First time chicken mama in AZ

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Defiantly check out our learning center. TONS of great info there!

Chickens are fairly easy to care for. Just make sure they have food, water, shelter and protection.
 
Welcome! I am new also (to BYC not raising chickens lol) I am still learning so much from all these guys. Everyone always has something you haven't thought of! It's great!
 
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Welcome to BYC!!! There are loads of members on here…so if you have ANY questions…just ASK!!!

Hope you have loads of fun and all your answers answered here on BYC the BEST CHICKEN KEEPING FORUM on EARTH!

Going here, will help you get around BYC!!! Has loads of info on how to get around the site!

How to insert pictures on BYC!!!!

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You guys are all so helpful and nice! Thanks for the great tips - I will definitely use them as the weather starts to heat up. Yesterday turned out to be a super stressful chicken day, as we ended up taking half our flock back to the breeder because they were roosters! I was watching for it, as they were pretty much straight run, and I definitely had my suspicions that they were too mature for their age (comb, wattles, coloring, feathering), and the small one was just acting like a cockerel, but I am so grateful that I was able to post pictures and get confirmation from those that are more experience than me!!!

Anyways, the guy we got them from had said to bring back any roosters, as he was wanting one or two new ones anyways, and he was super nice about trading them out for 4 *hopefully* pullets. I definitely used all of the tips, tricks, and advice I have learned lately to try to pick hens. We'll see in a few weeks how I did :) The new ones are a few weeks younger than my original flock. So today has been spent pretty much babysitting them to make sure they don't draw blood as they are establishing a new pecking order. I did put them in after dark last night, and that seemed to help, and the pecking hasn't been very violent. I messed up and didn't quarantine, but what is done is done, and now I know better! I'm hoping it will be alright since I got the other ones only a month ago from the same place. Cross your fingers for me!

Thanks again!!!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to our flock. Be sure your pullets have good coop ventilation, plenty of shade, and lots of fresh, cool water. Giving them cooling treats like chunks of frozen watermelon will also help. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. What kind of pullets do you have?

I have a few different kinds of mutt pullets. The father is a pure breed rooster that starts with a W, and has the huge green tail and blond hackle feathers. I can't remember the name - sorry! He's the kind you see in all of the folk art involving roosters. He's beautiful! The moms are either RIR (3 of them), an EE (3 of them), a silkie (1), and one I have no idea, but she's mostly white, and there is no mostly white mom other than the silkie, so I really don't know.

edited to add: the father is a Wyandotte - I just looked it up :)
 
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Sand, sand and more sand!! I use it in my coops, runs and even the nest boxes!!! I dig mine out of arroyo's and dry washes. Test it first to make sure it is sand. Wet it and squeeze it. If it falls apart easily, it is sand...clumps together, it is dirt. 4 to 6 inches deep is what you want.

The thing about sand is not only does it repel flies, stays dry when wet, absorbs poop smells, but you can hose it down in the summer time. The sand will get really cool in 30 mins or so and wow, the birds stay really cool! Birds loose heat through the feet. So this sand cools the feet off, and the birds stay cool. My birds never pant in the summer.
I wouldn't have even thought about hosing the sand down - great idea! Same concept as the beach, and I do love a great beach! Thank you!
 
I keep frozen bottles of water in the freezer to put in their water container as needed to keep the water cool. I change them out when they thaw. A box fan for us was a must. When they are in the run they will line up and wait for me to turn it on. Sometimes they stand backwards in the breeze and their tail feathers blow over their heads, it is funny to watch. We have sand in the run and on hot days we hose down an area and they will lay in that to cool off. We do have a mister for the super hot days that we place on the end of the run and turn it on low.
Enjoy your new chicks.
 

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