Arizona Chickens

[5pinkarrows]

Bob--super cute chicks! Is your water hopper a rooster? We have only had 2 sets of chicks. Both times we had one that was constantly on the water, and both ended up being roos.

cluckin'--CONGRATULATIONS!!! When is your hatch date? Hee hee!

Gallo--those pictures of your garden made me so hungry!

Becky--We once had a coyote attack and get all but one of my chickens. The one that survived lost sooo many feathers from the stress. Her belly was completely bald. Then, we got a silkie pair, and the coyote came back a few days later. I heard the chickens and ran out there. There were silkie feathers all over the coop, even though the coyote wasn't even there long enough to find the door. I think dropping feathers like that is a response to stress.

Speaking of silkies, we have a new issue. My poor oldest daughter! Every time we get chicks, whichever ones are hers turn into roosters. She loves them anyway, but roosters seem to hate her more than anyone. Both of the last two we had were hers and they attacked her every chance they got. Now, she has a young roo that has not shown any signs of aggression yet (he's a polish). We also have our silkie roo. The people that gave him to us had other chickens and the silkies got picked on all the time. They were at the bottom of the pecking order. When we brought them here, they were so sweet and gentle, and maybe a little thankful. We started putting them in the back yard with the juvies lately, and our silkie roo is attacking the polish horribly and not so nice to the pullets, either. I think it has made him a little big for his britches. He went after my daughter today! They are not aggressive chickens, right? I hope this was just a testing boundaries thing and won't become a regular thing. I had enough fighting with our first evil rooster to last a lifetime.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Quote:
I don't know, but I was thinking it probably is. I'm not the best at figuring that out, I just guess by how their tail feathers stick up.

Last night the water hopper was on the waterer and the second one that jumps up there jumped all the way over it and tackled the first one right off. It was too funny. Then, I thought I had 2 days till they were flying out, this morning one was sitting on the edge of there house.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

I got home tonight just before dark, just in time to see a hawk swooping into the yard. I think it had second thoughts after seeing all the roosters. Then went out to move the sprinkler just now, hear an owl hooting, and a bunch of coyotes howling just out of sight. Sometimes I think it's a minor miracle any of these guys survive when I'm slip in my vigilance.

 

[5pinkarrows]

It's a JUNGLE out there! Or maybe a desert. Either way, it's a cruel world when you are a chicken. Even your own species is always pecking at you.

It sure sounds to me like those two chicks are roosters. It will be interesting to see if they turn out to be roosters or just bossy hens.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
I'm not sure how severe it is - if your chick is having trouble eating and growing, you might need to cull it, but I know of others who have chickens with what I'd call severe crossbeaks and they are doing fine. Scroll down and take a look at Charlie on this thread I started - Charlie has a bad crossbeak and is even blind in 1 eye.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=356404

 

[DM]

I wonder what is after the hens. At first I thought it was the pecking order stuff or just cranky attitudes of 'get out of my way' but now i wonder if a neighborhood cat is around. These hens are about 2yrs and fully feathered and not that small ( Delawares(whites) and Buffs) Anyway it started with the wing feathers near the body on the Whites. I thought maybe a hawk flew down tried and did not succeed. this was last week. Now I see that 3 more hens look ruffed up on the tail feathers. We don't have a rooster right now so that's not it....could it be a cat? I thought after hens were a larger size cats didn't mess with them. What do you guys think? The chicks in a fenced area next to them had no trouble?

 

[LarryPQ]

Morning everyone!

I have two sizzle roos who need a home. One is blue without the frizzle gene, one is black with the frizzle gene. These two guys are my ONLY survivors from last summer's hatch when my two-year-old opened the locked-down incubator and started feeding the eggs to the dogs.

(I apoligize for sharing this story with everyone,--it was horrifying-- but I need to make it clear these guys are not for eating, if I can possibly help it).

Anywhoo--if anyone is interested, PM me. The smooth blue roo just started crowing yesterday.

 

[ca]

Got a question... I have three young black Minorca roosters and need to decide which one to keep. I am not breeding for showing so standard does not matter. I want a nice rooster that does not attack people or torture the ladies. But how do I decide??? One of the three has all his tail feathers completely intact. The other two are missing quite a few feathers. Assume he is the most aggressive (or quick?). One of the other two has a really distinctive large comb (almost twice the size as the other two although they are all the same age - about 9 weeks - and are all males). The one with the larger comb likes to snuggle up to the females on the perch. He seems larger in size than the others. So I was thinking he moight be the one. But this is just some wild guessing. Any suggestions? I would appreciate your input as I really don't have a clue

Is there anything else I should be looking for? Thanks!

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Quote:
August 15. It will be an interesting summer.

 

[Nuclear Chickens]

Bob's Henhouse :

Nuclear, sounds cool. A feather footed Leghorn, or a skinny white Cochin?

I'm glad you got some to hatch. The biggest white eggs should have been the Leghorns.

Bob here are the Pic I promised of the cross chick. Sorry for the blurry one.