Arizona Chickens

[Sill]

Funny story
So we hadn't been getting eggs for a couple days (only one hen is laying) we weren't worried because our hen doesn't always lay. But then I found an egg in the middle of the yard, little weird right? I just figured maybe it was a big birds egg. So its been five days without eggs, I've looked through the whole coop and run, nothing. I woke up early yesterday to slaughter another meat chicken, so im up at like 5:30 sitting on the porch waiting for the water to boil.
I have three dogs, one of which is a hound dog that lives outside. So I call my hound and she doesn't come, I don't pay any mind, sometimes it takes her a minute to get from the edge of the front yard to the back. But then I hear a sound coming from the coop. I look over and what do I see? I see my hound happily trotting out of the coop with an egg in her mouth! She had dug a hole under the porch where I couldn't see and was getting in there and stealing the eggs!!! I call her and she comes and I grab the egg out of her mouth, its not even cracked.
So now the porch has blocks all around the bottom and if the eggs ever go missing again, I know just who to look at.

No, not really. A friend of mine told me a story, when he was in Tractor Supply, he overheard the salesman telling some buyers that the chicks he was selling them would be good layers, but what he sold them were Cornish cross

If yours are sexlinks, remember that is a cross breed, so there will be variation. The hatcheries mix leghorn in the breeding to boost egg production and their ear lobes are white. The white ear-white egg, red ear-red egg is not 100%. For instance, Dorkings lay white eggs and their ear lobes are red. Ameraucanas and Araucanas lay blue eggs and have red ear lobes, not white.

Partridge penedesencas have white ear lobes but lay a chocolate colored egg.

Cross breeds can have a lot of variation. I have sex links and two look like pale RIRs and the others are buff colored.

 

[maryhysong]

I might go back to fermented feed. I stopped doing it because of Eleanor having sour crop all the time due to her pendulous crop. Now that she has her bra which works really well she hasn't had any issues and I could probably put them back on fermented. I'm having issues the past few months with wild birds eating the chicken feed. They weren't an issue at all last year. They are going in through the holes in the galvanized wire mesh. Yesterday I spent over an hour lining the run with green plastic mesh because I thought it would keep them out by making the holes smaller. I underestimated their intelligence. They quickly learned to use the door on the end of the run. Now I either have to get a treadle feeder or move the feed into the coop but I don't want the wild birds to figure that out too and have a coop full of little birds. Maybe they wouldn't like the feed so much if I fermented it again.

I had literally hundreds of sparrows eating my dry feed left in a regular feeder. Since I switched to fermented they don't show up at all. I feed adults once a day, in the morning, there is a small amount left when I go out in the afternoon to throw scratch but it is usually all gone when I go to feed the next morning. And the chickens love it.

Small chicks are fed three times a day, then after they are a month old twice a day until adult, partly out of habit and partly to make sure any body lower on the pecking order gets enough to eat.

 

[Twinklin]

I changed my chicken food to pellets and so I put the remainder pellets near where the birds lay near their water is my hens will pick any wild birds and try to come near the food. The second thing I did, was I had originally set them under the porch and so when I moved the feed near the water dish in the shade, it worked better thus far to keep the wild birds out.

Gallo in Tucson has a treadle feeder guide for making your own for less money! !

Its in BYC!

My girls are currently on pellets too. I switched them back 2 sacks of feed ago thinking the wild birds might not be as interested as in the crumbles. I was wrong. So I have a few things to try. Moving food to the coop, fermenting the feed again, and last resort a treadle feeder. I don't know about building Gallo's version myself. I remember seeing the plans last year, it's gorgeous. I'm crafty and pretty handy with tools but not sure I want to try to attempt that.

 

[FeatherPugs]

I had literally hundreds of sparrows eating my dry feed left in a regular feeder. Since I switched to fermented they don't show up at all. I feed adults once a day, in the morning, there is a small amount left when I go out in the afternoon to throw scratch but it is usually all gone when I go to feed the next morning. And the chickens love it.

Small chicks are fed three times a day, then after they are a month old twice a day until adult, partly out of habit and partly to make sure any body lower on the pecking order gets enough to eat.

When you say you "throw scratch" - so you mean corn scratch grains? Or do you have something else you use. I'm very frugal with the scratch right now with the heat - it was my understanding scratch would increase the bird's body temp?? AND what do you put your fermented feed in? I was thinking some type of tray? Right now I have littles and bigs so I guess going to a flock feed would be better as the littles could wander into the bigs feeding area and I won't freak out that they are pecking at layer feed!! Thanks for the extra advice

 

[Arizona Son]

When you say you "throw scratch" - so you mean corn scratch grains? Or do you have something else you use. I'm very frugal with the scratch right now with the heat - it was my understanding scratch would increase the bird's body temp??

I thought this was proven to be an old wives tale? Where is Mythbusters when we need them?

 

[a little chiken]

I use chicken starter fermented with just water for everyone right now because we have from day old chicks to year old hens and everything in between. I also separately ferment COB and feed 2 or 3 scoops with my feed. They also get free choice egg shells/oyster shells

 

[City farm]

In response to getting chicks from the feed store...
the best thing to do is educate yourself about what the chicks should look like.  There are pictures of chicks on some of the hatchery sites and all over the internet (including here on BYC).  Some chicks look a lot alike (meaties and leghorns) but there are differences in most.
If you have a smart phone, you can even check what they are telling you while you look at them. 

Yes, love the smart phone.. The 2 jungle fowel we got look a bit different from eachother.. We will know in 3 months what they are.. I will work on getting photos.. They are quick little chickens..

 

[Timskins]

What are you feeding them?

A layer ration and leftover veggies and fruit.

 

[City farm]

Anybody care to help me with fermented feed?

I have about a 3 gallon bucket and have it maybe a 1/4 of the way up the bucket. Then I splashed ACV and topped off with water to about 2" over the top of my feed. This has been going a week maybe. It has a film over it and spells pretty ripe. I have molded it before because I sealed the top. Now I just lay the lid on top.

Just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Also my wife and I are looking into changing our living style for a while and it's gonna be quite dramatic. I wanted to put the word out there so if anyone in this great group hears/knows of something. Thanks ahead if time.

We're looking to down size big time so that we can save for our cabin that I'm planning to build. That being said we're looking into RV parks, Mother in law quarters, boarding facility etc that we could barter or rent fairly cheap with a minimal footprint to save money. I'd like to keep the chickens but they may have to go. We'll see. We'll have one dog and we're gonna really try to get down to the minimum of STUFF right now. Like no more fish tank, no metal shop and no more wasted space and cooling costs in a house larger than what we need.

This is the very beginning but wanted to put it out there. Maybe someone will see something or have an idea?

Thanks a lot.

We just add water that has no chlorine.. We start to give them their feed by day 2-3.. Sometime we add ACV.. But not always.. We are out of F.F. Right now, using up what Desert Marcy uses..

What part of the valley ??

 

[City farm]

What are you feeding them?

A layer ration and leftover veggies and fruit.

Do you have the oyster shell out for them? Also try deeper hay/ grass or whatever you use in your nesting box's.. A few could of broke then they were interested in the farm fresh eggs.. & or maybe not enough protein.. Once you get their eggs you could use their own shells for them.. Grind them up & add to their feed..
Add cottage cheese to their snacks..
Hope this is helpful ..