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She looks a lot like my black australorps, but I suppose she could be something else as well. Do her feathers shine green in the sun? They are good egg layers but do slow down when the temperature jumps for a week or two...and they are all taking turns at trying to hatch the golf balls.
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Superstition Farm is a beautiful dairy farm in Gilbert.
They have tours, a petting zoo, hay rides, a boutique (called Mooster's Moo-tique) that sells fresh eggs, artisan cheeses, ice cream and tons of farm nick-nacks.
We love visiting them when the weather is not a million degrees outside! Their website.
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Superstition Farm is a beautiful dairy farm in Gilbert.
They have tours, a petting zoo, hay rides, a boutique (called Mooster's Moo-tique) that sells fresh eggs, artisan cheeses, ice cream and tons of farm nick-nacks.
We love visiting them when the weather is not a million degrees outside! Their website.
well then how do you "adopt" a chicken from them if they are just a petting zoo?
We were gone 15 days on vacation, came back and had out of town company for 9 days, and now, when it's time to relax, I find that some of my chickens have swollen feet - bumblefoot.
Many of my 9 month old pullets have bumblefoot (maybe due to my rocky yard?).
We bought them when they were just tiny chicks, and have loved being chicken owners. They've been totally healthy in every other way and we've never lost any due to predators, but now that they've hurt the bottoms of their feet somehow, it changes everything - trying to do foot surgery on them is just way too hard for me and I dread having to do it again.
See here for what happened yesterday; https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=217732
I have cut into the feet of 3 pullets yesterday (to try and help them) and don't think I can do it again. When I changed the bandages today, a couple of the feet looked better, but I know some of the feet still have the plug inside. I can feel it, but can't get it out - I try, but I'm so afraid of cutting too deep and it makes me naseous.
I don't know what to do with them now. My 16 year old daughter, who loves her chickens, is so grossed out by having to help me that she'd rather rehome them than have to help with this again. I'm kind of thinking the same thing.
Has anyone here in AZ had to deal with this? Any of you have chickens running across rocks with no feet problems (in case that's not the problem)? Does anyone here have experience and want a few free chickens to try and heal (my barred rock & 2 leghorns are the ones I worked on, but still need help)? There are a few others that may need help also (feet not swollen yet), but I don't think I can do it again.
They are laying great (9-12 eggs daily from 12 pullets) and acting normal in other ways, but now three of them have sore feet (with funky bandages). The 13th pullet hatched some eggs for me and hasn't started laying again yet (still somewhat broody with her chicks). I'd either like to give away the ones that need their feet fixed or pay someone to fix their feet for me (I doubt the latter is an option).
Some of the chickens have a tiny scab on the bottom of their feet, but no swelling at all. Do you know of this means I can leave them be? Did they hurt their feet also, but not get infected? I'm thinking of keeping maybe 6-7 chickens (instead of 13) and not letting them out to freerange anymore (since I think they're bruising their feet on my rocks). Their pen is a total of 150 sf, so 6-7 hens should have plenty of space.
In an effort to get some more ideas and insight I am re-posting my original post from a few days ago (I hope you die hards don't mind)
One of these days I'm actually going to be a contributor to this forum and quit asking all of you experts for new advice and help. This time its the homemade waterer that I'm trying to make. I used the learning center as a starting point:
So I went down to my local Home Depot (Power/Germann) and got all the parts I needed (side note - Jeff in hardware was the absolute bomb!!! Best customer service I've EVER had at Home Depot!!!) Rather than drilling holes all around the bucket (like the picture shows), I drilled 2 small 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the bucket, as I was trying to make it more like the litte 8 oz. chick waterer I used when the girls were just little. Once the whole thing was assembled I went for the trial run. It didn't really work like I had anticipated. The water just kept flowing and flowing and flowing and...well you get the point. The water flowed constatly until the water level on the inside of the bucket was lower than the holes that had been drilled in the bucket. So my question to all of you EXPERTS is ***What am I doing wrong?***
I should mention that I would also like to make this waterer a hanging waterer so as to try and keep the water fresh and clean throughout the day. Nevertheless, either hanging in the air or on the ground the water just flows out until the water level is below the drilled holes on the inside. I think the holes may be too high, but they are pretty close to the very bottom. Anyhow, any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
PS - The feeder works great! I got everything at Home Depot for a total cost of around $30 including 10' of chain to hang from the coop roof.
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Superstition Farm is a beautiful dairy farm in Gilbert.
They have tours, a petting zoo, hay rides, a boutique (called Mooster's Moo-tique) that sells fresh eggs, artisan cheeses, ice cream and tons of farm nick-nacks.
We love visiting them when the weather is not a million degrees outside! Their website.
well then how do you "adopt" a chicken from them if they are just a petting zoo?
I meant adopt one of these (Cochin hens), not one of theirs! Superstition Farm doesn't sell chicks that I know of.
In an effort to get some more ideas and insight I am re-posting my original post from a few days ago (I hope you die hards don't mind)
One of these days I'm actually going to be a contributor to this forum and quit asking all of you experts for new advice and help. This time its the homemade waterer that I'm trying to make. I used the learning center as a starting point:
So I went down to my local Home Depot (Power/Germann) and got all the parts I needed (side note - Jeff in hardware was the absolute bomb!!! Best customer service I've EVER had at Home Depot!!!) Rather than drilling holes all around the bucket (like the picture shows), I drilled 2 small 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the bucket, as I was trying to make it more like the litte 8 oz. chick waterer I used when the girls were just little. Once the whole thing was assembled I went for the trial run. It didn't really work like I had anticipated. The water just kept flowing and flowing and flowing and...well you get the point. The water flowed constatly until the water level on the inside of the bucket was lower than the holes that had been drilled in the bucket. So my question to all of you EXPERTS is ***What am I doing wrong?***
Thanks for the replies. Now I am wondering if it's OK to mix chicks from different feed stores in a brooder. IE: might buy a BO from one feed store and raise it with a few BR's from another feed store.
Good morning Arizona, So glad we got some rain and not just dust! My kids are doing great making it through it all. the only problem is getting the feeders wet, the crumbles turn into a rock. I have Hutches for them and they are to small to hang the feeders inside. I need to build a cover for the feeders but don't have a clue how to do this