Arizona Chickens

[Tracydr]

No rain here. Just a bunch of wind. Blew over my corn, destroyed my tomato shade. Have some chicks out today. They've once again found a hole in the pen where they can climb through. Can't wait for my coop, should be done in the next couple of days.
Has anyone ever raised Egyptian Fayoumis? They are the wildest chicks I've ever raised. Like trying to catch wild sparrows. When I walk past the pen, they just fly up and spook from one end to the other, making the other chicks spookier, too. Sure do tolerate the heat better than the EEs, though. They are so cute, wish they wouldn't lose the beautiful mahogany color.

 

[mclevinson]

Catch-up time!

I'm very sorry for the losses everyone has suffered this last week. Everyone here is hanging in there, although Lacey has stopped laying and everyone else has slowed down. Getting 2 or 3 eggs a day so I am still greatful. Got another one of those ginormous eggs yesterday, too big to close the egg carton. Should weigh it!

The last hatch is 3 weeks old and hopping out of their box so time to part ways, as we have another hatch due tomorrow-ish. I still have ONE Icelandic in the running, thought I'd "lost" the egg in the mix. It's either very small or it quit developing. Time will tell. 3 out of the 4 Marans eggs look good, and some EE's. The TJ's eggs I have half a dozen that might hatch. That's just wierd to me. laid in another state, shipped and refrigerated. Still developing. Science experiment.

Went to Bartlett Lake yesterday. Had a huge micro burst blow up with lightning, heavy rain and hail. And then the wind came and made twisted matchsticks out of our easy-up shades. DH is happy, he wanted to replace it anyway. It was exciting to be alive right then for sure.

Came home to misbehaving animals, lots of cleanup necessary today.

 

[Brenda Schonig]

Quote:
Welcome Tracy!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

mclevinson, I'm jealous of your Bartlett experience. That sounded like fun! Your TJ egg viability rate is amazing.

Tracydr,

and welcome to our AZ thread. Boy, it's hard enough to garden in the desert without the wind whacking your plants. Do you think the corn will stand back up? I had to look up Egyptian Fayoumis; they are beautiful and I like that they're heat tolerant. I don't know if I could love a flighty bird though. I like my girls so fat, sassy and slow that I have to nudge 'em out the way with my foot.

southerndesert, congratulations on the rain! Was it your first of the season? We got rain here too, about 1/4" with lots of wind, thunder and lightning. It was far too brief and I can't wait for a real soaker. Maybe today, the clouds are building and we have a 50% chance this evening.

Mahonri, sorry about your loss, but good thing it wasn't the one you first thought.

nurseshelly, I thought Elvis was a boy?

newchickmom09,

Good to see you back!

ArizonaDesertChicks, I'm glad you don't live closer, I might be tempted with those two cuties!! Well, I can't have roosters anyway.

I hope you find a good home for them.

 

[pastrymama]

Quote:
Tracy

No, I have never had an Egyptian, but I sure do want one! Do you have a pullet you'd like to part with? Sell? Make a trade?

 

[southerndesert]

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Yes first rain here since early April and it was welcome, now dew point up so a bit sweaty for us humans, but much nicer for our birds.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
Tracy

No, I have never had an Egyptian, but I sure do want one! Do you have a pullet you'd like to part with? Sell? Make a trade?

I could probably part with one. I have way too many chicks, since I had to order twenty five, got twenty eight.

 

[stevensonm]

This morning my one laying hen was being very loud. She is never like that. I went out and looked around and didnt see anything that would bother her. She quieted down and I went inside. She got real loud agian. I was wondering if she was just upset about the heat so I decided to wet the yard down. When I was wetting down the garden that she wont stay out of this gray cat took off. Thats why she was so loud there was a cat in her garden. The cat couldnt get out and I was hosing her down. She finally ran up our concrette wall and down into the neighbore getting hosed down all the way. Much quieter so far.

 

[smjacob]

Thanks all for the kind words. This has been definitely a hard decision and I may decide to keep a small few (maybe)

I want to keep a few but if i get rid of them all my father has offered to redo our backyard (lay sod and get the whole back yard all nice for the new baby)
If i keep any, the deal is off. SO that makes this hard.

I need to get some pics of the birds for everyone who asked about them and I will try to do that ASAP.

I forgot to mention I also have a few black copper marans that lay decently dark eggs. Not dark dark dark eggs but not bad most of the time.

So yea Just need to get some pictures.

Will see if i can this afternoon depending on if it storms or not.

If you do want quite a few chickens from me it may be best to come by and look at them.

The backyard is all torn up right now (i was about to redo the back yard when i found out about the client) but I am happy to show anyone the chickens and what we have.

Shaun

 

[constance]

Gallo and PimaChickens

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We couldn't have done it without your help. It was great to meet you, too, PimaChickens.

Gallo came to teach us about processing roosters yesterday in the early morning hours, and he was a lifesaver (ours, not the roos)! If we had been on our own, I don't think we would have made it past the first one. PimaChickens just came to help!

It was great, more hands plucking kept the process moving, and gave us some emotional distance from our little guys. Five roos in the fridge resting in under 2 hours, including instruction time and newbie delays. We are so glad to have the first batch done, and now we might be able to do it on our own.

Thanks again, let me know when/how we can reciprocate!