Arizona Chickens

[pastrymama]

so, i am going to be incubating my first set of Basque eggs in the next few days. i will hopefully have some basque chickies looking for a new home. interrested parties can send me a pm. Greenfire farms is still selling their day old straight run basque for $19 a chick, i think Skyline sells his for around $8-$10, neither includes shipping. i bought 11 chicks at $15 per chick. mine are pure Basque, i don't have them in with any other breeds. this breed did great this summer, i barely ran the misters, no a/c, no evap, just shade and lots of water. i did bump up their protein to 20%, no losses. they lay a nice light brown glossy egg.

 

[City farm]

During football last night, my wife asked the craziest question to come out if her mouth. She asked if I'd "bring her the babies so I can snuggle!" Say what? Umm, sure! She spent a half hour playing with them. It was pretty cool. Photos will come when I'm not posting from a cell phone.
Well, the chicken projects have begun. I picked up all the supplies for a black soldier fly composter today. I cut all the wood, but haven't put it together yet. It consists of a 55 gallon barrel laying on it's side. It sits on a wooden frame with casters for easy mobility. The cool part is that we have the flies here naturally, so after throwing in table scraps, they'll start laying in it in a few days. Once the larvae are full grown, they climb to the highest point, which is a rain gutter coming up out of the compost that sticks out the end of the barrel. They drop off the edge and into a rain gutter sitting below for the chickens to eat out of. They can't crawl out of the gutter if it is sitting correctly. I'll post photos later and explain it on a new page in the Feeders section. It was NT kaylee idea, so I'll reference the original poster there.
I am also making a roost for the brooder today. The girls act like they want one, instead of laying on the ground. How high should it be? The chicks are about two weeks old. Do I add one higher later on? I couldn't find info on any of this.
Lastly, if anyone is interested, Petco has a 10 gallon glass aquarium with NO accessories for $13.99 right now. It is supposed to be perfect for having a colony of mealworms. I haven't seen them that cheap on Craig's List, so I'll do that project next weekend. Has anyone used a heat lamp to regulate the temp during winter? They do best at 100*, so I am hoping to find a bar-style bulb. Any suggestions?

Can't wait to see your photos ..sounds like a good idea..

 

[Fuzzybird]

Well I am so pleased with myself! I managed to intergrate both of my our flocks. 3 Marans and a blue Orp in one flock and 3 young EEs, one Polish, 2 Rhodes, and Tumbleweed the old silky rooster in the other. I first planned on simple changing coops with them and the more aggressive Marans would go back to their old coop in a few days but good old Tumpleweed took matters into his own hands. I first caught the Marans and Orp and put them into the others coop with the other flock still there. Well Tumpleweed came at them right away and bit the tar out of those big Marans and put the fear of Rooster in there hearts! Told them they will not start fights in HIS coop! He is but 1/3 of their size! Well I watched closely and all was peaceful and so I after a few days put them all in the bigger better coop. Going well and old man Tumpleweed still rocks!
Oh and by the way Tumpleweed didn't hurt them at all, no wounds except for their pride which needed to be brought down anyway.

 

[City farm]

Haven't a clue.  You might have better luck with this question on the Emergencies/Diseases/Illnesses forum (under Raising Backyard Chickens in the Forums dropdown menu). 

Thank you..

 

[City farm]

I'm not very clear on the exact symptoms your bird is exhibiting.  Is she just occasionally shaking her head?  Maybe a more detailed description or video of the behavior would help.

ETA: Upon further thought, does your bird act like those with "wry neck"?  Look at examples on youtube using the terms "wry neck chicken" to see if the behavior is similar.

thank you!
I did & she does not keep her head in the "looking up" position..
However vitamin E is a good idea..

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
I don't know if the birds like the canyon grapes or not. Mine had a couple of immature grape clusters the first year, but the clusters disappeared before reaching maturity. Haven't had any fruit at all in the last 3-4 years. Don't know why. It is on drip irrigation.

I can try to collect zinnia seeds. Usually I let the goldfinches have them. Wish the chickens would eat zinnias, since it's one crop I can grow here. They are on a garden drip, so they get plenty of water. (A good soaking every two days in June.) I don't think they would do well without regular water. They get about 3 feet high. The self-seeded ones usually start coming up in late April and May, through whatever food crop I've planted in that space. Usually the zinnias are just starting to look fantastic when we get the first big storm of the summer and wham, the winds blow all the plants over. They keep growing but they don't look as good afterward, all bent over and turning to reach for the sun. They are also very susceptible to powdery mildew in the summer humidity. They perk up again in the fall when it starts to dry out, and pretty much keep going until we start getting frost or the days get really short, but they look ratty because the goldfinches keep eating the leaves as well as the flowers. They like full sun. Mine get a couple of hours of shade late in the afternoon, but are in the sun the rest of the time. They're best if you plant them in the background where you can admire the color when they look good and ignore them when they don't.

Where is the seed box? I've got some squash seeds from last year that should go in it. Hate to waste them and I have more seeds than I will use over the next couple of years.

 

[Demosthine]

Do realize that backyard chickens will lay reliably for quite a few years, and that years old birds tend to be quite tough. I have 10 year old birds who still lay, albeit not regularly. At 5 years, they laid quite regularly.

I did not realize that. Everything I've read so far seems to say two to three years is about the normal range. Even at five years old or more, I'd be completely ok letting the girl grow old and die naturally. Or if they are in pain, I'll put them out of their misery.

Excellent point! Also, you should really read up on flock integration. They are very social creatures and disrupting their group can be stressful on them. If eating them is a goal for you, I would think about using the inevitable broodies to hatch eggs, eat the young roosters and sell or give away the pullets you don't need. It also reduces the odds of bringing in diseases. Just suggesting that as another way of approaching it.

From the stories so far, it seems like integrating week-old chicks when you have a broody is just about perfect. I'll have to section off part of the run for the brooder at that point, or build that under the final playground tower that I have. I was hoping to introduce them extremely young, so that the flock can take care of them. The Learning Center didn't have much at all on that method, unless I missed it entirely. My wife would definitely be interested in having them hatch eggs and then get rid of the pullets. I'll have to keep looking in to it. That's a few months or more down the road.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hrmmmm.....the zinnias sound a bit like fire wheels, except for the powdery mildew part. I think I'd still like to try them if you can find any seeds. I have the seed box now (thanks pastrymama!). It returned to Tucson a shadow of it's former self. I need to go through my personal seed box again and glean what I can from the yard to replenish it. I'm also ripening up some japanese cucumber seeds to add. Constance is in line to get it next and I'll make sure it goes to you after that. What kind of squash seeds do you have? I also wonder if your grape would benefit from some super high nitrogen fertilizer (21-0-0)? It's probably too late this year, but maybe next spring. If you're interested, I can give you some when you get the seed box.

 

[MagicChicken]

Hrmmmm.....the zinnias sound a bit like fire wheels, except for the powdery mildew part. I think I'd still like to try them if you can find any seeds. I have the seed box now (thanks pastrymama!). It returned to Tucson a shadow of it's former self. I need to go through my personal seed box again and glean what I can from the yard to replenish it. I'm also ripening up some japanese cucumber seeds to add. Constance is in line to get it next and I'll make sure it goes to you after that. What kind of squash seeds do you have? I also wonder if your grape would benefit from some super high nitrogen fertilizer (21-0-0)? It's probably too late this year, but maybe next spring. If you're interested, I can give you some when you get the seed box.

You can get zinnia seeds at just about any place that sells seeds. If you get mixed color seeds they will do fine. Even the fancy cultivars tend to devolve into the heirloom color mix over time. I got my original seeds at Home Depot or Lowes. I'll see if I can collect any. Never tried to save them.

My squash seeds are Tohono O'Odham Ha:al (spelling?). Got the original seeds from Native Seeds Search. It's technically a winter squash, but the immature fruits are way better than zucchini. Much sweeter. When you get any. This year I got all male flowers and the plant collapsed just as it was finally starting to make female flowers. Mostly I eat the flowers. They're huge and easy to stuff.

I think the chickens are going to help with the nitrogen issue, now that I've taken to harvesting the poo from the coop/run instead of letting it dry up and blow away. Honestly, the poo is more valuable than the eggs at this point.

 

[Demosthine]

Well, as promised, here are the photos of my wife.

Here is my wife, Amanda, and my two oldest daughters, Laci and Jandra. This was the second day that we had the girls.




Mommy: "Can I have a kiss, Sleepy? Give Mommy a kiss..."




Sleepy: "Well, I might kiss you Mommy, but Sunshine just wants to use you as a roost!"




Sleepy: "Mommy, we're getting cold. I think it's time to go back under the red light, where it's warm."