Arizona Chickens

[gallopingfrog]

Quote:
Welcome to your new addiction!

And the best thread on the board!

You think he's kidding, don't you?

Nope, not at all....I haven't stopped talking about chickens for the last month. But this thread has been highly entertaining!

*sigh* I'll have to figure out what's wrong with pictures now....

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
You think he's kidding, don't you?

Nope, not at all....I haven't stopped talking about chickens for the last month. But this thread has been highly entertaining!

*sigh* I'll have to figure out what's wrong with pictures now....

You can search the forum for help with pictures on your page.
There are great instructions out there...somewhere.

 

[ca]

Quote:
Welcome to your new addiction!

And the best thread on the board!

You think he's kidding, don't you?

 

[tball chicky]

Quote:
Building nest boxes is fun! But even better is egg collection now. Before, I was always looking around on the floor to maybe detect any leftover shells. Now I just leasurly stroll over there, lift the lid, collect a load of sparkly clean, unbroken eggs and continue strolling. That was the most rewarding project I made for the chickens so far. If there was a summersault smilie, I would insert it now!

I absolutely cannot wait! for a load of sparkly clean, unbroken eggs!

My coop is connected to my "barn" (really just a shed with animal stuff in it, but I like calling it my BARN

someday I'll paint it RED ). Their north side wall is the south wall of the barn. The run, runs along the back, east wall of the shed. So the coop has full shelter from the west, south, & north but gets open air from the east and the run is sheltered on the west, but is open air on the east, south, & north. I'd take pictures, but it's ugly...about 3 different colors of scrap wood we'd been collecting.

Um...yeah...rambling...all that to say - I can have their eggs roll to the back & I can collect from inside the barn. Can't wait!!!

 

[nurseshelly]

Quote:
They don't need a heat lamp, but if you want one you could always put one in for night time. We used a board on the side of the coop and another inside to make a wind break and hung a lamp last winter. By the time they were your hens age they chose to sleep on the roost instead and ignored the heat lamp.
Having said that, my broody hen that has chicks on the porch is loving the heat lamp. She's a Serama though so not as cold tolerant. They will have to have a heat lamp when it's under 20 degrees for the Seramas.
My big ones did fine even when it was really cold last winter without a lamp. I think with them all standing together it's probably nice a toasty.
Your run is fine size wise, but they do always love to be out. We put a metal mesh fence up across our side yard, and they get to range on the side yard. Which is nice because otherwise they poop everywhere. We have a pool too, and I would hate to find that one of my chickens was too dumb and fell in and drowned!
They will peck each other to establish who is boss. It only would be a problem if one is continually picking on the others. It should just be a peck here and there, and when the other hen goes away, the one pecking should stop. If one is chasing the others and won't stop, then you might end up needing to find it a home. We had two like that, first a Cochin that would pick on another chick and not let it eat or drink. Then we got an EE that was pulling everyone's tail feathers out and chasing everyone, so she had to find a home too, even though she was really good with my son. It's much more fun to sit out and watch your chickens when there is harmony in your flock!
Scratch is more of a treat than main food. I give them a few handfuls a day.

 

[Arizonachicken]

So my neighbor just came over with a cute little yellow chick with white wing feathers. Her son won it at the State Fair and she doesn't want it. So, she wanted to know if I wanted it, and of course I did, but said no. She's taking it to Mesa Feed Barn to see if they'll take it. I can't believe they give away chicks at the State fair. I can see the goldfish, but a chicken?? Really???

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
That's so funny! I was at Mesa Feed barn and they got a phone call that somebody was bring a chick in, from the state fair, that they had won it. I bet it was her.
It's probably a Cornish X, which really stinks because most people who would win one have no clue what to do with a meat chickens.

My chicken's are squatting, checking out the nest boxes and pacing the fence, squawking up a storm today. I think I'm going to be getting eggs soon! Had an EE who really looked like she wanted to lay, I waited but you know how a watched pot never boils. The Egyptians are really making a racket and the rooster is getting lucky. (I think he's too little to actually get the sperm where it's supposed to go) I lined the nest boxes with fresh lemongrass, hoping it would make them more interested in nesting.
BTW, the fresh rosemary, lavender and lemongrass smells really nice in the coop and actually lasts a couple of weeks. Makes a great nest material, I've found. Thinking of planting some in the runs since they don't eat it.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Quote:
That's so funny! I was at Mesa Feed barn and they got a phone call that somebody was bring a chick in, from the state fair, that they had won it. I bet it was her.
It's probably a Cornish X, which really stinks because most people who would win one have no clue what to do with a meat chickens.

My chicken's are squatting, checking out the nest boxes and pacing the fence, squawking up a storm today. I think I'm going to be getting eggs soon! Had an EE who really looked like she wanted to lay, I waited but you know how a watched pot never boils. The Egyptians are really making a racket and the rooster is getting lucky. (I think he's too little to actually get the sperm where it's supposed to go) I lined the nest boxes with fresh lemongrass, hoping it would make them more interested in nesting.
BTW, the fresh rosemary, lavender and lemongrass smells really nice in the coop and actually lasts a couple of weeks. Makes a great nest material, I've found. Thinking of planting some in the runs since they don't eat it.

The Cornish X makes sense. I don't know much about chicks, but it did seem really large.
I'm hoping mine start laying soon, too! I had one in the nesting box a while back. I keep hoping! We should have a lottery..."Who's gonna get eggs first!"

 

[Mikey D]

So I goes out to the coop this afternoon & bring some treats (you really don't want to know) and I usually have the two Barred Rocks hop on my knees as I set down on the edge. Well one of them just sat in the far corner & was not at all interested in getting up (7 weeks old).

Every negative post I've read here flashed though my mind - ticks, lice cox-a-pick-a-nose-sis, sour this, impacted that and stuff I don't even know about!

I went over and she didn't want to move, just lay there in a little hollow she scooped out in the dirt. She chirped a bit when I nudged her & when I went to pick her up.

Took about 30-45 seconds (a long 30-45 seconds!) and I finally got her to stand up. She was covered in dirt (I know that not bad, just messy) and after 2 minutes or so seemed back to normal.

What the heck - is it boost Mikey's adrenalin day or what?

 

[Tracydr]

Keep an eye on her, Mikey. Make sure she's acting like everyone else the next few days. You can check her crop, should be bigger in evening, empty in morning.