Arizona Chickens

[constance]

Quote:
This may be a case where my intended-to-be humorous comment did not translate into text. Sorry if I offended anyone.

FTR, I like the show and its premise. I have seen a couple of episodes (too cheap to pay for cable), including one that showed some of what I did on a job I had (ugh, the smell

).

So far I have resisted the sick, curious, urge to find the the turkey semen video.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

LareePQG, I just looked at your blog and I loved it!

I have a question about lavender sugar, it sounds interesting but I've never heard of it. What part of the plant do you use? Is it just the flowering part? At what point do you harvest it? My wife insisted that we plant lavender in the herb garden but I had no idea how I would use it. It's been threatening to take over everything if I don't keep it cut back. The sugar sounds like a good use for it.

 

[constance]

LareePQG and Gallo I didn't think lavender would grow well here. I'd love to have it. Does it take a lot of water? By this I mean does it have to be babied?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I don't know if it takes that much water. Mine's on an auto drip system and I've cut the water to the lavender back by a lot. Up until today I've considered it to be a nuisance in the herb garden.

I'd love to find a use for it.

eta: I definitely don't baby it! I'm constantly cutting it back.

 

[pastrymama]

All this talk of predators reminds me that I haven't seen my hawk lately. Hum, but my neighbor's cat is missing and we heard an OWL in the tree last night! I have never heard an owl in my life! Well, maybe when I went camping or something as a wee little girl scout, but certainly not in my cul-de-sac. Where did that thing come from? Do I need to be worried about Hooter now?

 

[leanna1017]

Quote:
Trader Joe's sells potted lavender for about $7.00. Their selection was much nicer than what I saw at the various plant nurseries. I bought a few last year and they are doing well for me without much attention. In France they use cut lavender flowers to keep scorpions away. I assume that would work here as well.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

AZ Game and Fish recently conducted a study on owl foraging (I believe they were mostly looking at Great Horned Owls) in the Phoenix area. You'd be surprised by how many are really out there--just unseen. Owl diets are relatively easy to study because of the nature of their scat. I can't remember the exact figures, but they said that pets made up a significant proportion of their prey. They were eating a lot of cats and small dogs. Owls can hunt during the day especially in the early morning and late afternoon, but they are mostly nocturnal. So, as long as they are locked up and the coop is secure, they shouldn't be a problem. We had a GHO that frequented the backyard last year. I'm pretty sure it walked around the base of the coop and on the top of the run trying to get in. I went out when the chooks were sounding the alarm early one morning and they kept scanning the area as if it could appear at any moment. Then I saw it in the eucalyptus tree that towers over the coop. On our short street alone there must have been at least a half-dozen cats that went missing in the span of a couple months--including one of our own. During that time we'd often see them on the utility poles in the back alley near dusk.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Trader Joe's sells potted lavender for about $7.00. Their selection was much nicer than what I saw at the various plant nurseries. I bought a few last year and they are doing well for me without much attention. In France they use cut lavender flowers to keep scorpions away. I assume that would work here as well.

That's interesting! A few months back I read a paper that talked about the herbal contents of wild bird nests. I can't remember the birds or the herbs, but the authors suggested that compounds in the herbs helped deter or limit external parasites. The paper didn't deal with that issue specifically, but it seemed like something worth looking into more.

 

[pimachickens]

Quote:
Really?! Do you know how they do that? Is it just a smell of one nearby, or coming into contact with it? Crush them up and sprinkle them around doorways? I would love to find a better solution than the double sided tape thing, which always just ends up full of pet hair and looking disgusting.

 

[leanna1017]

Quote:
Really?! Do you know how they do that? Is it just a smell of one nearby, or coming into contact with it? Crush them up and sprinkle them around doorways? I would love to find a better solution than the double sided tape thing, which always just ends up full of pet hair and looking disgusting.

They lay the cut flowers and stems on windowsills and around doorways. I put them around the foundation of my house and apparently I'm the only one on the street without scorpions. I also use citrus peelings and citrus oils to keep away the ants.