Arizona Chickens

[pastrymama]

oh shoot bob, guess you'll have to put that one in the bator. i called dh at the firehouse tonight and told him all about your ducks and pleaded to let me have a few. we'll see what happens.

thanks for the visit, my kids had a great time. one of the twins fell asleep when we got home and that never happens!

 

[leslierf]

Yesterday my little broody hatched out a cute little chick. After it dried, she promptly treated it as an intruder. She pecked it and kicked it out of the nest and then proceeded to stomp on it before I could get it. I held it and warmed it up, but no matter what I tried, the broody wouldn't let it near the nest. I looked at broody #2, who has only been broody for 2 days, and thought "What the Hay." I took the eggs that she had stolen and replaced them with the chick. She looked under her "skirt", chirped, settled down and started humming. The chick snuggled up and went to sleep.

This morning when I checked on them, she had not only adopted the chick, but she had also stolen broody #1s eggs.

Broody #1 is out of her "trance" and back with the rest of the girls. Broody #2 is being Mama to the chick.

The eggs will be on day 21 tomarrow, so I'll see if any more hatch. I not, I'll run down the street and get her a couple more day old chicks to raise.

 

[chillmiller]

well i figured id chime in from TONOPAH lol i still cant find the feed store on salome so i have to go to buckeye feed every time i *NEED* something other than that i found a creative/interesting way of houseing our desert flocks from becomeing dessert, all behold my CHICKEN TENT!!!!!!

the giant 70+' diamiter ring with a large tree as the center pole is actually quite amazing for a number of reasons

1. well where i am sometimes theres not a breeze (5mp or less) and well stagnant air is hot air especially out here (arizona where any rocks or concrete/asphalt pads) are constatly throwing off mass amounts of heat, witch dehydrates the birds ect. ect.ect . and while i could of figured out some way to make a breeze or move it to a better area i remembered this thing... thought right now it escapes me the name of it i was able to find a small like prototype style article about it but they do use these things in the middle east to make power , but im not interested in makeing power just getting moving that hot air and providing alittle relief for my flock ,
http://www.environmentteam.com/concept/solar-tower-giant-greenhouse-like-power-plant/ <<< the link if ya dont wanna read it basically the warm air climbs up the inside of the enclosed area to the center where the flight net is where it can escape thus pulling in more air at a very low slow not "drafty way" and it works 2 fold as at night the hot air is at the center where my roosting poles are thus helping keep my birds "warm"

^^ that was the long one sorry ,

2.the tree in the center is a more well " free range, but safe range alternative than say... a bunch of poles ( not that there is anything wrong with poles as i have rope tied around the branches inside to serve as more roost ) i just think the tree makes them happyer , and the tree also drops all sorts of stuff from it for them to play with scratch and pick at all they want and because its arizona theres tons of small rocks for them to bring into there gizzerds ( sorry crocks )


3. and the final one it has 2 gates on it so i cant enter from one side with a rake and clean up all the mess they make and bring to to the other side where i can open the gate scoop it all up with my skid-steer and haul it over to the compost bin throw some hay down in the center ring and nesting boxes fill the waterer.. feed and free choice oystershell bins and im in and out in about an hour

and the 2 bigest +'s i have happy happy chickens though molting , and it didnt cost me a dime

... the -'s well its a live tree in the center so it grows so i have to trim it from time to time and fix tares in the netting and tarp , and arizona is not to kind to tarps so eventually im gonna have to re tarp the whole thing ( i got tons of the stuff but to takes a while to string it all up) and the last one because its an open structure ( no "coop" par say ) i have to have a "grow out pen" for the we ones till they get used to the temp changes here in arizona mainly the falls where its awesome to alittle warm during the day but like 50 at night


sooo pictures then ill talk about my brooder and grow out pens then ill talk about my self bwahahaha

what i see when i walk outside

from the north side forgive the lack of hay and waterers/ feeders was filling them and the bale of hay i had for the center got used somewhere else , i have to get more tomorrow p.s the chickens are all roosting inside of the tree in the pen

soo kinda cool right so about my grow out pen its a mess as well it hasent been used for a while its not as nifty as that.. its just a shed with a run thats it and its ugly and needs to be cleaned... bit i have 2 or so weeks to do that so im working slowly

theres roost poles and nest boxes inside of the white shed and the brown shed is where the brooder is and some of my welding tools

and this is the brooder full of little ... 11 day old chickys australops and easter eggers and a mystery chicken oo mcmurry lured me in with the mystery chick

i had to rase the brooder up that high as thats what got the temp right after the first week for the little guys and gals and i know i have to drop the temp more so i hooked a dimmer inline ot the brooder bulb with pre marked temp settings for that hight that i pre calculated before they got here


and this is the goofy roo thats doin all the typing
p.s can ya tell im a florida transplant

dont mind the 2 year old date stamp that was taken like a week ago befor i set the time on my goofy little camera

 

[Mahonri]

Hey chillmiller! Welcome!

Nifty little desert setup ya got there...so we have what, 3 from Tonopah now? Cool!

The roos all woke me up promptly at 5AM this morning. It's going to be a very long week.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Good morning everyone. The weather is so nice. I had two cords of wood delivered this weekend in preparation for the bitter cold that is sure to come.

leslierf, that was a nice story. I'm glad your second broody adopted that chick.

chillmiller, hello and welcome to our BYC AZ thread. That was some creative thinking on your chicken tent.

 

[Lyongirl]

Well we got a response from someone who might take the 2 roosters so my fingers are crossed.

Bob's henhouse- if they take them I will be looking to buy two little pullets if you still have some. Would you send me some pictures of whatever you have?

I love that tent setup! It looks very neat.

 

[Nuclear Chickens]

chillmiller- Cool tent setup. I like it. Welcome to the thread. TonopahPatti and I live in the same area you do. TonopahPatti can give you directions to the feed store. Haven't been there yet. Sooner or later I got to check it out to.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Welcome the the group ChillMiller!

Its been an interesting day so far. My Marans is looking better but that egg still not passed.
I lost two chicks this morning. Hubby thought they got poop in their water but after looking in the coop, I believe they got cold. I've a Phoenix hen beating up the other hens in her pen. I have a bloody hen in a crate. I've kicked all my broody Silkies out of their pen. I'm moving my frizzles all around.

 

[Mahonri]

NoSkiveez...shucks... how old were the chicks you lost?

The polish have learned to drink from my waterers and eat from my hanging feeders. good thing. My half polish roo is trying to mate them...and I don't think they are ready. I'm ready to rehome him. Anyone want a GORGEOUS Policauna roo? He truly is beautiful.

My Marans gave me 6 eggs yesterday. Anyone want to purchase the one that only gives me two a week?

My Ams gave me 3 yesterday... so 9 isn't bad.

3 Marans eggs so far today.

It's going to be a LONG week.... my patient from Maine missed her connecting flight and so she cancelled her 2 HOUR appointment for this morning... I was not happy.

Time for some lunch.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Mahonri - they were young. Maybe 10 days old. I lost two yesterday as well. They were the smallest in the brooder. The others are about 3 weeks and I think they just got cold. I have a heat lamp but it only has a 90 watt bulb so I think its getting time to pull out my big bulbs.

My Orpington rooster beat the snot out of a silkie this morning and she ended up dying. I'm still pretty upset about that. My Phoenix hen will go back to the coop tonight. I will probably put her in the other Phoenix pen. Those girls seem less "opinionated". I kicked my broody Silkies out of their pen and wa-la no more broody. I think I already said that. I've put some hanging style feeders in the coop. They are on the ground, I will hang them tomorrow. I will have to pick them up tonight.

I'm thinking I may thin more chickens out of my flock. I still have a few breeds I'm not super attached to. I'm not sure how many yet. I'm thinking all of Houdans, the WCBlack Polish roo, a few Appenzeller Spitzhauben, more Silver laced Wyandottes that are close to laying, lots of silkie chicks.

Good news, my cuckoo marans might have passed that egg. I was looking thru her bedding and found some yucky stuff and think she ate it or most of it and she's gond to the bathroom. I hope it doesn't happen to her again. She still seems weak but doesn't appear to be in the verge of death now.