Arizona Chickens

[cap1717]

Quote:
That was my first thought, too. . . Bobcat? 2" prints are pretty big!

 

[LarryPQ]

Crystal: another

for you. I am sorry you lost your bunnies.

On a completely different note--I am considering doing some meaties. I know, I am crazy. After a bunch of research and number crunching, it looks to be a gool deal, economically speaking. I could post my spreadsheet if anyone cares.

BUT- I was wondering if anyone had any personal experince to share? I have been lurking in the meaties forum for a while now, but those folks are HARD CORE. It sounds silly, but I don't really "fit in" or "relate" to many of their experinces. As a young professional with small kids in the city, I don't necessarily "get "the "I went through 450#s of grower yesterday" folks.

So my question is: do any of you urban farmers, "small-timers", or hobbyists have any experience with meaties?

 

[rufus]

Chrystal, if you do trap this critter, let your husband deal with it.

Remember that we have this terrible problem with rabies. He will be more able to deal with it safely.

Hopefully, it isn't a small jaguar. Game and Fish will have your hide if you kill one of those critters.

Rufus

 

[ArizonaNessa]

LareePQG~ I have raised meaties in the past and this is only my opinion but I will say that you should not raise them if you are not 100% sure that you can do the deed in the end. Meaties HAVE TO BE dispatched between 8 and 12 weeks of age or they start having heart attacks and their legs will buckle under their weight leaving you with a big huge feathery door stops that won't stop eating. They also have to be fed differently than other chickens because they won't stop eating. For the first week you feed normally like any other chick but after that you feed 12 hrs on 12 hrs off. I have had people ask me in the past about raising them and I always say the same thing. If you are even a little hesitant about dispatching them then don't cause I think it is cruel to try to keep them alive. It's just my two cents but if you decide to do it then good luck and I wish you the best. Remember meaties are not natural. They were created to grow super fast. Not a bad thing just thought I would throw that out there. I have heard of people backing out of the dispatching at the last minute and forever having a pet chicken on a very restricted diet though.

 

[LarryPQ]

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/zip/1409745666.html

FREE COOPS in the EV!


EDITED: Thanks for the great advice. The DH is squeamish about it, but I am not. I don't think I will have any issues with the dispatch...but I am holding off until my current chickies start the crowing thing to be sure.

I know meaties are not natural---which is one of the reasons I was looking into doing it. THe family will eat chicken meat, whether or not I raise it, so ceterus peribus:

1-Even if they are short-lived, they will be happier as fat little birds in my yard until they go to freezer camp than if they had been raised in a teeny-weeny little cage getting pecked at non-stop.
2-Since it is cruel to let them go past the "optimum age"-I can't back out.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Chrystal - I found an excellent site that shows animal tracks - hopefully, the tracks are still there and you can do some detective work. It's easier to outwit a predator if you know what type it is.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/mammals.html

 

[DM]

Thanks for all the post. I do not have a country life yet so I do not have a lot to add but it I appreciate what I can learn from all I read on the forum like meates or Foxes, Bobcats....wow, I need to plan for this stuff when that farm comes hopefully this year.
Right now my new hens are fighting it out with my resident hen, although I did notice them all sleeping in the same corner under the bushes this day...that's new...family connections soon

 

[Tonopah Pati]

Good Morning Arizona, Nice and cool this morning. I have 55 right now. My AC has been OFF all this week

ArizonaDesertChicks,That is a really good web site you posted about Tracks. I Booked Marked it.

LareePQG, Sure wish I had a truck and a couple of guys. I would be getting the two coops. The things you can find on CL.

I got the planting containers all moved into a new location, threw away lots and lots of STUFF. I am feeling really good about that. I think I am ready to prepare the ground. and start digging all around the fence area so that I can bury the metal 6", then I want to place screen, out, about 6''. I am not sure if I should put the screen on the outside or the inside of the fence. Any suggestions out there?

I hope that everyone has a great day. Got to get to work.

 

[ChrystalGail]

Pati... I put my wire on the outside so predators can't push it in. But, I really don't think it matters as long as you anchor it down well to the fencing.

So far we have an empty trap... Sigh... I'm still at a loss if it is a gray fox or bobcat. The tracks were all over the place and look like the foxes, but no nail marks. Plus, with the digging at our chicks coop I think fox not cat. I'm going to leave the trap up for a while and see if it comes back. I'm sure it will wait until the trap is gone and then come kill something else... Keep your fingers crossed for me! We are going to Utah next week from Mon-Fri, so I hope everyone is alive when we return!

On another note, my DH has bronchitis. Poor guy. I was afraid it was pneumonia, but it's not, so that is good! The nice thing is he will be taking tomorrow off, so I will be able to spend more time with him!

Have a wonderful day Arizonans!

 

[ArizonaNessa]

I have something kinda off topic to share and I am probably the only person in Arizona that didn't know this. You can laugh at me if you want to cause I know DH did.

Anyway, I was watching the Arizona Garden Guy dude on fox 10 ( i think. maybe it was channel 12...aww who cares) and someone called in about gophers and trapping them. According to the Garden Guy a gopher won't go for traps unless you put on gloves and boil the traps first to remove any human scent. I thought it was interesting and I just wonder if that applies to any other critter that you might try and trap.