Arizona Chickens

[Tracydr]

Nice list Mikey. You're getting it narrowed down!

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Our friendly birds; Buff Orpington (most friendly), Silver Laced Wyandotte, Australorp, Cuckoo Marans, Ameraucanas, Silkie, and all of the Seramas. Friendly as in hop in your lap, let you pet them, don't run from my son.
Our not so friendly bird; Rhode Island Red (nice but flighty, doesn't like being picked up by our son).
Birds that like being picked up most; BO, Australorp, Silkie, Seramas (all).

Right now my BO and my Australorp are laying every day. My SLW and Marans are laying 3 or 4 times a week. And my RIR is laying least often of all (not how it's supposed to be). My Ameraucanas are not old enough to lay, my Silkie lays occasionally, the Seramas lay tons if they are NOT broody (almost every day).

Oh, my cuckoo marans is the least heat tolerent. Everyone else is doing fine with the heat.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

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We use the DE on all of our ant hills, we have found it takes a few tries to get rid of the whole nest, in the very least it makes them pack up and move the nest away.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Our friendly birds; Buff Orpington (most friendly), Silver Laced Wyandotte, Australorp, Cuckoo Marans, Ameraucanas, Silkie, and all of the Seramas. Friendly as in hop in your lap, let you pet them, don't run from my son.
Our not so friendly bird; Rhode Island Red (nice but flighty, doesn't like being picked up by our son).
Birds that like being picked up most; BO, Australorp, Silkie, Seramas (all).

Right now my BO and my Australorp are laying every day. My SLW and Marans are laying 3 or 4 times a week. And my RIR is laying least often of all (not how it's supposed to be). My Ameraucanas are not old enough to lay, my Silkie lays occasionally, the Seramas lay tons if they are NOT broody (almost every day).

Oh, my cuckoo marans is the least heat tolerent. Everyone else is doing fine with the heat.


My buff orpingtons are very standoffish; they just are not into people at all. All the barred rocks I've had have been super friendly. My langhan is also standoffish, but I got her as an adult; I've heard that they are very personable; if I can ever get a fertile egg from her I hope to find out. I'm thinking I need to AI--sigh. My bantam rose comb RIR is very friendly--quite different in personality than the large fowl feedstore RIR/production reds I've had (and will never have again). Brahmas are AWESOME birds, both largefowl and bantams, and the largefowl lay HUGE eggs. Very, very friendly, likely to hop in your lap and on your shoulder (even the largefowl!). Bantam araucanas (hard to find) are another awesome breed, but are not prolific layers.

 

[CaroleW]

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I have naked necks! They are hatchery quality though. They lay VERY well (even now), don't seem too phased by the climate but if you ask me - these are on the less intelligent side of the chicken smartness spectrum. I did a little test one time with a fence and some food. They were supposed to figure out that when you walk away from the food (food is on the other side of the fence) and follow tghe fence line you might actually find an exit and ultimately get to the food. The various breeds figured that out more or less fats - some just following others. Except the NNs. They did not get a crumb as they just could not get themselves to move away from the area closest to the food

I remember them being a little on the " slow" side, but I thought maybe it was just that I was comparing them to birds like my OEGBs and peacocks. Not really fair to compare a big, slow chicken to little game Banties or highly intelligent fowl like peacocks.
Nothing can be duller than the Cornish Xs, though. Since they will arrive with some Cornish X chicks and I'm also going to try some red broilers, they will probably be the geniuses in their class.

I think my Golden Sex-links are the same as Red Sex-links right? Anyway I get 2-4 (3 most days) eggs so far even on the hottest days from my 4 Golden Sex-links that were raised by a farmer type guy (he ordered them from a hatchery). They were never socialized like my others so they pick on each other a lot even though they have much better conditions in my backyard -none of these 4 have all thier feathers b/c they keep feather pickin' each other. They will all let me pick them up finally and they are getting over their bad upbringing. They are about 7 months old now and I've had them since May. They are not as smart as my others- takes them awhile to get into the pen when I have food, also very impatient- I have to feed them first before my other flock of 3.

 

[ca]

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Sounds like wanna-be naked necks

 

[Tracydr]

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Sounds like wanna-be naked necks

Aw, it sounds like maybe he wasn't feeding them very well before you got them?

 

[mclevinson]

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Sounds like wanna-be naked necks

Aw, it sounds like maybe he wasn't feeding them very well before you got them?

There is some feather eating with my 4 hens. When one of them digs a wallow and throws shavings over her back, another hen will try to scratch it and pick stuff out of it. They get plenty of protein, they're just weird.
When I first got them they were a pecking, feather plucking/eating mess, and mean to one another. Having more space and better feed took care of that.

 

[Memphisjourney2seramas]

Nevermind! I needed a number, but I got it.

 

[Mikey D]

Quote:
Our friendly birds; Buff Orpington (most friendly), Silver Laced Wyandotte, Australorp, Cuckoo Marans, Ameraucanas, Silkie, and all of the Seramas. Friendly as in hop in your lap, let you pet them, don't run from my son.
Our not so friendly bird; Rhode Island Red (nice but flighty, doesn't like being picked up by our son).
Birds that like being picked up most; BO, Australorp, Silkie, Seramas (all).

Right now my BO and my Australorp are laying every day. My SLW and Marans are laying 3 or 4 times a week. And my RIR is laying least often of all (not how it's supposed to be). My Ameraucanas are not old enough to lay, my Silkie lays occasionally, the Seramas lay tons if they are NOT broody (almost every day).

Oh, my cuckoo marans is the least heat tolerent. Everyone else is doing fine with the heat.


Thanks to everyone who responded! I really appreciate it and am gaining an appreciation for the variety of personalities these lil beasties can have.

Maybe I just get four of everything and start there?

(The Control tower would revoke my flight status for sure!)

 

[AZKat]

My Barred Rock, Betsy, has gone broody and I can't get her to stop. I don't want to give her eggs, because of how hot its been, so I think I'm going to order some day olds and try to graft some onto her, since MPC has their pullet assortment with free shipping.