Arizona Chickens

[gckiddhouse]

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So sorry. Wonder what's going on with those SS? Weird

 

[Mahonri]

Good morning y'all.

Got out early, fed and watered the ever growing flock. Nice to sleep in my own bed.

Time to get ready for Church. DD is croopy, I hate to take her and have her coughing all over the place.

Chicks are really starting to get some wings! The two polish crosses just look weird, and neither have any sort of top knot... Pics this afternoon.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

I am sorry to report that something happened to my "Kevin" pullet last night. This morning her neck is all messed up. She's still in there with her happy self but I am afraid Momma can't fix this one. I can't bear to go back out there and see her suffer like that so I sent Mark to tend to her. I really liked that silly little bird. Gosh I try so hard never to get attached but this one grabbed my heart.

 

[tofuranch]

Getting up this morning was hard....I know that I have two birds that I have to check on this morning. One of my Welsummers has an infection in her foot, looked up everything about feet and it wasn't anything I could find. She is up and walking on it. My husband thinks she might have been bitten by a spider. We have had a lot of spiders out and with the hot then cold weather, the spiders are hiding in all the warm places when it is cold. I even have a spider bite of some kind, not bad enough to go and do anything about it, It just itches like crazy...or she got a splinter of straw in it...caring for the animals is a full time job some days.

The other chicken...well I think that she is just getting old and slowing down. She is one of my oldest chickens. I bet that she is just fine, I just notice things fast.

I hope that everyone has a great day out there in AZ

 

[LarryPQ]

Good morning everyone. Lots to do today: the DH was nice & let me sleep in---but then he fell asleep on the couch and the toddler spent the morning eptying every drawer and cabinet in the house

BUSY BUSY!

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Laree - How interesting about Ocean's 11. Glad the bumble foot round of issues missed the "ick" list. Have fun putting everything away!
Nessa -

So sorry your special chick is struggling. Sounds like good news on the rest. Keep in their with the walking.
Tofu - Hope it goes well.
Monhonri - welcome back! Looking forward to pic's. Sorry about the chick.
NoSkiveez - What a mess on the electric. Wow. I had no idea.

Update: Squiggles is still doing well with her 6 babies. She is taking them all over the yard area now. Yesterday we learned that easy going Australorps can fight if needed. A wind picked up and blew a plastic 32 oz cup off the small run right infront of where Squiggles was with her chicks. I have NEVER heard any of my BA's make so much noise or fly and attack. Never. She screeched and flew at that cup with feet and beak ready. Wow. Mother told me stray cats give broody hens a wide birth. I can see why. No cat would like that.

Jumbo is sitting on her eggs. She has been very good and has been finding her way back to the right nest. (I tried to move Squiggles nest and she would get lost after she had her morning break going back to the old nest. Good thing they were just golf balls.) I hope they hatch.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Hi all,

Just back from church. A few chores in the chicken coop and its off to Moms for family Sunday dinner. That means I don't have to cook! YaY!

Nessa - So sorry to hear about Kevin.

Laree - hope you get all that "ick" dealt with quick. Doesn't sound like fun. The mites definitely fall on my super ick list. I am so afraid of them showing up in my coop.

From what I have read they are really hard to get rid of as they hide in the cracks and crevices of the wood structures as well as being on the birds. We have had bumble foot. I thought I was going to handle that well, but it was hard! Lots more blood than I expected.

Shaun, the coop looks good. So the chick never did show up, hu? Strange.

Mahonri - can't wait to see pics of you polish x. Wanna see if they look like mine. One of mine was almost indistinguishable from the other W/BWAs and the other was weird looking. They just have tiny little poofs at the top. So small that you almost can't see them. Maybe they will get bigger someday?
Sorry about your chick. I hate it when that happens, too.

I have too many birds. Not sure what to do. Still want more. Very interested in those silver Polish...

So on the topic of broodies (CH2) -Ours (Penny, the BO) has been through quite a transformation! Last year, she was on the bottom of the pecking order. When she went broody, the others didn't like that and started picking on her. We separated her and let her have the chicks and then she wanted to rejoin the flock. She was picked on and then her own babies grew up to pick on her and the roosters subjugated her. It was bad. They kept her from food and water and her back and neck were featherless. She lost about half of her body weight. She was so thin. And she was so fearful. I eventually had to separate her with the only other hen that didn't pick on her too badly. I told DD that we would probably need to rehome her.
In January, you may remember, we had a pack of coyotes dig a hole under the coop and take 5 chickens. We were left with Penny, our beloved SS, Fiona, and 2 hens that we never liked. We rehomed the two nasty hens and it was down to Penny and Fiona - who doesn't pick on Penny. Penny quickly gained weight and feathers and an ATTITUDE! When we got the three 8 week old chicks from Mahonri, she let them know immediately that they better keep their distance - and they have!
She went broody again and has 5 babies right now. We were worried about letting her and them out with the 16 other chickens that are now in the coop. But went out one morning to find that she was out, and all the other chickens were huddled in the corners of the coop!!!

They all want out of the coop to get away from the scary angry broody!!

I love it! She is a woman scorned and she will NOT be picked on again! We are happy that she gets to stay. She is now at the top of the pecking order and she deserves it.
Hope you all enjoy that as much as I do... I just

broodies. I think, as a mother, I can identify with her a little...

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Some of my chickens and chicks have started sneezing - I don't know if it's the colder nights or what. I can't advertise them anymore until I see what's up (don't want to sell sick chickens).

Shaun - How are yours doing?

Lauree - I'm sorry about your eggs, the SS chicks, and the bumblefoot issue. At least only 2 of your chickens have bumblefoot - when we discovered ours with bumblefoot (from a bush that started dropping stickers), I had to do MANY foot surgeries -- no fun! What symptoms did your speckled sussex chicks have?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Nessa - I'm sorry too about little Kevin. I didn't think we could ever put a chick down, but had to do it a couple times last fall. I had my husband dispatch a newly hatched, but deformed chick. Then, we had to put down an 8 week old - neither of us is brave enough to take one out at that age, so i looked up a site that had euthanasia instructions for animals 2 lbs or under - worked great - she went peacefully.

Mahonri - no more eggs (or chicks) for me. I have way too many as it is.

GCKiddhouse - I'm glad Penny is top hen now. She does deserve it.

 

[gckiddhouse]

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Chickentales and welcom to the zonies thread. There are quite a few new folks lately. Would love to hear how each of you are doing. Get to know you and your chooks a little.

Just jump in! We always have conversation going on!