Arizona Chickens

[meetthebubus]

So glad the puppy is doing well, good to train them young, I had my dog for 6 yrs before having chickens so she views them as food and thus is on the opposite side yet still able to see them so she can bark at any intruders

 

[MagicChicken]

Nice idea but besides hard to separate they would miss each other they would of had to be separate from the beginning

It's more of a casual observation like the girls marshmallows been mating with have had a sudden increase in comb growth and redness, could be coincidental,
One thing is if the ee isn't ready until 6 or 7 months why is the roo mating, at 3 1/2 months

My theory is the buff is said to start approximately 6 months to lay but mine started at 4 1/2 months

So if the ee is said to start at around 7 month yet the mating and some redder combs are starting perhaps it triggers egg production early

So basically the answer to my theory would be when they start lay vs when they are said to start if there is a significant time difference of 2 months or will they start lay at around 6 to 7 months as stated in general

So either they will start in a month or have to endure 3 months of mating for no reason
Or marshmellow doesn't mellow and becomes too mean and ends up bunking with China

A few years ago I mixed two lines of black javas. My first line began to lay at 4-5 months and they were prolific layers. The second line didn't lay until 6-8 months. I regret having mixed the lines. That second line just doesn't lay as well and I haven't been able to get production back since I mixed them in with the first line. I no longer have any birds left from the original line. They are all some sort of mix. I'd eat them all and start over but I'm kind of fond of the individual birds so I haven't done that yet.

 

[DesertChic]

Question:
Do you think having a rooster speeds up the process for a pullet to start laying sooner than if she was rooming with just girls?

No, but the rooster will "tell" you when that girl is ready to start laying. Whenever I place a mature (at least one year old) rooster in with pullets, he'll essentially ignore or 'court' the girls until he senses that they're ready to start laying. As soon as he sense it he'll mate with them, and two days later I'll get the first egg. It's never failed me. My boys even tell me when my (former) broodies will start laying, as well as when or if a hen in molt is still laying or will begin to lay.

And in regards to your hypothesis about POL, my observation is that having young cockerels in with pullets may actually delay laying because those young boys stress out the girls by trying to mate too frequently without really knowing what they're doing. A good, mature rooster by comparison knows how treat the pullet right and makes her feel safer rather than on the cusp of being raped every ten minutes. I try to NEVER put younger cockerels in with my pullets. Those boys need to mature in a separate location until they calm down a bit, but a rooster will teach a pullet how she should expect to be treated, making her a more assertive gal when one of those young'uns gets the wrong idea about her.

 

[MagicChicken]

No, but the rooster will "tell" you when that girl is ready to start laying. Whenever I place a mature (at least one year old) rooster in with pullets, he'll essentially ignore or 'court' the girls until he senses that they're ready to start laying. As soon as he sense it he'll mate with them, and two days later I'll get the first egg. It's never failed me. My boys even tell me when my (former) broodies will start laying, as well as when or if a hen in molt is still laying or will begin to lay.

And in regards to your hypothesis about POL, my observation is that having young cockerels in with pullets may actually delay laying because those young boys stress out the girls by trying to mate too frequently without really knowing what they're doing. A good, mature rooster by comparison knows how treat the pullet right and makes her feel safer rather than on the cusp of being raped every ten minutes. I try to NEVER put younger cockerels in with my pullets. Those boys need to mature in a separate location until they calm down a bit, but a rooster will teach a pullet how she should expect to be treated, making her a more assertive gal when one of those young'uns gets the wrong idea about her.

If a cockerel has potential for my breeding program I will put him in with older hens, so he can learn some manners. The older girls set those boys straight pretty quickly. The cockerels that don't have potential for the breeding program get separated from the pullets as soon as they become annoying. Then they go to freezer camp.

 

[meetthebubus]

Marshmellow is scared of the buff girls so you all are right about the mature ones standing up to them and he has access to 18 pullets but doesn't try mating with everyone, only certain ones, I'm watching him though if he gets bad he'll go in with China but he's been doing an ok job so far mostly just being a bother to them first in the morning and right before bed those typical times a roo feels the need the rest of the day he's ok and even starting to back away from treat time for his girls, thanks for all the tips!

 

[meetthebubus]

here it is enjoy! everyone @igorsMistress

 

[igorsMistress]

@meetthebubus

Thank you much for sharing! That was my experience too for the most part. Until treat and feeding time of course, then we had another story.

 

[meetthebubus]

@igorsMistress thanks! Yes I felt so bad for the little ones as they got pecked while waiting for the treat they weren't used to that but what I try is distract the buffs with worms, the ee's dont like worms yet, and then do treats with the little ones, plus they know now to run from the buffs

Last night all the ee's went on top of the buffs coop to roost, on the top of the doors and roof, the buffs were inside it was funny to watch the buffs reaction, they were never jumpers or flyers like this

Btw May hasn't been as hot as other years does anyone feel the same? Hoping for a bit cooler than normal this summer!

 

[azurbanclucker]

I think it just seems cooler because we had that hot spike in late April. We're right around 30 year averages temp-wise. I'm more concerned about the total lack of precip this year so far all over the southwest. All it's going to take is some good lightning in the lowlands and we're going to burn.

 

[nicollee]

I've recently been able to let my silky terrier out in the yard with the chickens. Amazingly she leaves them alone and does her thing. I decided to try it with the puppy. He hasn't been aggressive but today he was a little bouncy and the chief was ready with wings and feet no one was hurt, Frankie is still young enough to be afraid. I'm hoping they'll get along though so am acclimating them now. He was most interested in checking out the yard, just curious if they'd play with him. ...
.

Dogs are amazing and can learn who the "family members" are.
When I was a kid we had a Schnauzer, when we first got chickens and ducks, she wanted to chase them, she learned this was not acceptable. Then the drake started taking advantage and attacking her, she was afraid to go into the backyard, my father had to teach her to protect herself, so the Drake would quit attacking her.
My current dog, a blue heeler, watched the chicks growing up and doesn't even notice them. He's like the three monkeys when it comes to the chickens, No see. hear, no bark.

Of course I couldn't help but torture him occasionally

• nicollee
• Jan 1, 2017

• nicollee
• Jan 1, 2017