Arizona Chickens

[redrocketrooster]

Right now I'm not in any trouble but my HOA sends cops not notices. The noise from my RIR is VERY noticeable and separating the two would be a shame. Better I do this now than to wait for their seizure and be fined.

 

[AZKat]

RRR: Its good that you're being cautious, but it stinks that you have to get rid of them just as you're about to get eggs.

Mahonri: I'm glad you worked things out with your neighbors. I wouldn't worry too much about the heat, it was pretty warm while my broodys were sitting and I think that the problems I had were caused by my poor management, not the heat.

The final statistics on the hatch, in case anyone cares: 7 out of 7 eggs had development, 2 quit early, 2 eggs had fully formed chicks but got stepped on just before hatch, 1 chick hatched but didn't make it, 1 egg didn't hatch, 1 chick hatched and is doing well so far. If I'd had the sense to relocate my broody at the start, I would have had 4/7 chicks on this hatch.

I've also got 25 sexed pullets arriving sometime between today and Thursday. since they'll be the same age as the chick who has already hatched, and the broodys seem to be doing a good job with their one chick, I'm going to try to graft on a few of the new chicks.

 

[newchickmom09]

Good morning everyone!
I think it sounds like most of us are on the up and up and getting better luck lately. This is great, it was a bummer to hear everyones sad stories, it's about time luck started to changes for people.

Thanks to everyone that suggested and was so willing to help me get chicks!

Tucson Tofu~ Tomorrow I am going to Pat's house to pick up some chicks. Thank you so much for sending me her link. The kids are very excited to go see all of the animals. I talked to her last night and she seems so nice and funny too. She said most of her BO were sold yesterday so she had Plymouth Rocks, Cuckoo Marans, Silver laced Cochins, Blue Andalusians, and EE.

These are all breeds that I have never owned except the EE. What do you all know about them or suggest. Also how do you tell the difference from the CM and PR if they are both barred? When sexing them isn't it if the white spot on there head is big it is a boy small then it is a girl or do I have that backwards?

 

[LarryPQ]

Good morning everyone!

MAHONRI- I am soooo glad you are working things out with the neighbor. Let us know if there is anything we can do.

RRR-I am sorry you have to get rid of you babies.

AZKAT- Yay for babies!

NCM09- Yay for babies!

My flock update: Things are looking ---dare I say it?---better? Only lost one 12-week cinnamon queen yesterday. The little ones still have red mites, so I lured everyone out with yesterday's scrambled eggs, and then sugar-cookied them with Sevin dust while they snacked. I also set up a "dust bath box" with 3/4 fresh dirt, 3/16 DE, and 1/16 Sevin dust. Then I uber-dusted the coop and run with DE this morning. Take that red mites!

Since I am disinfecting the coop this weekend, I will have to re-dust everything, but until then

Tonight Sommer is coming to pick up all her chickies *sniff* There are still a bunch of eggs due on the 20th, but current tally is 14 chicks. One got "glued" to the mat in the incubator, so I spent some time scrubbing him down & giving him some electrolytes. He's still sorta "stuck" in the glued position, but was alert and drinking when I got up this morning. I flip him over, and wrap him in a washcloth burrito-style (he can get out if he wants to), and put some mash in front of him to peck at. So far so good.

 

[LarryPQ]

Quote:
Thanks! It is a good thing too, because the turkey poults are officially too big to be inside. I looked in the brooder today, and saw giant snail poops. Noooo, my turkeys dont do anything half way.

SO, I am going to super-duper scrub the hot chick room, put it on the far side of the yard from the chickens, and get them out there. No more kitchen super-poos, thank you very much.

 

[squeakyballs]

I just went out to say hello to the chickens and the little leghorn chick is dead. Nothing seemed wrong with him, and he was still warm when I found him.

Maybe one of the 3 month old chickens picked on him? The silkies had done a good job laying down the law and I wasn't worried about them being together. In fact, the other chickens were afraid to even go in the chicken house with the chicks. I've locked them out just in case they were responsible.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Mohonri - So glad things are looking up. I hope they come to a peaceful conclusion very soon.

RRR - This is disappointing. I can say that for the most part my BA's are pretty quite.

newchickmom09 - enjoy you adventure today! My current wish list includes CM's. Of the eggs I got from Monhonri, they were the biggest adn very dark brown. I don't know anything about them other than that.

Tucson Tofu -

How sad. I hope the others do well.

Laree - Hurray for progress. Hoping things continue to look up.

AZKat - After such a disappointing experience with some of your hatch, it will be nice to have a slew of new babies. Enjoy!

I made some new waterers. I have two of the nipple waterers, but with 14 babies that can't reach them needed a better low to the ground answer. Cost of new waterers...$3 each. Capacity: 5 gallons each.

I don't have pictures yet, but I took 5 gallon water jugs, the kind from the water cooler that have narrow necks. These were free. Only one had a lid. When I went to Home Depot I saw that they had a lot of jugs and asked if I could take some of the lids. 2 lids - free. I looked at planter drip trays at home depot...they were $6 each and had bumps in the middle...less stable. Next stop was Harbor Freight. They had great plastic oil pans that were a perfect fit for $3 each. I sat the 5 gallon jug in the oil pan and drew a line around it with a marker to show the top of the oil pan relative to the jug. I drilled a hole in the jug an inch or so below that line. Then sat the jug back in the oil pan, filled it with water (with my finger over the newly drilled hole) and put the cap on. Ta da! one amazing waterer. I put bricks around it for the chicks to stand on if needed, but they are getting bigger so they can get to the water anyway. 2 of the 3 waterers leaked over time, so I taped the lids on with electrical tape. They are working great now. Of course, I will be on the look out for better lids. Anyway, I am thrilled. Someone from work gave me their "last year patio umbrellas" so I have those laying around with the waterers under them. The oil pan sides are high enough that the chickens don't poop in them.

By the way, while at Harbor Freight, I learned that they have a lot of new wood pallets which they are happy to give away. So we picked up 6. They said to come after Thursdays to get them. I guess their shipments come on Thursdays. I am very excited to have a source off free wood for my chicken projects so close to home!

ETA: BYC thread that inspired the waterers: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=357256&p=1

 

[macmama]

Well I finished painting my new extended coop this morning. We started off with just 5 chickens, then a couple went broody and I *had* to give them some fertile eggs, so now we're at 5 chickens, 9 chicks, and 6 babies due in 7 days. We won't keep them ALL... but I'm hoping to keep 5.

Here's our new coop... I need to figure out a way to add another perch, but at least there is enough shade and shelter for everyone. Predators aren't a problem in our neighborhood-- just the mean old sun. Sorry to hear about the bad hatch-- I'm hoping mine doesn't turn out that way but I'm assuming it might. This heat is pretty bad, and I still have another BO that keeps trying to go broody on me!

 

[macmama]

THanks! The main part is my girls' abandoned playhouse-- so those shingles are just molded plastic. DH extended it with scrap wood he had laying around and the extended roof is made of tinted plastic greenhouse panels, then I painted everything dark red (or it was SUPPOSED to be dark red-- it looks kind of pinkish, but my girls are big fans)

 

[macmama]

Quote:
I just went over it lightly with blue (just hitting it here and there-- starting at a corner and then brushing it a few inches with a sweeping motion) Kinda hard to explain-- but I used a 3" brush and only let some of the bristles hit the wood, not the entire brush. Then I did it again with white. The less the better-- I think I got it too covered in some spots but you can always sand it off or add more. It worked really well on the older pieces of rough wood and not so well on the smooth newer wood.

I'm planning on doing this to my big old wooden kitchen table, so the coop was my guinea pig.