Chickens

We live in a county island - right by a busy freeway and busy streets in Chandler, AZ.. anytime a friend comes over they are always amazed that there is all this farm property in the middle of the city! As soon as you drive into the neighborhood there are chickens EVERYWHERE!

Anyways, my mom loves them but we haven't gotten any of our own yet since we have not built a coop (shes been talking about it for years!).. every morning and night my stepdad throws some scratch grains for the neighbors chickens when he goes to feed the horses/steer. We have about 10 that have figured it out and they come like clockwork!

Here are some pictures I took - I don't know one thing about chickens so I don't know any breeds - I just know I like the goofy looking young one! He had a brother that was all black but he drown in a water bin a couple days ago :(

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC00002.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC00006.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC00008.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC00010.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC00014.jpg

I don't know if they should be fed in the gravel or not - they don't eat when we offer food in the chicken feeders and we always have horses in the pasture so I don't want to lure them into there since I've known of a couple chickens that were stepped on by horses :/

Most birds digest their food through their craw. A little gravel helps grind the seed or grain. Even cage birds should have a separate container of oyster shell or a cuttlebone since the don't have access to gravel.

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Originally Posted by Debbienflorida

Most birds digest their food through their craw. A little gravel helps grind the seed or grain. Even cage birds should have a separate container of oyster shell or a cuttlebone since the don't have access to gravel.

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Yeah, I remember that from when my sister had birds, she had some of that stuff for them.. I wasn't sure if too much would be bad, but when I watch them they seem to be good at picking out the pieces, doves and sparrows always show up to eat the leftovers.

that first one looks like a silky....I love em!!!!

Ohhhh watch out! Wandering gangs of inner city chickens! Next thing you know they'll be holding up poor old ladies for chicken scratch!

Where will it end!!!! :O

Aww, I cant wait till I can have my own chickens!! :D

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

that first one looks like a silky....I love em!!!!

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Thats the one I like, I liked his brother more though :(

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Ohhhh watch out! Wandering gangs of inner city chickens! Next thing you know they'll be holding up poor old ladies for chicken scratch!

Where will it end!!!! :O

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Hahah, all we have are old ladies living in this neighborhood! I hope they're watching their backs the one day a month they leave their houses!

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Aww, I cant wait till I can have my own chickens!! :D

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Me too, I really want my mom to get the coop built so we can get some, she has started looking online so she might be getting the ball rolling. We actually have 2 that live in our hay barn but they are mean so I'm not too impressed with them.

yummy food! :)

Cool chickens, they are pretty cool to watch when you feed them, or when a beatle craws into the coop.lol
I got about 30 or so of them myself.

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Ohhhh watch out! Wandering gangs of inner city chickens! Next thing you know they'll be holding up poor old ladies for chicken scratch!

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Oh I wouldnt put it past them, chickens are cruel animals. One time a crow got into the coop and they beat the crap out of it before I could even get to it. Once we caught it we released it, it was flying low, about 4 feet, it felt good to save the lil guy..... that is until about 100 feet of flying later, the dog jumped up and got it.

my chickens are great... I just switched them from scratch to lay mash... they are getting close to that age where they'll start laying. Right now I have three hens (due to zoning restrictions, I can't have roosters). I've got a rhode island red, an australorp, and a brown leghorn. Next spring, I'll be hopefully getting a cuckoo maran, an ameraucana, and a gold laced wyandotte, if I can get the feed store to special order those breeds for me. I can't wait for the fresh eggs this year, and next year, I should have a nice variety of shell colors...

Neat! Chix are cool to have around. We have 2 roosters now that were raised together and don't fight. We want to add a few laying hens soon but have not yet. Roos are LOUD and we shut them in the barn overnight so that they are protected from predators and also so we don't get woken up at 5am with them at the window! They are free-range during the day and can well defend themselves. One is a Rhode Island red and the other is a white.

[/QUOTE]Oh I wouldnt put it past them, chickens are cruel animals. One time a crow got into the coop and they beat the crap out of it before I could even get to it. Once we caught it we released it, it was flying low, about 4 feet, it felt good to save the lil guy..... that is until about 100 feet of flying later, the dog jumped up and got it.[/QUOTE]

:tombstone

Nice variety of breeds...I had Rhode Island reds for a long time, and they slowly got replaced by Orpingtons, and later some Barred rocks, Comet mixes, and Transylvanians. Also a lone Blue Andalusian roo, who is beautiful but beginning to be a bit unpredictable. My Cochin rooster was my favorite, I miss the old man.
Does anyone have a problem with the same individual hens consistently producing thin-shelled eggs, even when oyster shell is provided?

I can't see the picture or I would tell you exactly what it is. I used to have over 200 chickens not too long ago. Along with a few goats, twenty geese, fourteen ducks, few big turkeys, some guineas, meat rabbits etc. Down to less than 100 chickens now due to selling and animals eating them but i'm getting 200 hens soon along with at least 20-30 more geese :)