Arizona Chickens

[Suzyqschickens]

Oh my goodness. I am obsessed with these baby chicks!!! I think I’m gonna hatch more

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh my goodness. I am obsessed with these baby chicks!!! I think I’m gonna hatch more

Chicken math will get you, and you will become a hatch-a-holic in no time!

 

[Geckolady]

I am an earlier bird.. but Big Ben would be too early even for me!!

LOL, rarely do I sleep until 5 am, and he doesn't crow that loud. May be I'm waking him up???

 

[Geckolady]

So today I am working on disassembling the mini coop and reassembling it. I did a poor job the first time around, so the trays drop a lot of litter where they don't sit square with the frame. This is in anticipation of relocating them to my oversized waste-of-space hallway. It is the size of a bedroom.. but.. its a hallway, not really useful for much. Except chickens!

I have ordered an avian spectrum light for them since they will be farther from the windows. I will have two lights on timers, the spectrum light, and another dim bulb that will signal the sun rising and going down, so they aren't just shocked by light/dark.

I also picked up some pine that is even finer than the expanded horse pellets, and it is mixed with guar bean gum to make it heavier/not dusty and also helps it slightly clump (apparently it is a poor clumper based on reviews, which is great news for the chickens). It has no scents and is all natural, so I am going to give it a shot. If it works well, I will keep it and integrate the baby chicks. Otherwise, I will just wash some sand really good and use that. I don't think it is the best idea for floors that can scratch, so I am crossing my fingers on this other stuff.

The cochin chicks are turning out soooo cute!!! They of course have grown a lot, 5.5 weeks old now.. still looking like girls.. actually I am not even worried about sexing them. The males were obvious within 1 week.. seems like their comb starts so much lower on the face and is thicker, even before the color change. These two act like girls and are so cute. Some slight pink on the waddles, but the shape of the comb still looks small and straight.

I did see a post where someone's young cochin chick was scalped by the older girls so now I am worried about that. They are side by side still, and kind of copy each other -- when the big girls dust bathe, the little girls dust bathe.. when the little girls scratch, the big girls scratch. So hopefully that is a sign that they see each other as flock mates. But I was aiming to integrate next week at 6 weeks.

Sooooo.. I will post pics shortly. I want my family room clean and looking good! I finished remodeling my living room, so I am on a kick to get it all done now

Wow, you're really getting the work done! Nice!

 

[Geckolady]

No, but in the beginning they are probably like “what was that!” He is gorgeous, what is his breed?

He's a cuckoo leghorn. So are the girls.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

LOL, rarely do I sleep until 5 am, and he doesn't crow that loud. May be I'm waking him up???

Oh, maybe!! My girls stay super quiet until they know I am awake.. Then they let me know to hurry up and give them their treats! They are even quiet while my daughter is up.. I guess they figured out who provides the food! I can even sleep in super late (which happens rarely), and they will be quiet until then as well.

 

[CaroleW]

Barred Hollands and a Red Sexlink (there could be Cukoo Marans

too - I can barely tell them apart from Barred Holland pullets right now).

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Have any of you tried hemp kitty litter either for cats or brooder/coop bedding? I wonder how light and dusty it is.. the chickens will dust bathe, but i just want what goes up to go down, not airborne. I might try that next unless I hear it doesn't work well.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

I like how they are actually staring into the camera!!

Barred Hollands and a Red Sexlink (there could be Cukoo MaransView attachment 2393509View attachment 2393510 too - I can barely tell them apart from Barred Holland pullets right now).

 

[Suzyqschickens]

Chicken math will get you, and you will become a hatch-a-holic in no time!

Umm already had that problem. I had 40 prior to mareks.