Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

So my broody did not hatch a thing. Not one. I know they are futile because we had some eggs under our nest boxes and they had blood spots before we found them.
My other hens do lay in her nest. Im thinking of fencing her off with food and water for her and see if we get chicks this time.
Also the only hens I have going broody are not my silkies nope its my blue Ameraucanas. I read they are not a broody breed. Hmmm I have my second blue that started being broody yesterday.

Anyone have good stock silkies eggs for sale in Tucson area?

The blood spot is not a sign of fertility.. The white bullseye is the sign.. When ever we crack open the eggs for dinner I count how many are fertile to the total.. We are about %90 fertile.. However our roo Clark Kent Jr. Is leaving this evening...
If you are at day 21-25 put baby chicks under her this evening or ASAP.. that is what I would do.. Keep us posted..

 

[City farm]

I think the hens that I'm fostering for Bonnie have taken a liking to my house.  They're nice and comfortable, plus at least two of them started laying in the nesting box today, rather than making a nest underneath the oleanders.  Her last person that was going take the girls fell through, so I'll have them longer.  I'm starting the fermented food this weekend and ordered a bag of the Big Sky for June.  It's so nice being able to toss all the food scraps out to them again and get fresh eggs.  Woohoo.

So good to hear!!

 

[City farm]

Happy Memorial Day everyone and thank you all who have served.


My grils are doing good. They don't lay as much as last year. Last summer, I was getting 7-8 eggs per day (8 hens). This year I have gotten between 1-7 per day with mostly 4-5 every day.
I brewed a batch of peach farmhouse style ale yesterday. As usual, I gave the girls the spent grain. It's gone already, all 15#.

Our family still wish's you were our neighbor

& yes x2!!! Thanks for ya all out there + their families.. Glad you remember @MaddBaggins
We do live in a blessed country, thanks to so many others service...

 

[City farm]

Chick update....I was wrong...we have 3 that are hatching yay. How long does it usually take them to hatch out?

Oh yeah, that's great.
What we do is put some water & food close by for them.. The others will try & join in, but that's ok.. The Moma hen will tell the flock who is welcome & who is not.. So eggciting.. I do check in with her around 2 hours past bed time.. 9pm. Just to see who's on their way.. Then by 7-10 days I toss out the rest of the eggs.. By then she will most likely leave the nest for just a bit.. Each hen is different.. Congradulations

 

[MagicChicken]

Well a bit of excitement last evening. I was on my way out to do butt checks since I've been battling mites on some birds and lice on others. Now you have to realize that I often go out to the car barefoot in the dark. Well I doubt I'll do that again any time soon. Glad I had my headlamp on because there was a rattlesnake right in the driveway. Went back in for the gun and of course it was gone; so carefully checked the junk pile on the side of the wash and found it. I know I hit it several times, just not sure it's dead. Will be looking for it this morning.

On a happy note I found not one live bug on any chicken. Whew. Very glad about that, it has taken several months to get them bug free!

What did you do to get rid of the mites and lice? I've been dealing with both as well. Been treating for several weeks. The birds are improving. I haven't seen a live bug in at least three weeks. On the other hand, there are still a few nits on the bird that had been most heavily infested. Two more birds have red patches of skin near their vents that tell me they might still have active mites even if I can't see the things.

I've been using permethrin spray under wings and near vents every four days, and halfway between sprayings I've been dusting the birds with DE. I do it shortly after dark when the birds are on their roosts. Just curious what you are doing, in case my routine doesn't completely get rid of the persistent little buggers.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I keep the coop dusted with DME, I dusted all the cracks and crevices in the coop with 7Dust and I save all the ash from my grill and I have a spot in the run where it all goes, mixed with sand. Plus, whenever the girls are out, they take full advantage of all the little spots they like to dig and dust themselves. So far, so good.

 

[a little chiken]

here are the new babies

















one more has pipped just waiting on it. I have 6 more but I have not seen any signs from those ones yet. i also have another broody hen (another blue AM) and I just put 18 eggs under her. We will see what we get. I am eggcited.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Aww! Little peepers!

 

[mom-to-5]

So sweet! Thank you for sharing!!!

 

[NoSkiveez]

I agree, dogs kill just to kill. I've had some pretty wicked massacres out here. Dogs don't care if its livestock or a house pet (or your child for that matter) while they are killing everything. One of the worst ones I've had took out all of my turkey, most of my chickens and even my house cat. Thats pretty much when I threw in the towel and called it quits. I would have not been so upset has a bobcat, mountain lion or coyote been out here and picked off a meal but it was nothing but a pack of dogs having a hay day out here. Unfortunately when they were done here, they headed towards the next farm and killed 7 Boer Goats.

Loosing animals like this sucks and I am sorry it happened to you