Arizona Chickens

[cluckin_crazy]

Anyone know how to change the name of a BYC page? My main page is just called "homepage" and that's dreadfully boring... .https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=45139-da-girls

 

[LarryPQ]

Yeah-- Just create a new page, name it something cool, and then copy and paste all the otherstuff into the new page.

You can turn just about anything in the homepage into a hyperlink to the other "cooler" pages.

 

[tofuranch]

Quote:
He's a smart cookie. I'll bet he already knows.... and is just smiling...

Well...my husband unloaded the new coop this morning out of his truck about 50 ft from the turkeys....he hasn't said anything..I wonder if he is just waiting me out,LOL

I tried having turkeys before and hated the ones I had--they were EVIL. The eggs wouldn't hatch...etc..many things wrong with them. The new one's I got were hatched by the man I got them from, they are sweet and stupid birds. I hope that I can get these eggs to hatch...I will be able to sell everything that I can hatch, I already know this. I had someone asking for turkeys today

 

[redrocketrooster]

Quote:
He's a smart cookie. I'll bet he already knows.... and is just smiling...

Well...my husband unloaded the new coop this morning out of his truck about 50 ft from the turkeys....he hasn't said anything..I wonder if he is just waiting me out,LOL

I tried having turkeys before and hated the ones I had--they were EVIL. The eggs wouldn't hatch...etc..many things wrong with them. The new one's I got were hatched by the man I got them from, they are sweet and stupid birds. I hope that I can get these eggs to hatch...I will be able to sell everything that I can hatch, I already know this. I had someone asking for turkeys today

The best people and animals are sweet and stupid.

 

[Mahonri]

Sorry, you guys get to read me thinking "out loud" and in public.

The thought that you only get 1 "gorgeous" bird out of every 30 that hatch really seems like low odds in getting a show quality bird.

I pretty much have confirmation of at least 3 dozen W/BW Ameraucana eggs I'll be getting around the end of this month. Hopefully more.

Kathy and Melissa are veritable angels. Kathy has the bluest of eggs and Melissa has some high quality, large fowl birds so it should make for a good breeding program. Now I just pray that I can hatch out a high percentage of them along with some of my own eggs... if the girls give eggs and the incubators will cooperate. I imagine that come the end of July, I'll have a bunch of wheaten roos to sell or rehome AGAIN... that or I'll just have to put them in the freezer. My problem is, I get too attached. Each chicken has a personality to me.

I wouldn't mind getting some eggs from Royce Van Blaricome in WA, or from Paul Smith in MO and also some from Barb Campbell... I forgot if she's in TN or OH... and she's been taken off of the ABC list, but I guess they are all related anyway and go back in 'chicken genealogy" to Wayne Meredith in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Royce has some nice birds but his eggs are EXPENSIVE! ($48 a dozen... of course even Kathy's are $30 +$15 shipping and the distance from WA to AZ is less than MD to AZ.

I hope to get some tailfeather (Royce) eggs for my 2nd Annual New Years hatch in December and perhaps I can order some from Melissa again and perhaps even Wayne would be in the running to send me some eggs or sell me some chicks. I have his phone number from the ABC site. I don't think Paul Smith is even selling them anymore.

I felt badly giving up one of my blue wheaten roos yesterday because his size and shape was real good... the best of all the young roos, but his hackles were all wrong and I knew he wouldn't breed true the way I wanted. The one I kept came from Jean's eggs but he is small. Even the gorgeous roo I got from her and am currently using is on the small side I've decided. So, I hope for a large BW roo out of Melissa's eggs and if that doesn't work then I'll pick the most gorgeous wheaten roo and keep trying until I get a decent sized BW roo that is show quality and out of a very BLUE egg.

It looks like it will be a life long pursuit. I want the perfect Blue Wheaten Ameraucana flock!

My FBCMs will simply be for "eye candy" eggs.

Thanks for listening to my thoughts. Probably should have posted it on the Ameraucana thread.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Monhonri - that was interesting. I didn't realize that your Blue Wheaton's were Americana's before. Also, I am not breeding so it was interesting to see another thought process. I have a neighbor that breeds pigeons. He is 80 plus. He says it takes awhile.

 

[cap1717]

Mahonri, I find your verbal musings interesting, as well. I LOVE the two girls you were kind enough to sell to me, they are the sweetest birds in my small flock, and Midnight/Blackbird has become my special pet. . . I love these Ameracauna's, and hope that next time I want to add to my flock, you will have a pullet or two for sale.

 

[LarryPQ]

Mahonri- Ditto to what Cap said. I read your post before I went to work this morning, and pondered the musings all the way to work. When you find yourself with a few ugly hens, let us know. I could always use more egg layers---I have been pondering too...My current egg layers are great, but now that I have had a few hatches, I know which outcrosses won't work for the Aloha project. I wonder what a BWA pullet would do with Patch...probably black? I dunno, sorry, I wandered off.

The point was I would be able to keep my flock #s down if all my laying hens HAPPENED to be good out-crosses. This is not the case right now. Some of my layers are just around for the eggs. The few "good" Aloha pullets I have are all young and not yet laying. As a result, my flock is twice the size I want...lots of mouths to feed. Once they start laying, I will have a few laying hens up for sale---but right now things feel crowded.

The Aloha F1s I have are not the best crosses either. Only 1 in 4 or 5 of the (Patch X Exchq/SS) chicks are not white & black, or barred. Even the hen Sommer just gave me is blue--her + Patch would probably just be more black chicks. So, those girls need a red or buff-mottled roo. The Patch outcrosses are looking great, but then you have another whole generation before they are useful.


Anyone know where dog run/pen I could buy or borrow cheap? It would do me a world of good to have a second pen...but the DH is a snob when it comes to metal (he welds) and I am forbidden from allowing chainlink on the property.

I know you can find dog runs on CL all day long, but the sellers want a lot for them. You can't imagine the lecture I would get for buying something so awful as chainlink for anything more than 'super cheap'. Husbands....

On another note, I had 13 eggs yesterday. 4 were little white/cream eggs--so either all the OEGBs and Sizzles are laying again, or I have a new (Aloha?) layer. One of the 13 was a second egg from the CM pullet. I found it in the dog house-- I wonder how long it has been there?

FINALLY- Both my OEGBs went broody, and then left the nest. In both cases, I marked the eggs. One of the broodies left the nest rather suddenly,--they were still warm when I caught her roosting--- so I put the eggs in the incubator. Of those eggs, one is still chugging along...but I have NO IDEA when it is due. I can't find my notebook and I did not find a post where I say "OEGB X left nest, so I stuck eggs in incubator". So...it will be a surprise hatch--if I don't egg serial-kill it.

 

[cap1717]

Hi Laree. . . I am also real excited about your Aloha project. . . those Swedish Flower Hens are incredible! That 's another one I will be wanting. . . in a couple of years. . . do you have any of M.'s Ameracauna's? Are they as sweet tempered as mine are?

 

[LarryPQ]

Quote:
No, and yes...I have a BWA roo and a FBCM roo (I think). They are like puppy dogs, it is horrible how cute they are. They want to be held all the time.

I say, "I am going to eat you!" and they say,

http://frtim.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/puppy-dog-eyes.jpg
or
http://www.bsideblog.com/images/2009/04/chris-brown-sad-face.jpeg