Arizona Chickens

[igorsMistress]

Dina is not molting yet! That poor girl is still barebacked and giving eggs the only layer right now. It's funny I observe in this chicken family headed by Mr. Roo Bubu, that laying eggs is a huge deal to them. He often helps nest, he cries with them, and goes running to the hen that just announced her lay, I think for that reason Dina has opted to keep laying seeing how she's Roos number one gal and why lately Roo seems cross with a couple of the girls who are fluffily feathered and haven't layed yet lol

I'm sorry, you're so darn cute! Mr. Roo Bubu and his hormones
Oh geez, that reminds me of my big boy Emmett.

@BlueBaby the little black roo tried mounting my Australorp girl the other day. She whipped him once with a wing and scolded him, then chased him for good measure

 

[BlueBaby]

@BlueBaby the little black roo tried mounting my Australorp girl the other day. She whipped him once with a wing and scolded him, then chased him for good measure

Hey, he's just trying to do the roo think and keep the species going!

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of another hatching here with 6 green eggs from this NN/Easter egger mixed hen and my Blue Australorp rooster as the daddy. So far 2 of the eggs have hatched. The first chick is a dark gray and has a feathered neck, and the second chick is black and is a NN.

 

[Bobby Basham]

You can actually add the grit to feed dish, or put it in a separate dish...as long as they see it and show curiosity, they'll eventually start pecking at it and eating it. I often mix my chicks' wet feed and then pour the grit in a small pile in the middle of the feed dish. They typically alternate between pecking at the food and eating the grit, and eventually will start kicking it throughout the broody because that's what they do.

DesertChic, a few nights ago, I added some warm water to their regular feed, making a mash, and they went BALLISTIC! Like they haven't eaten in days. I've laid off all the no-no's for them until they get older. This seems to be safer than introducing anything else into their diet.

 

[Bobby Basham]

@alohachickens, Have you posted a live demonstration on You-Tube with them running around the yard, or a few lap chickens and give an explanation on why your strain is so special and rare?

Have you contacted any of the major hatcheries to get their interest in taking on your particular strain? There's money to be made there.

This is not your typical chicken, and surprised that some did not jump on the bandwagon to procreate the species. Of course, like I said before, many have their own ongoing breeding projects, and can't handle any more, but there may be some experienced and/or wanna-be breeders out there to take on a challenge.

Don't give up, and I believe your work is not in vain. --BB

 

[DesertChic]

DesertChic, a few nights ago, I added some warm water to their regular feed, making a mash, and they went BALLISTIC! Like they haven't eaten in days. I've laid off all the no-no's for them until they get older. This seems to be safer than introducing anything else into their diet.

I'm not surprised. All of my birds get soaked or fermented feed beginning once they're about 3 days old and they love it. The wet food is much easier for the chicks to digest and absorb nutrition from, and it helps to keep the chicks well-hydrated.

 

[Tbarr334]

Saying Hi from San Tan Valley, we just got 6 chickens for our 6 little girls to raise. We don't know for sure what they are or exactly how old but the kids sure love them. We got a smoking deal on the older chickens they had that they were trying to move fast. We will be expanding more eventually, but for now we just have the 6.

 

[Salty Skroob]

Working on my Bunker - it’s not really a coop. Planning on it being more open air with nesting boxes and roosting bars. No confined areas. Hopefully it will not get too hot for them.

 

[MagicChicken]

Working on my Bunker - it’s not really a coop. Planning on it being more open air with nesting boxes and roosting bars. No confined areas. Hopefully it will not get too hot for them.

Depending on how it is oriented and how high/deep the structure is, you might have to put up dense shadecloth or solid wall sections to provide additional sun protection at different times of the day/year. But open air is definitely better than a stuffy, closed space. Good luck with the project!

 

[BlueBaby]

The 3rd chick has now hatched out. It's a blue colored NN.

 

[BlueBaby]

@DesertChic I just held the blue nn-Australorp chick in a good light and seen that it has a bowtie on the front of it's neck. I don't think there are many blue NN's out there, are there?