Arizona Chickens

[pupeluv]

Wow, I have never seen a wild raccoon!!

They're not as common as coyotes but they're out there. Completely nocturnal and they can kick a dog's butt. My frenchie helped chase it away but I told the roommate not to let him do that again. We do live by North Mountain Park, so there's a lot of wildlife around. Going to give the coop a good inspection when I get home tonight.

 

[Drjennidvm]

Welcome DrJennidvm!  Sorry if this forum seems intimidating.  I don't think it is hostile... I just think we are very much like a family, or more precisely...siblings.  Of course there are disagreements.  There are times that you read a post and the steam jets out of your ears, or you roll your eyes, or think "yeah right...whatever".   But there are just as many times that you shoot coffee (or wine, depending on the time of day) out your nose laughing so hard at something someone said.  And no matter what, we all care when someone suffers a tragedy, or has sick animals, or loses a pet.  We may be dysfunctional, but it's just the AZ family way.  Welcome to the family, glad to have you! 

Thanks, I'm used to dysfunctional so I'll fit right in!
Here's my new outdoor run off the horse stall, it actually in the paddock with the horses, thus the extra fencing.

Here's some older pix of the girls

Fluffy, Bandi, and Blue Belle
And the new girls

Cinnamon and Rosa Belle

The grubs I found in the garden and compost pile- WOOHOO say the chooks!

 

[jfeitlinger]

Pard, I found my pet sitter on the bulletin board at my vets office.. You might try there.. There are sometimes ads on craigslist also.. Just be sure to interview carefuly.. Mine costs $10 per day, plus I add $20 a week for fuel since I am so far out of town... Will


edited to add: Congrats on your first egg...

Thanks viejo loco. Yeah we were all super excited to see our 1st egg. It was a month faster than I expected so I thought my family was playing a trick on me and planted the egg there.

Regarding the sitters, I will check with my local vets as that's a great idea. Not sure if any of the vets in Scottsdale take care of Chickens but I bet they will have referrals for pet sitters. We have our coop pretty well automated with food and water so really not a lot of work. If no luck there I will try Craiglist but would prefer to go with a referral for the trust factor.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Grubs, yummmmmm......

We have a house sitter that stays there to take care of all the beasties--chooks, fish, cat, dog and plants. We pay them $30/day if the dog is there, which is much cheaper than kenneling. It's worth every penny for peace of mind.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

We are headed out of town soon and wondering if anyone knows a service (such as a pet sitting service) I can call that can check on our 6 chickens while we are out of town. We live in the Scottsdale. Bonus is our chickens just started laying eggs (got our 1st one yesterday - very exciting) so it would be nice treat for whoever we could get to come by.

I live in North Scottsdale.... sending you a PM.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Day 2 at the resort with the brownie troop for some splish splash and fun in the sun. All the girls are still sleeping, except mine(they may be vampires, who knows). These kids are great!

Sounds like (mostly) fun! Enjoy yourself! Which resort? (so we can all be appropriately envious

)

 

[Memphisjourney2seramas]

Killed our first snake of the season. it has already swallowed a serama whole. it was a 5 foot long bull snake. Augh i hate snakes!

 

[Arizonachicken]

Any day now.             

Yup...he was better this morning. It's the kennel in the garage for him tonight. If anyone wants him, I can post a picture. I dunno what to ask, is $10 the going rate for a blue Marans roo? If no one takes him, I'll send him to freezer camp. I'd like him to get just a bit larger, tho. At what age to y'all usually process roosters?

 

[Arizonachicken]

Congrats and condolences.

Thanks, Mikey. It's all right. I wanted to keep him, he's the prettier of the two Marans. I wanted to keep him long enough to visit my Wheaten Ameraucanas and make olive eggers, but my silly Ameraucanas are STILL broody and not laying eggs. Oh well.

 

[Arizonachicken]

I've got a squash that looks very similar. My seeds came from Native Seeds Search and were a variety grown by the Tohono O'Odham.  Don't know if it's the same thing or not, but mine are technically winter squash that are GREAT as immature fruits.  I use them like zucchini.  They're way better than zucchini.  Really good texture and a touch of sweetness.  Yum.  They also produce a LOT of male flowers, which are yummy stuffed and fried.  I'm trying to cut back on fried stuff so I was hoping the chickens would like the squash blossoms. Nope. They eat them reluctantly, after devouring everything else. 

I bet it's a cushaw. The Tohono O'Odham did grow them, as well as the Hopis. Thank you for the extra info. I'm super excited!