

[AZ Turkeys]

If you don't have a rooster, I hope you are incubating someone else's eggs as the rooster is kind of important

I keep my incubators at around 55% for the first 18 days and then put in a sponge to get the humidity up to 65%. For turkeys and ducks, I raise the humidity with two larger sponges to 80%. It helps soften the egg shell so the little ones can break out. I'm in north central AZ where our humidity hangs around 30% average this time of year with our normal morning higher and afternoon lower. I'm running a GQF Sportsman and a smaller RC 50 as a hatcher.

 

[brlracr624]

Thank you we had original plans for an 8x12 which is 96sq ft so we will stick to that I guess. And I'm off to check wayfair.com now.