Arizona Chickens

[cavemanrich]

We get items from Amazon, and other online places,, like eBay. They always update expected delivery. Since I'm home during day, I watch for the deliveries to arrive. Never lost any packages yet.
I know theft of MAIL, can get you into Sing Sing , or Folsom . Not sure penalty for Amazon packages carries same penalty.
It should

 

[EmmaDonovan]

This was a third-party shipper, not shipped by Amazon, so there was no notification of a delivery time. I bought it from the Scratch and Peck Feeds Store at Amazon so I figured it'd be shipped by Amazon like the other Scratch and Peck products are, but apparently not.

There's an enormous Amazon sorting center near the Tucson airport. We usually get packages very fast - often the same day - but they're not always shipped by Amazon.

I wish they would tell you in the item listing when it is not shipped by Amazon but maybe they don't always know that ahead of time and it just ships from wherever.

Amazon said since it was a third party shipper they couldn't replace it but they did give me a refund, so there's that.

I mean "Kug?" Really? Is that a Klingon name?

 

[cavemanrich]

but they did give me a refund, so there's that.

 

[City farm]

Hay, ya' all our girls are slow in sharing. But.. we are having a fun event here tomorrow about
Learn your seeds. It is for our non-profit organization and all the Garden Exchange Stands in Arizona.
I have a fun new garden bed that will hang from the wall, inside their run.
We have one event here tomorrow afternoon and one potluck the next Sunday.

Check our website or message me for details. (but message me, would be best)
Freeplantngardenstands.org

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Saw a tiny cactus mouse in the coop via the camera. I went in to catch him but he ran out past me.

I poked around the coop and surprise, surprise: there was a comfy little nest in the bricks the waterer sits on, and in that nest was a second little mouse... a very pregnant little mouse.

I would have simply relocated her but she jumped out from the nest and started taking laps around the coop. All the hens and I tried to grab her as she ran past but she was too fast for us.

Finally she climbed up some hardware cloth and a RIR saw her and grabbed her with her beak. The mouse SCREECHED which startled the RIR and she dropped the mouse. The mouse ran and bounced and serpentined right past me out the door.

Well. Time to do some cleaning. I got rid of the nest, cleaned and reconfigured the bricks, removed most of the pine shavings while checking for any other little critters and replaced it with fresh.

I have a severe mouse allergy so this is not good news. I used gloves and an N95 and still ended up with an asthma attack. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt but there was a little bit of a gap between the sleeves and the gloves and I have a nasty bumpy red rash there.

Cactus mice are tiny (they weigh less than an ounce) and cute but they don't belong in the coop!

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Another cactus mouse in the coop today. There isn't any food there but there is water and it's been extremely dry this fall and winter. I guess that's attracting them, plus protection against predators (unless the hens go after them) and lots of soft feathers to line their burrows.

The skull of the cactus mouse has a zygomatic breadth of 11.2 to 13.5 mm (0.44 to 0.53 in) which translated into English means their heads are often small enough to fit through 1/2" hardware cloth, especially the young ones. If they can get their heads through they can get the rest of their bodies through. I chased this one and and watched him go right through it. I guess we're layering 1/4" hardware cloth over it and setting out some traps tonight.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Six mice caught so far, all females. None have been seen in the coop since we added the 1/4" hardware cloth.

There are tons of cactus mice in the desert, I don't expect to make any real impact on the population, we just want to discourage them from coming around the coop.

 

[Happy Novogens]

Hello all,

Looking for some advice. It appears it is past time for me to refresh my stock of egg-layers. Only my 2 younger hens are laying. So rather than getting a few chicks from Cal Ranch as before, I decided I will try to hatch some of my own eggs for the first time.

My question is if I need to do something with the eggs before it is time to load them into the incubator. I know this is really basic, but do I simply collect eggs daily as usual and just keep them indoors at room temp until I have collected enough to incubate? I was thinking of incubating 10-12 ? with the hopes of ending up with around 5 hens.

Is this correct? Any other suggestions?

 

[cavemanrich]

Hello all,

Looking for some advice. It appears it is past time for me to refresh my stock of egg-layers. Only my 2 younger hens are laying. So rather than getting a few chicks from Cal Ranch as before, I decided I will try to hatch some of my own eggs for the first time.

My question is if I need to do something with the eggs before it is time to load them into the incubator. I know this is really basic, but do I simply collect eggs daily as usual and just keep them indoors at room temp until I have collected enough to incubate? I was thinking of incubating 10-12 ? with the hopes of ending up with around 5 hens.

Is this correct? Any other suggestions?

Are your eggs fertile??? Just because you have rooster,, is no guarantee of fertility, BUT A GOOD LIKELIHOOD.
Gather eggs, and you may also choose to keep pointy egg end, down in egg carton. Keep on kitchen counter in room temperature. Try to gather your quantity in under 2 week period. Don't wash, even if slightly soiled from muddy chickens' feet. If heavy duty poop,,, then pass on those. The older eggs tend to not develop as well.
When your chicks hatch, keep all. When the cockerels do reach problem maturity, Eat them.
I know it seems like a cruel option,, but it is a reality. Cockerel/rooster still enjoys a good life,, with one bad moment.
I don't want to elaborate what hatcheries do.
Or donate to families that have no problem eating chickens.

 

[Happy Novogens]

Are your eggs fertile??? Just because you have rooster,, is no guarantee of fertility, BUT A GOOD LIKELIHOOD.
Gather eggs, and you may also choose to keep pointy egg end, down in egg carton. Keep on kitchen counter in room temperature. Try to gather your quantity in under 2 week period. Don't wash, even if slightly soiled from muddy chickens' feet. If heavy duty poop,,, then pass on those. The older eggs tend to not develop as well.
When your chicks hatch, keep all. When the cockerels do reach problem maturity, Eat them.
I know it seems like a cruel option,, but it is a reality. Cockerel/rooster still enjoys a good life,, with one bad moment.
I don't want to elaborate what hatcheries do.
Or donate to families that have no problem eating chickens.

Thank you for your reply!

I guess I can only hope that my roo has been doing his duty.

Hopefully my estimate of hatching around a dozen will result in close to 5 hens. I'm probably down to getting 10-12 eggs in a 2 week period anyway right now. And I suppose I can always do more than 1 batch if the results are less than hoped for.

I ordered the Chickcozy incubator which can handle up to 25 eggs. Once it arrives I'll be testing it sans eggs.

thanks again!