Arizona Chickens

[pdx2phx]

Thanks PDX and Sonoran. I guess I'll try the trim job tomorrow.

Why do I always seem to be trimming somthing or another off a chicken these days?

Wait until you start doing chicken pedicures and spa treatents!!

Our MFD had scaley mites bad (I feel so badly about it since I just didn't recognize what was going on until it was pretty bad).

We dipped her feet nightly in vegetable oil for a week, which was a massive mess since she has long feathers on her feet and long leg/hock feathers, too. She completely coated herself in the oil because of those long gorgeous feathers....

Suffice it to say that she is a dirty little hen right now, even after 3 lengthy baths with the original Dawn (I figured they used it on wildlife with the oil spills so why not.....) to try and get the oil out of her feathers.

The good news is the mites are completely gone, and her toenails are growing in better and the weird lumps of skin on her toes and soles of her feet have sloughed off. I looked at some of those lumps after they fell off and EEEEEEEWWWWW they were nasty!!!! I could see where the nasty little buggies were living in the dead skin.

. I felt like such a jerk for not realizing what was going on. She is much, much happier again. But still clumpy feathers and dirty from the oil...

Anyone have better ideas to get the oil out of her feathers than what I've been doing? Just keep bathing her weekly and hoping more comes out??

Good luck with the beak trimming, Mikey! Let us know how it goes....Twisty looks like a sweetheart and is lucky to have you tending to her.

 

[pdx2phx]

HELP PLEASE !!! If my chicken is not a serama then what other type of chicken could she be? She is about 3 months old in the middle pic. Then about 1 month old in the other 2. PLEASE HELP! THANKS!!!!

After searching the internet, i'd say she's a Serama. Search google pictures for Serama Chickens. She's definitely a Serama. Since she's perched then I think he wings and tail don't look like a Serama.

She looks like a Serama in the chick photos (although I am no expert, we do have a couple), but in the older photos she looks more EE-ish to me? Is she maybe a mix? Maybe it's just how she's perching in the photo where she is older?

We have a chick that is a mix between MFD and Serama, and she is hysterical looking.....short little legs and neck, long torso so when she stands tall she has a bit of the Serama pose, and feathered feet! She is incredibly lovey and sweet, and her feather coloration is amazing. Her coloration reminds me of your girl although you can't tell so much in these photos...she has a lot more dark streaks now. Maybe they're 'sisters from another mother'!?

 

[Billiam]

Quote:

Yeah, I see it now, "Control Tower, whadda ya think about breeding some flies? With dead critters."


That does sound interesting if you lived way out in the forest someplace. I would point out that the guy that popularized this approach to free protein has become more cautious about feeding maggots after suffering losses from botulism poisoning. The carcasses used to attract the flies may be fine, but if they are infected with the bacterium, Clostridium botulinum, bad things can happen.

I think that a better option, especially for us here in AZ, is to grow black soldier fly larvae (BSF). They are ubiquitous and can be grown for most of the year here. They also don't stink and you'll never notice them unless you take the time to carefully look for them. It's on the list of summer projects for me.

I was actually introduced to this idea to use manure and not rotting animals. I will have to look into BSF.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I was actually introduced to this idea to use manure and not rotting animals. I will have to look into BSF.

Well that would be interesting! When I checked out the video link you posted I saw this:


Could you imagine? All the larvae your chooks could eat!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't approve it if I were her! I have met your Control Tower and she seems to be a very reasonable person. Reasonable people do not deliberately breed flies.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
She looks like a Serama in the chick photos (although I am no expert, we do have a couple), but in the older photos she looks more EE-ish to me? Is she maybe a mix? Maybe it's just how she's perching in the photo where she is older?

We have a chick that is a mix between MFD and Serama, and she is hysterical looking.....short little legs and neck, long torso so when she stands tall she has a bit of the Serama pose, and feathered feet! She is incredibly lovey and sweet, and her feather coloration is amazing. Her coloration reminds me of your girl although you can't tell so much in these photos...she has a lot more dark streaks now. Maybe they're 'sisters from another mother'!?

I agree that the chick photo looks more like a serama than the adult. In general serama wings are held nearly vertically, whereas the adult photos show them being held nearly horizontally. Likewise the tail looks off. Stand the bird on a table and see if you can get it to pose while you take some photos (I KNOW that this si MUCH easier said than done

). Maybe from that I will re-assess.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

You guys have an hour or two left to get your bulk feed order in!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dFE5ellHOWhIcTRSSHFGekV6LUV1Ymc6MA#gid=0

Remember to follow his Paypal instructions to save the fee!

I assume it is too late at this point? I thought I might try a bag and see how I like it. Or rather how my birds like it. Anyplace that lists the ingredients for each product? I definitely like the delivery location!

 

[JohnSWA]

Next topic:

Please meet Twisty.



She has just finished a snack of organic layer mash and forgot to wipe her beak.



She is appropriately name due to her cross beak.



I am concerned that the tip of her beak that doesn't meet the bottom is growing into a hook.

Is this something that should be trimmed or should I just let it take it's own overgrown twisted route?

And if it should be trimmed...how?

*** Edited cause I haven't edited in a while because the new editor sux ***

LOL! Meet "Twisty", the Rodney Dangerfield of hens! LOL! No respect I tell ya!

 

[Mikey D]

Quote: You can try to email him.

Scott Brown <[email protected]>

He was going to finalize the order sometime this afternoon.

I'll be happy to give you a sample if you'd like.

I have the Layer Starter and will have the layer mash soon.

 

[JohnSWA]

We had our first egg tragedies this morning. I believe it was because I gave some bad cucumbers as a treat yesterday so I wont be doing that again. There was a lot of wet stools last night and early morning, but everything is normal today. It's no big deal because it was only one egg, but one egg was soft shelled and the other was the size of a quail egg! I believe the quail sized egg came from our 6 month old RIR who I haven't seen laying anything and I think it was her first and maybe the soft shelled one was hers too. I don't believe I have a problem since it's been a 4 egg day so far out of 6 layers and the shells are strong as ever. I always feed them quality food and mix in some oyster shell for solid shells. One more exciting this is that I got 1000 meal worms in the mail today and I'm starting a meal worm farm to feed my ladies some awesome natural protein! I can't wait to get this thing going full speed so I can watch my girls freak out over their new treat!