Arizona Chickens

[Sill]

These are two of my Buff Orpingtons. Do you guys think they are what they were sold as? They have smut in their tail feathers like some hatchery orpingtons do.

I have gold sex links that look exactly like these. I even have people comment on my "buff orpingtions" and they are surprised when I tell them they are GSLs.

 

[aviddamy]

These aren't GSL. The only reason I know this is because I had 13 straight run. 7 were roosters. Same color, different tail and bigger combs. I've seen GSL and I've never seen any that look like these. Pretty cool how diverse chickens are.

 

[cyborg]

@Sill, you said you wanted to try that mayonaisse out on your kids, my GF pointed out to me this afternoon that it is thick enough to use as dip!
I also have GSL's, but mine ate more of "salt and pepper" look with spots of cream and rusty red.

 

[landscapr56]

Hi There!

I am up in New River, and out in the desert. We have raised chickens here for over 5 years. This is a good time for chicks, as the weather is changing, and they can acclimate. At the moment, we have two moms with babies (Buff Orphington moms), 28 Rhode Island Red chicks, 6 leghorn chicks, a couple Americaunas and two barred rock chicks. We also have 14 laying hens and 2 roosters, four turkey chicks and one year old turkey hen.

What I do is watch when the temps get around 100 - make sure they have plenty of water, a shady place, and if it gets too hot, I do spray a fine spray of cool water over them once or twice during the day. We only lost chickens one year (2 years ago), when the temps jumped something like 20 degrees in one day, to around 115, and I wasn't on top of the temp change.

Good luck~~~

 

[pipemum]

I'll have to try that, just need a way to hang one. Probably need a larger hole to thread the head through...

Yeah it makes a not so fun task even worse when the kill goes badly.

Post pics of your butchering stand and set up! How is it to use old feed bags? I'm trying to imagine how well that works.

I finished the stand, but forgot to take a picture. I'll post sometime this week. It was super easy to make the posts and only took a few minutes. I even made a side table to attach for the scalding water pot.

Ugh, the feed bags. Well, I took one of those big tomato cages and anchored it into the ground. Then I'd cut the bag lengthwise and along the bottom, and tape it together in a sort of diagonal spiral--to make a cone? Then I'd cut the bottom of the cone out, and cut the top of the bag in order to fold over the top of the tomato cage. I'd duck tape the bag to the cage. It was a pretty awkward situation. I used that setup for about 6 chickens. Never again, and rather labor intensive to set the dang thing up. It may have been easier had I a post or tree or something that i could just anchor the bags too, but I don't.

My new stand will be glorious compared to the feed bags and before that, the milk jugs precariously attached to a garden arch. I'll probably need to adjust the bottom cut in the traffic cone, but I won't know that till I put my first chicken in.

The whole thing, once I get the set up down, is really easy. Grab the chicken, place it in the cone, gently pull the head and neck out of the bottom of the cone, and then lop the head off with my sharpened garden loppers (used only for chicken processing). I'm too much of a delicate flower to slit the neck, and my hands are too weak to wring anything. The loppers make it instant.

 

[AZGardenFarmer]

* Lost 1 of my Salmon Faverolles last night. :-/ Now I'm bird dogging them even more.

 

[pipemum]

Sorry about your loss.

I wanted to mention that my fly problem seems to be a bit more under control. Getting RID of the flybags has helped, a new batch of fly predator has helped, and NOT CLEANING 2x a week has also helped! I haven't raked in over 2 weeks!! Instead of raking everything up, I'm spreading a couple handfuls of straw in the chicken yard where the flies were congregating. The layering seems to help. I wouldn't call it anything close to deep litter going on, but I suppose the chickens have more to kick around that helps to hide and cover the droppings. I think the windier weather is also helping, and I can't take credit for that!

 

[aviddamy]

Yep my fly bags dried out and I left them that way. I'm gonna toss them soon. They drew way too many flies. I actually do clean out my coop once a day. My run is almost done. That I won't clean as much.

 

[pipemum]

Yes, my coop I still have to clean out. Otherwise it would just be mounds and mounds of chicken dung.

 

[Sill]

I finished the stand, but forgot to take a picture. I'll post sometime this week. It was super easy to make the posts and only took a few minutes. I even made a side table to attach for the scalding water pot.

Ugh, the feed bags. Well, I took one of those big tomato cages and anchored it into the ground. Then I'd cut the bag lengthwise and along the bottom, and tape it together in a sort of diagonal spiral--to make a cone? Then I'd cut the bottom of the cone out, and cut the top of the bag in order to fold over the top of the tomato cage. I'd duck tape the bag to the cage. It was a pretty awkward situation. I used that setup for about 6 chickens. Never again, and rather labor intensive to set the dang thing up. It may have been easier had I a post or tree or something that i could just anchor the bags too, but I don't.

My new stand will be glorious compared to the feed bags and before that, the milk jugs precariously attached to a garden arch. I'll probably need to adjust the bottom cut in the traffic cone, but I won't know that till I put my first chicken in.

The whole thing, once I get the set up down, is really easy. Grab the chicken, place it in the cone, gently pull the head and neck out of the bottom of the cone, and then lop the head off with my sharpened garden loppers (used only for chicken processing). I'm too much of a delicate flower to slit the neck, and my hands are too weak to wring anything. The loppers make it instant.

Can't wait to see your new set up! Yeah the feed bag thing seems like it would be a pain. OMG I love the idea to use loppers! I hate slitting throats but like you my hands aren't strong enough to wring necks. I just use poultry shears for quail, super easy, but they don't work on chicken necks, at least for me.

@Sill , you said you wanted to try that mayonaisse out on your kids, my GF pointed out to me this afternoon that it is thick enough to use as dip!
I also have GSL's, but mine ate more of "salt and pepper" look with spots of cream and rusty red.

Yum!
I had one GSL that I lost to the heat that was more of a salt and pepper with a pied look to her feathers and it was strange to see that happen because her juvenile plumage was a nice even buff color until she molted. The two I have now look like buff orpingtons though.

Yep my fly bags dried out and I left them that way. I'm gonna toss them soon. They drew way too many flies. I actually do clean out my coop once a day. My run is almost done. That I won't clean as much.

Well darn, I thought the fly traps were a good idea. I'll toss them and see what a difference that makes. Just got my second shipment of fly predators in the mail today. I'll set them out once they begin to emerge. Just the one shipment made a big dent in the fly population so I'm hoping for even better with this second installment.

Yes, my coop I still have to clean out. Otherwise it would just be mounds and mounds of chicken dung.

But all that poop is so good for the compost piles! And eventually the plants.