Arizona Chickens

[nicollee]

Beyond establishing regular pecking order, they're not picked on more than any other breed when a new bird is introduced to the flock. And despite being very friendly, these NNs also know how to stand their ground. One of my most peaceful NN girls has beaten up a few of my young and excessively amorous cockerels who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I have one little NN that co-habitates with my Silkie and two frizzed EE, and others who prefer to live with larger, fluffier birds, like my Australorps.

Thank you
for sharing your knowledge.... I thought that the naked skin, might seem a perfect target... I'm getting more interested in the breed.

 

[moms3cuties]

 

 
Just a drive by posting.   For some reason, I started getting BYC notifications this morning after a year of nothing.  My PM box is jammed with old messages.   I hope everyone and their birds are doing well!

Good to hear from you! I was wondering where you were. Hope all is well.

Thanks!  I'm still right here in mid-town, still have my birds and everything is well.  Well, my daughter did move to Colorado and that has been tough on us.  I've been spending all my free time learning photography, which has kept me from this place.  

Good to hear from you Gallo, photography does take a lot of time practice and money and then the repeat of the first two over and over! Have fun with that and enjoy! Still trying to work on getting my passion fruit Vine 2 bear fruit in a Eastern Shady spot. I'm a create another starter and put it on the other side of my house!

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

I have a variety of breeds since my flock is divided into pures, egg layers and meat birds, but my primary focus is the Naked Neck Turken. I've found them to be the perfect breed out here as they are exceptionally heat tolerant, very feed efficient, have outstanding temperaments, and are very easy to breed for specific traits. I've divided my NNs into egg layers, which average 5-6 large to jumbo eggs each per week and some of my birds lay blue to green as well as pink eggs; pure NNs, which tend to run a little smaller in size, have nice meaty frames, and still supply me with 4-6 large to jumbo eggs per week on average; and my meat NNs, which include crosses with other breeds to increase size and rate of growth. So far even these meat NNs are giving me plenty of eggs in their pullet year, so I've no complaints about them at all. 

I currently have pure Silver Grey Dorking eggs in the incubator (at least I hope they're pure), and will be working on them as my heritage breed with a focus on meeting APA standards.

And finally, I plan to add Russian Orloffs to my flock, but haven't purchased the hatching eggs yet. This is yet another dual purpose breed that purportedly leans toward being a meat breed...and I've read that they eat Fire Ants. In all seriousness this is the primary reason I want to get the breed. We have A LOT of fire ants on our property. 


I also have some Easter Eggers, Bielefelders, Australorps, Barred Rocks, Dark Cornish and Cornish mixes, White Rocks, Dorking mixes, a Silkie, and several crosses on my property. The only birds I warn against raising out here are the Bielefelders, which really aren't heat tolerant and tend to die of heat stroke far too easily. 

I'd love a chick that would eat the fire ants! Maybe I need to get 1 to see what happens if no one knows from experience on here.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

Oh my gosh I totally forgot to tell you XD

Thankyou so much for offering him, but my Ag. teacher said that we are going to save the room we have for a, wait for it....

brood of call ducks!

she ordered an incubator and is going to get a batch of call duck eggs to hatch in it, for a test run.

so as much as I would love another one, we just cannot take him at this time.

Lucky you!

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

WOW 
Thank-you for telling me about your chickens. 
The two of you have so many cool breeds of chickens...
I raised RIR and EE, quail and a peacock when I was a kid, 
When my kids were little, we had some mixed breeds a friend gave us... 
I like certain looks and traits of different breeds, but don't have the space for a large flock... (20-30 as a kid) 
I'm pretty sure Tempe,AZ limits me to 5 chickens, and I have 3.. 
I doubt my neighbors would report me, so I could push it a little, but no more then 8.
I'm pretty fickle about what I want; changing my mind every time I see a pretty chicken
I was content with my EE's ;  I thought about bantams, or French somethings,  
THEN,  When I saw someone post about Marans, and their beautiful chocolate covered eggs, I fell in love and really wanted one. 
Next I saw then Splash Austrolops,  REally anything I get will be loved..:cd ... as long as they can survive our awful AZ heat.. ... 

My bantams have done great. Cochin, Brahma, sultan for them. The polish have done good too. My crevecoeur seem a bit more sensitive, but mister helps a lot.

 

[DesertChic]

I'd love a chick that would eat the fire ants! Maybe I need to get 1 to see what happens if no one knows from experience on here.

So far I've been told that Russian Orloffs, Cream Legbars, and Delawares are all ant eaters. I decided on ROs because there aren't many of them around and I thought they'd be a fun breed to have.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

So far I've been told that Russian Orloffs, Cream Legbars, and Delawares are all ant eaters. I decided on ROs because there aren't many of them around and I thought they'd be a fun breed to have. 

Hmmmm.... Thanks. I'll have to look into those breeds. I'm partial to the not so common too for breed &/ variety in the case of Cochin bantams. Their little fluffy butts running across the yard makes me smile every time. So I'm hooked. Lol


Both the Creve & sultan are on the livestock conservatory list as needing help. I think the Russian is too. Not sure for the other two.

 

[nicollee]

So far I've been told that Russian Orloffs, Cream Legbars, and Delawares are all ant eaters. I decided on ROs because there aren't many of them around and I thought they'd be a fun breed to have.

See how fickle I am,,, just checked out google pictures of Orloffs https://www.google.com/search?q=rus...ved=0ahUKEwjwxNvrxYjQAhVJr1QKHdngDY8Q_AUIBygC


and now I think they are cool..... I guess it's good, I don't have much space, or I would have hundreds of birds, just because they are all so interesting.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
DesertMarcy used to have Russian Orloffs. You might want to talk with her about them before you get them.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

See how fickle I am,,, just checked out google pictures of Orloffs    https://www.google.com/search?q=rus...ved=0ahUKEwjwxNvrxYjQAhVJr1QKHdngDY8Q_AUIBygC


and now I think they are cool..... I guess it's good, I don't have much space, or I would have hundreds of birds, just because they are all so interesting. 

That's where bantams are nice, less discs per chick required = able have more chicks. Last that's my chicken math logic. Lol