Arizona Chickens

[aznewmom]

Hi all.
Always so much going on around here.
Just for the record, I'm not a true "newbie", but I sure will readily admit that I was not raised around farm animals, and have ohhhhhhhhh so much to learn still.
And, yeah, sometimes I probably ask goofy questions. Example, a few days ago, after all the frustration w/my ending up w/three roosters out of my 4 chicks, I looked up, "How to shut up a rooster". I can hear some of you laughing now........and probably saying, like my 'farm raised' friends, "Dinner!!"

HAHA!

However......I just CANNOT eat something I raised. Just can't!! (I sometimes wish I could be that way, but I guess I like my food to be anonymous!) I'm trying to re-home them, as we are in the city limits here in Tucson, and I don't know how much longer my neighbors will let the 5:30 wake-up-call go on. I'm not having much luck, hence looking up how to quiet them. (Kind of 'afraid' to ask here.

) ANYWAY..... sounds like there is really nothing to be done. I enjoyed all of my reading and the differing opinions on the topic. Consensus seemed to be that any surgical procedure would be cruel at best, risky, expensive and would probably kill the bird anyway, at worst.
Guess they will continue to wake up the hood for a while yet.
So, even after 4 years of this, I seem to learn something new, every day. You newer, newbs, really do jump in and ask questions.
I think it is how we all learn.

Bootsie -- I went through the broody thing for the very first time a couple months ago. It was so strange to see Pip being all 'pissy' with me. She is usually so mellow. She had also lost a lot of feathers (they are still not back), so my first thought was that she was ill. However, when she wouldn't come out of her nesting box, I remembered talk about broodiness, and, again, started to read the boards. It put my mind at ease and we went through it quickly. I honestly thought she was ill at first. --- Bottom line -- No offense taken. I could see where some of these questions can be pretty funny.

Mikey D. -- I'm so very sorry to hear about your bird. This heat is awful. Do you think that is what it was?

Cielo -- So sad to hear about the dog that got into a coop on the tour. I would imagine that scene would dampen spirits and cause them to reconsider how the tour was structured. I wanted to go on it the first time, so I think you said 2009(?), but they were sold out. I must say, that I visited your photos yesterday and LOVED your set up. I will be forwarding it to my DH today!!

I think some expansions and additions are in order around here. Besides, everyone is now scaring me with tales of hawks and coyotes. I thought my gals were pretty safe, but we are not completely sealed up, except where they sleep. That coop is tight!
Udubchick -- So glad to hear that Lucy is doing better!

Tanichca -- Wow! You lost twelve?!?! I'm sorry to hear that. It is so sad. Those coyotes are pretty clever. Sadly, we lost our lovely "Chicken Kitty", Cuddles, (she is the one in the nesting boxes with the hens, in my photo) to, presumably, coyotes, back in January. It broke my heart. She was a great cat.

So, you can get chickens on Craigslist? I have never looked there. See..........again, I have learned something today. What suggestions/tips do you have for doing that? I really would love to get some pullets. I doubt I will ever go back to getting chicks after this last experience. I just can't chance having roos again. --- Again, I'm sorry for the loss of your birds.

Mama hen Chris -- Thanks for sharing your photo. What beautiful eggs! They look huge.

Nova -- That story about the home invasion is crazy! I heard about it on the news this morning. How scary for those poor kids. I'm glad they were okay!
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NOW FOR MY SILLY QUESTION

What, exactly, are poultry ticks? I have never heard of them. I had some small mites at one point. Do they look similar to dog or cat ticks? Do they transfer to humans?
Will they make my birds ill? Do they come from other birds that fly into our yard, or are they specific to just poultry?
Will DE work on them? I give the birds DE to dust in, on a semi-regular basis. I have not seen anything like this in the 4+ years that I have had chickens.
Any links for some more reading would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well.......that was long winded.
Thanks for letting me join in here.
I can't always be here, or catch up with you all, many times I tend to lurk a bit.
I do enjoy reading all your posts (exception being the very sad ones, of course), and appreciate the knowledge and experience.
BTW -- How many people here are in Tucson?

Have a great afternoon!
Cheers,
Stacy

 

[turkeybreeder]

Muscovies should take 35 days.

so they would be move to the hatcher at day 32
and what would be the best humidity level
to be kept at

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

or those poor kids. I'm glad they were okay!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW FOR MY SILLY QUESTION

What, exactly, are poultry ticks? I have never heard of them. I had some small mites at one point. Do they look similar to dog or cat ticks? Do they transfer to humans?
Will they make my birds ill? Do they come from other birds that fly into our yard, or are they specific to just poultry?
Will DE work on them? I give the birds DE to dust in, on a semi-regular basis. I have not seen anything like this in the 4+ years that I have had chickens.
Any links for some more reading would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, I never heard of them either until I started raising chickens in AZ. They are limited to warm climates as their northward expansion is stopped by prolonged freezing temperatures. They're weird looking ticks that typically only feed on birds. They are usually associated with the nests or roosts of wild birds. They come out of hiding right at dusk as the sun is setting and then crawl onto the chickens and feed for the first hour or so after sunset. After feeding, they drop off and crawl back into their hiding place until they need to feed again. Very much like little vampires. DE will eventually kill them, but the problem is that you generally can't get it into the spots where they hide and it takes a very long time to act. They can transfer to humans, but it is rare. The tiny larvae will drop all over you in response to heat and CO2 and they are itchy. They can make your birds very ill as they carry all sorts of pathogens that are transferrable to chickens. You may not know you have poultry ticks unless you actually go looking for them. Not a single tick was ever visible until I went out at just the right time to see them and when I started taking apart my roosts. Little did I know there were hundreds, if not thousands of them in my coop. I think you are much more likely to have a problem with them if your coop is situated under a tree where wild birds roost (but I wouldn't let that stop me from building a coop under a tree!). I made a tick-page some time ago right after my first outbreak. It's just the first draft and incomplete, but it has lots of the high-lights about poultry tick natural history and control. Oh, I should mention that they are very common in Tucson, but they seem to be less so up in Phoenix.

 

[GrannysRoost]

so they would be move to the hatcher at day 32
and what would be the best humidity level
to be kept at

Get it as high as you can for waterfowl, I kept mine as close to 75 to 80 as I could in January for the Welsh Harlequins...Good luck!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

BTW -- How many people here are in Tucson?

Hmmm... I was just trying to calculate that last week. Here was my list of currently active members from the greater Tucson area: pimachickens, constance, Tanichca, MagicChicken, SherrieT, DesertMarcy, aznewmom, AnotherKim, LMS, and a few others I'm sure that have slipped my mind. If I didn't list your name, let me know. I'm in the early stages of planning a Tucson BYC pot-luck dinner that will happen next month in conjunction with the arrival of a special BYCer that will be visiting from Apache Junction.

 

[Novaleigh]

240.00 and a few days later, I have successfully put the hammer down on those ants!! Oh yeah, baby, I definitely go mamma bear on ANYTHING that hurts my chickens (as you all might have noticed, lol) Yeah, I am super protective of them. Those ants are gone now, oh yeah!!!

Oh, and side note, all of my peepers are happy and healthy. They were not effected by the ant killer I used (sevin dust and amdro ant huts that were placed where chickens had no possibility of getting to, and removed and thrown away after ants all died).

 

[Tanichca]

Tanichca -- Wow! You lost twelve?!?! I'm sorry to hear that. It is so sad. Those coyotes are pretty clever. Sadly, we lost our lovely "Chicken Kitty", Cuddles, (she is the one in the nesting boxes with the hens, in my photo) to, presumably, coyotes, back in January. It broke my heart. She was a great cat.

So, you can get chickens on Craigslist? I have never looked there. See..........again, I have learned something today. What suggestions/tips do you have for doing that? I really would love to get some pullets. I doubt I will ever go back to getting chicks after this last experience. I just can't chance having roos again. --- Again, I'm sorry for the loss of your birds.

The coyotes ARE danged clever. I'm pretty sure that the Good Lord gave them all the intelligence that was wasted on politicians!

I've gotten more than a few of my birds on CL. You just enter keywords, like pullets, chicks, chickens, bantams, etc. into the search box, and boom! Lots of results! Just keep an eye out for people who seem to know about their birds (posting breed specifics, details of care such as type of feed, age of the bird, etc.) I feel like if a person bothers to know about the characteristics and specifics of their birds, than that person has bothered to learn about how to properly care for their birds, which means that you have a better chance of getting healthier birds.

You also asked about people in Tucson. I'm in Vail, about 15 miles from the Tucson city limits.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Mama Hen Chris, that's interesting that Gretchen's babies went to roost with her and the big girls. My brooded babies always remained behind in the tractor-brooder when their mamas left.

Oh Will, you're so kind. I only hope to live long enough to have as much experience raising chickens in the desert as you do.

udubchick, that's great that Lucy rebounded so quickly from that scorpion! What a lucky bird, I'm glad to hear she's doing better.

Hey Gallo,

Today/Tonight is another story with the little ones. Apparently Mama wants nothing to do with them anymore. If one went near her she would peck at them. Poor things. Tonight they were crying to be with her and she just snubbed her beak at them. Mama and the others just went into the coop for the night. The four peeped as loud as they could for her but she didn't call back. They jumped on me for a while and then headed sadly to their brooder/nursery.
I guess Gretchen was just giving them a taste of what it is like to be in the "big house".

This is the Lil Chick Inn (brooder) when it was occupied by the previous tenants (now my 18 and 19 week old.)

 

[GrannysRoost]

Hey Gallo,

Today/Tonight is another story with the little ones. Apparently Mama wants nothing to do with them anymore. If one went near her she would peck at them. Poor things. Tonight they were crying to be with her and she just snubbed her beak at them. Mama and the others just went into the coop for the night. The four peeped as loud as they could for her but she didn't call back. They jumped on me for a while and then headed sadly to their brooder/nursery.
I guess Gretchen was just giving them a taste of what it is like to be in the "big house".

This is the Lil Chick Inn (brooder) when it was occupied by the previous tenants (now my 18 and 19 week old.)

So sorry for the little ones

 

[MagicChicken]

Hmmm... I was just trying to calculate that last week. Here was my list of currently active members from the greater Tucson area: pimachickens, constance, Tanichca, MagicChicken, SherrieT, DesertMarcy, aznewmom, AnotherKim, LMS, and a few others I'm sure that have slipped my mind. If I didn't list your name, let me know. I'm in the early stages of planning a Tucson BYC pot-luck dinner that will happen next month in conjunction with the arrival of a special BYCer that will be visiting from Apache Junction.

Oooohhh... a Tucson BYC pot-luck! Count me in. Hope it doesn't turn out to be during the one week I'll be out of town next month...