Arizona Chickens

[squeakyballs]

NoSkiveez - I'm sorry to hear that! I'm glad you saved the one though. Silly chicken! Can you trim her feathers so she can see?

I took some pictures of the chicks today:

(they think my bracelet looks delicious)

 

[rufus]

I am sorry to hear so many folks are losing chickens to the heat. Shade, air circulation and damp earth will get you through the summer. Put the lawn sprinklers on timers to go off two or three times a day.

The higher the shade the better.

You can really do some creative things with those cheap blue tarps. Try to keep the sun off of the coops, but leave plenty of air space between the tarp and the roof of the coop.

Metal roofs are solar collectors. We used to have tin roofs on our house when I was a kid. I could spray the hose on the roof, and it would raise steam. It sure helped cool off the house for a while. I can't believe we lived so long without air conditioning.

My chickens love to hide in the shade of the citrus trees. I water them every day, so they always have damp earth to dig in. Of course they make a real mess under there, but it doesn't seem to bother the trees.

Only three more months until it cools down.

Rufus

 

[LarryPQ]

Good morning all!

My vacation is over. Back at work today

In other news, none of my birds have croaked in a long while...they seem better. My turkeys are officially too big for the brooder, so they are getting their own cage on the far side of the yard. (along with the chickens they brooded with) I dont want to deal with possible cross-contamination.

to chicken illnesses.

In random semi-related news: I hatched 22+ courtunix quail yesterday. Hard to count...they keep moving. They are for my friend Nick--sometimes you see his ads on CL for quail eggs. (The quail in the pics are ones I hatched

)

 

[Mahonri]

First patient didn't show... doesn't matter, I was up with the birds at 4:30... sat and watched the broodies with their chicks. The two week olds travel too much for her liking and she's constantly trying to round them up. The week olds loved being under mama when it was 75 degrees this morning. I'll have to get some pics of the 2nd broody and her 3 little ones.

 

[dede_pira]

Good morning y'all,

Our pullets are handling the heat very well!!
I believe I moved them into the coop at the perfect moment, when the heat was not quite triple digits yet. So they seem to have had lots of time to adjust and don't mind the heat as much now. (Corky pants a lot, but (s)he is the biggest chick)
I haven't had to turn the misters on for the past 6 days now and they are all acting happy and pleased with all the crickets, weeds and the new water fountain.
Now I bought that Little Giant water fountain that is automatic and installed it in a good spot inside the run. Thing is, I can't get it to stop overflowing. I think I have a leak somewhere.
Other than that, I added some old bed sheets to shade the run and coop at the hottest part of the day.

I had to move the 5 week old ones outside too even though they were very small for their age.
Only 3 are too small (2 red stars and one EE) and when they stand next to their EE sister from the same batch (Hedwig), she looks 4 times their size!

Question: what time do you guys close the door of the coop for the night? My chicks all know when it is time to go to bed in the coop, so I basically wait for them all to go in and then close the door, but I don't feel like I am the boss!

Also, Corky is looking more and more like a roo. Gorgeous white feathers with some black splashes on neck and wing feathers, triple comb coming (still light pink) and the tiny bump of spurs.

Should I sell him? How much do roos go for? I don't want him to end up being eaten, he is such a good kid!!

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Quote:
I have this response to many programs these days. Many underlying themes are disturbing indeed.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

to all who have lost birds to the heat. It seems more of a problem this year. I wonder if that is the case or we just have more folks sharing here.

ROOSTERS: I saw that some of you were having re-homing challenges. The voodoo use of pretty roosters was a bit much for me to take, so I think I'll avoid the CL route if I can. I know of 3 families that love home grown birds for dinner. I took two cockerals to one yesterday. It was a little hard for me to do. I kept thinking of something Laree said (feel free to correct if I misquote) about giving them a great life of spoiling until their time comes. That helps some. Mine have had lots of space to roam and plenty to eat. It helped that the mother of the family looked so very pleased when she saw them. I have one more that is that age and then an unknown number from Monhonri's eggs.

BROODIES: I gave in and bought a dog wire dog kennel to break the broodies in. The reports of birds dropping from heat stroke pushed me over the edge on that decision. The broodies were faithful in their nests but I worried they were too hot. They are now in the bathroom in their new cage. I was going to take them out for a chance to eat some grass this morning, but the first one objected loudly so I decided to leave them be. They have water and food and A/C so should be fine. Oh, the OTHER reason for the cage...I put one in the bathroom without a cage last week and she some how managed to turn on the water in the sink. It was near overflowing. I am still offering prayers of gratitude that my house was spared a flooding.

DISASTER PREP: Speaking of flooding, my insurance agent doesn't seem to get the concept of disaster insurance or flood or earthquake insurance. If you have any tips or referrals, can you PM or email me?

EGGS: much to my amazement, I sometimes get 3 eggs a day from my 3 non-broody hens. Pior to this month, has been a long time since I got 3 eggs a day. Yippee!

BABIES: The babies are about 7 weeks old. Some are roosting in the orange tree at night. I was so confused at first. I went out to check on them and counted 13 babies. I thought a cat had gotten one or something. The next day I had 14 again. That night I counted only 11 roosting in the coup. Then I found the 3 canary ones in the tree.

 

[a2ms4chickens]

He everyone,

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I actually took today off as well, so I have caught up on some rest, which I needed.

So far, all of my chickens are healthy and surviving the heat. ( we did lose a hen last week, not sure if it was due to the heat, or not). They are in a covered stable and my DS goes out a few times a day to make sure all of the waterers are filled up.

A couple of weeks ago, my DS's friend called to see if I could watch his chickens for a week, while his family went to Utah. I agreed but that meant that my chickens could not enjoy their screen in room, because that is where we put his friend's chickens. It has now been over 2 1/2 weeks, had my DS call him yesterday and he left a message. Just received a text this morning that he will be picking them up today. Not sure what happened to only 1 week of chicken sitting? Anyway, his chickens look good and one is even getting her saddle feathers back (was being picked on my another hen).

My chickens will be glad to get their room back, as they have been in 1 room with 26, 7-week old chicks, and I'm sure they get on their nerves.

I also have 2 broody hens and we put my DS's showbird eggs under them yesterday. So, hopefully, we'll get some Old english game bantams, dutch and RIR bantams in a few weeks.

Angie

 

[rufus]

Some how the thought of killing and cleaning extra roosters in this heat is not appealing. If you wait until the last of September, it might be easier. But by then, you will be dealing with the rubber rooster problem.

The best way to deal with an overage rooster is to kill it, clean it and let it rest in the frig for a couple of days. Then plop it into the crock pot and cook it for four or five hours on high. Don't forget the herbs and spices.

Let it cool and then hand pick the meat off of the bones. The broth can go into the frig, and then the next morning all of the fat will be on top. You can take that off and use it for smaltz.

Rubber rooster in red chili is delicious. Serve it with rice, potato salad and refried beans.

Rufus

 

[Sock Puppet]

Quote:
All I did to break her was keep her in a wire bottom cage at night and free in the yard and she was broke (it takes about 3 days with her.)