Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

I'm back on-line !  And looking forward to my sojourn to the "BIG CITY"   The processing even sounds as if it might develop into a "meet-up" for chicken people.   yeah !

Thank you so much for making the trip.. & Bonnie for hosting...
Can't wait to make Coq Au Vin..
Since my hubby says no to silkie meat I hope someone will have an extra roster. ?

 

[City farm]

Anyone have an experience with speckeled sussex or light brahmas?  They just became options from the breeder I'm buying from next weekend.  They both sound fun but I was only planning on 8 chickens and now its getting out of hand.

SO KNOW HOW YOU FEEL. It will pass.. Once you have them it gets better..

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

My little Silkie/Serama 10 weeks old









Wilma my EE , 15 months



My grandson Cooper and his date Kennedy last night at CrackerJax



Date is over....going for the kiss goodnight.

 

[AZBootsie]

What do you all do for worms? Chicken poo is gross enough without the little white, moving, worms with the flat heads. I'm at my wits end. I let my chickens out during the day to free range. What can I do as a preventative to these disgusting parasites? I want to know what the more experienced people here do. And what is the life cycle of these, I assume, tapeworms? Any info would be great. Thanks!

I try to worm and dust 2x a year, whether they need it or not. Lots of worming stuff available. I am currently using the ivermectin pour-on, just a few drops on the back of their necks. It's been a long time since I have researched types of worms.....so don't know what kind of worms you have. There is a lot of info here on BYC if you do a search.

 

[maryhysong]

I have not seen worms yet, it dose not mean I do not have them, or that I have had it in the past.m. I use, at this time, Diatomaceous earth. I put a couple of Spoonfuls in their feed about once a month. I am not sure how often I should treat my girls. But this all the wild birds out there, I am sure they have had to have picked a few up a long tge way.

My problem is mites! It is a Struggle to keep them under control. I have a served what others have said they suspect, when a chicken is sick mites move in. A healthy girl may have them in the hundreds, a sick one in the thousands. Here is a link to info on mites https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mites-chicken-pests-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-mites. I use again Diatomaceous earth. However, I mix it with 7 dust, use a one of those ketchup long noise squart bottles. I can put the tip between the feathers easier to get at the skin. Then I spread it around the pen, and where they take dust bathes or hange up. It has been pointed out several times wood ash works better. Demosthine sugested I check out restaurants that use wood to smoke or BBQ with, give them a galvanized bucket, do to hot ash, to put it in when they clean their ovens/grill.

I have had some really bad cases of mites here. I have not found DE to be any good at all against them. I am using sulfur, the kind of fine dust that you buy to dust on plants for insects and fungi. This seems to be doing the trick; birds that were thick with mites a month ago have so far been clean with one dusting. But I am getting ready to dust again. I try to dust everyone whenever I am moving birds around as some of my pens seem to have them worse than others. What I buy comes in a shaker can and I just use that.

 

[cbnovick]

What do you all do for worms? Chicken poo is gross enough without the little white, moving, worms with the flat heads. I'm at my wits end. I let my chickens out during the day to free range. What can I do as a preventative to these disgusting parasites? I want to know what the more experienced people here do. And what is the life cycle of these, I assume, tapeworms? Any info would be great. Thanks!

Valbazen is the only sure cure for tapeworms. you can buy online at jeffers vet supply and a host of other suppliers online. I use it in rotation with safeguard 10% goat wormer. I worm spring and fall at least. If you search valbazen here on BYC there's lots of info. too. Eprinex is good for all other worms and perhaps even tapeworms to some extent.

 

[Fuzzybird]

MaMa Hen Chris, Really love that grey girl!

 

[countrygirl74]

So for my birthday my boyfriend just bought me a chicken coop. This will be a first for both of us and I am debating on what breed of chickens to get. Here is what I want out of a chicken: we will be using them for egg laying purposes only, we live around Phoenix so they will have to be able to withstand the summer heat with some misters and frozen bottles, I would like to be able to handle them. Also, I would like them to be relatively quiet (we have an acre and are going to put them on the far side where we don't have any neighbors) although I know from research this varies a lot from chicken to chicken. My two favorite chickens in appearance are the barred rock and silver laced wynadotte. We were thinking about getting 2-3 chickens for now. Does anyone have any advice on either of those breeds or other breeds that would work well for us?
Thanks in advance!

Alison

Congrats!! You will have so much fun and enjoy the eggs sooo much! Barred rocks are great! They are super friendly, excellent layers and seem really heat tolerant to me. They can be a little bossy - our two BR's are "in charge" of our coop - lol. We also have/have had 2 different silver laced wyandottes. One currently lives with a family member and lays very well - very sweet girl. We still have one and she is also a sweetheart and good layer. I have not noticed any real heat intolerance with her either. The ones that seem the most heat intolerant are my RIR, big cochin boy, and my EE's.

Ducklings would become duck soup, so to speak. Geese might run off some raptors, not ducks. Guineas would sound the alarm (as would geese).

X2

What do you all do for worms? Chicken poo is gross enough without the little white, moving, worms with the flat heads. I'm at my wits end. I let my chickens out during the day to free range. What can I do as a preventative to these disgusting parasites? I want to know what the more experienced people here do. And what is the life cycle of these, I assume, tapeworms? Any info would be great. Thanks!

I've never had worms but for preventative purposes I give them pumpkin seeds - raw, ground is best. I grow pumpkins all summer and store them all winter so they have access to pumpkin seeds several times a year. Other preventatives are garlic and nasturtium. I haven't give them much garlic myself because we seem to eat it all - lol. But, I do plant lots of nasturtium around my yard. Once it's pretty established, I allow my girls supervised free-range time to eat some at will. I like to do whatever I can naturally both for the chickens and so I can continue to eat the eggs.
If it's a really bad case, I've heard another "natural" way to de-worm is putting Shaklee soap in their water - you might be able to do a search to find out some more info on that.

Anyone have an experience with speckeled sussex or light brahmas? They just became options from the breeder I'm buying from next weekend. They both sound fun but I was only planning on 8 chickens and now its getting out of hand.

Our speckled sussex have been wonderful. They are silly, friendly, curious birds. I've also noticed that out of all the breeds we have, they seem to love the water the most - playing in puddles, etc. They are good layers and good pets. We have never lost one yet. I have gotten ours from both Ideal and Privett at different times - so far, so good for hatchery birds.

 

[countrygirl74]

I have had some really bad cases of mites here. I have not found DE to be any good at all against them. I am using sulfur, the kind of fine dust that you buy to dust on plants for insects and fungi. This seems to be doing the trick; birds that were thick with mites a month ago have so far been clean with one dusting. But I am getting ready to dust again. I try to dust everyone whenever I am moving birds around as some of my pens seem to have them worse than others. What I buy comes in a shaker can and I just use that.

Here are some other ideas too...

Neem Oil - use to treat the coop

Wood Ash - dust bathe the chickens yourself when have a bad case, provide wood ash regularly for preventative

NuStock - use around the vent, on their legs (scaly mites), around feather shafts close to skin if you see louse eggs

Garlice - give them some garlic cloves to free-feed on

 

[maryhysong]

Here are some other ideas too...

Neem Oil - use to treat the coop

Wood Ash - dust bathe the chickens yourself when have a bad case, provide wood ash regularly for preventative

NuStock - use around the vent, on their legs (scaly mites), around feather shafts close to skin if you see louse eggs

Garlice - give them some garlic cloves to free-feed on

I forgot to say that I have started using the home made nustock on vents and any major clusters of nits that I see. The sulfur is certainly doing a better job than DE ever did