New Member Linda Murphy

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LindaMurphy

LindaMurphy

Chirping
6 Years
Jul 23, 2013
130
9
78
Surprise Arizona
Hello everyone. I am obviously new to the group and I am new to raising chickens. I was surprised at how much I have grown to love my chickens. I call them my kids. I currently have 2 Americanas, I believe both are females. I have had them for about 5 months. They are not yet laying. I am anxiously awaiting eggs. I also have 2 New Hampshire Reds, about 4months old. 1 Road Island Red, also about 4 months old and I believe it is a rooster. He already has a crown and waddles on the sides. I did have a pair of white Crested Polish that are about 3 months old. Unfortunately our little T.T. had a mishap with a coyote. It was very sad. She was my baby. She loved me and I loved her. It makes me ill thinking about how I lost her. I never leave my chickens out free ranging now unless my dog Shadow is out with them. He will kill a coyote if it comes anywhere near the fence. I had unfortunately made the mistake of bringing him in to eat for a few and within minutes the coyote was here and gone again with my baby in his mouth. Needless to say I cried and cried. My little fella whom I call Elvis cause of his crazy doo, is a very lonely little boy. He keeps calling for his T.T but she is gone.
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If anyone knows anyone in Phoenix or Surprise Arizona that has a young female White crested blue polish or even black polish that can keep my little man company please contact me. I will be looking for other roosters later on down the road. I want to get a rooster for my Americana. If you know anyone wanting to get rid of an Americana rooster contact me as well please.

I have a young pair of Buff Orpington ducks that are currently laying eggs. She does not appear to want me to touch them because she gets between me and her eggs. There are currently 5 in the nest that she built. It has been so warm that she has not had to sit on them to keep them warm . I'm going to wait a few weeks and see if any hatch. I enjoy playing with the water and the ducks. They love to go swimming while I shower them with the hose.

My grandchildren are crazy about the critters I have here. In fact the ducks and Americana were picked out by my granddaughters. The Reds were picked out by my grandsons and the crested Polish I ran across and snatched them up 'cause they were so darn cute and interesting. They are very friendly chickens. Hop right up into my hand when I ask.

Well I look forward to meeting new friends here and to learn all I can about raising and hatching my chickens. I have to breed my little polish. They are very amusing chickens.
 
Thank you Whittni. It is nice to meet you. I have a grand daughter that would like to join 4-H for the chickens and horse and maybe dog training after my friends boarder collie has pups. My problem is finding one local. I have a couple grandsons that might be interested as well. Maybe someone in the Arizona link will know where to find the correct 4-H to get involved with. I would love to show my crested polish. He has personality!!
Thanks again for the welcome.
 
Welcome to BYC from California wine country in the Western Sierra Foothills! :frow

I am silly about my chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese and peacock. They all have their own personalities. I love 'em.

There is nothing cuter than baby ducklings. Chicks, poults, and goslings are adorable, but itty bitty little black Cayuga ducklings are THE cutest.

One of my Orpington hens (chicken) hatched a duckling and it's a hoot watching her raise it with a chick hatched the same time. (She must have stolen that egg from one of the two duck nests in the coop.)
 
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Hello gryeyes. I have a question for you. Do you let your ducks and chickens free range in the same pen or yard? I haven't let them together yet but we plan of building a big coop for all my feathered friends and have a big fenced in area for all of them to run around in. Right now I have my ducks in a seperate coop and yard. I was afraid they might not get along. If not I will have to seperate the yard into sections. Once my chickens start breeding I am probably going to want to keep the different breeds of chickens seperate anyway so I guess it won't be that big of a deal but I was curious about it.
 
I have no pen; the whole two-thirds of an acre is fenced and everybody ranges freely together. The ducks tend to hang together, but since I only provide feed (in several feeders, one of which is a rain gutter trough) inside the coop, the various types of poultry do interact.

The ducks do poke at chickens which are in their way, but other than that, there is no animosity or problem between them. The geese are secure in their Gooseness and are at the top of the pecking order, but being Toulouse, they are quite mellow.

Only a few of the ducks coop up at night and frankly, I think it's just the two broody ducks who are on nests with eggs. All the other ducks sleep on the ground, on the driveway around the front of the house. Or under the apple tree on the next lower terrace.

I don't control the chickens' reproduction other than gathering eggs. I let broody hens sit on eggs to hatch them. If they wanna be mommas, I let them fulfill those desires. There are a remarkable number of interesting crosses in the flock; I try to guess which of the two roosters is the daddy and sometimes wonder which hen laid the egg(s) because they are such egg stealers!
 
Thanks for the info. It's fun watching the chickens do their pecking order dance in the mornings when I let them out. if I could safely let them roam I would but the coyotes are desperate out here. They all have to be housed at night but I let the chicks run free in our 1 acre lot during the day. They love the horses pen. It's great cause it keeps the flies under control and they are getting big and fat very fast. I am surprised just how big the New Hampshire Reds are getting. they are out growing the Americana's already.
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