Arizona Chickens

[maryhysong]

I am excited about getting fresh, healthy meat. I just am dreading my first kill... Right now I only eat organic chicken which is very pricey so from what I see from other's numbers on here the price per pound is much better when we butcher our own chickens rather than trying to buy the expensive chicken from the health food store. I haven't bought any meat from a regular grocery store in a really long time! This Spring I am going in on a 1/4 grass fed cow with some friends. That will be nice!

I plan on calling tomorrow and see what can be done - if nothing else, they have definitely lost my business. Their 90% accuracy rate did not even come close with my order.

yes the first time can be a little rough, even if you are ready for it. There are folks/groups around the valley that teach processing classes; maybe it would be easier for your first time to do a class with others?

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Oh, and a question for all you gardeners... Now that the dogs are gone, my wife wants her garden even more. What is a good size to start with? It'll be a raised bed, along the pool fence. That'll allow me to easily put in a trellis for vine plants. I was thinking 2'x6'?

Whatever size you make it, it won't be big enough.  Kind of like chicken coops...

You got that right. My plan was 2 beds with one vertical T-frame, so I figured the coast. Made a budget..... Something happened, twice the size and twice the expense, twice the time. Then turning one T-F rame into a green house

It has turned into a monster of a garden. But, it is not there to save money so much, I want healthy, flavorful food.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote: You got that right. My plan was 2 beds with one vertical T-frame, so I figured the coast. Made a budget..... Something happened, twice the size and twice the expense, twice the time. Then turning one T-F rame into a green house
It has turned into a monster of a garden. But, it is not there to save money so much, I want healthy, flavorful food.


Oh yeah, it's funny how gardening projects can quickly escalate into something much bigger than you imagined. Demosthine, I would make the beds wider, at least 3' but 4' is even better if you can access both sides.

 

[Demosthine]

Oh yeah, it's funny how gardening projects can quickly escalate into something much bigger than you imagined. Demosthine, I would make the beds wider, at least 3' but 4' is even better if you can access both sides.

Ok, I'll have to check with her exactly where and how she wants it set up. I'm sitting here looking at my kitchen table, where my laptop sits, and got to thinking it looks about perfect for a starter garden. It's about 3.5'x6', so you're dead on Gallo. I have to make an enclosure to keep out the chickens, too. I'll start out using it as a composter and let the girls dig through it to mix it all up, I think, and then completely restrict it once Manda plants her stuff. I printed off the planting calendar from the UofA for her. We can start discussing it on the drive to work tomorrow. We carpool now that I'm on Shift I. Life is already significantly nicer with the new schedule.

Ideally, I really want to get the aquaponics setup going. She keeps telling me not to get the hot tubs every time they come up, so I'm guessing she wants a traditional garden first. I guess to make sure she'll follow through with it, perhaps.

 

[Demosthine]

Well, as luck would have it, Boston has a new hatching of Black Copper Marans this week. They are about five days old. Of course, this comes just days after I arranged a friend to pick me up a few from Marcia down in Tucson. If you're interested, you might try to contact him immediately. He said they went really quick last year.

 

[City farm]

So fantastic e BAT people. Mostly I here kill them all. I had bat houses up on my house. My boy friend took them down. He was afraid of them and wanted of killing them. Oh did I say my X-boy friend.
Not to long ago I caught a very tiny bat trapped in a doorway. It would have been a matter of minutes before the pure thing would be in full afternoon Arizona sun. All I had were work gloves, the soft yellow leather kind. I was hopping his teeth would be to small to go thru them. I caught him as I would one of my budgies. With the head held between two fingers. I put him in a box, when it got dark I released him from the same location. No idea what kind of bat, someday my lack of knowledge is going to get me hurt. There was no time to look it up, and I-pads were a ways off yet.

We have a few bat boxes here in our neighborhood. We know for sure that one has no bat family yet.. It has been at least 4 years or more.. Wonder why..
.. I have asked my neighbor to build some for us.. No luck.. I might have to ask someone else for help in that area..
We love bats... So exciting to say the least..

 

[City farm]

You got that right. My plan was 2 beds with one vertical T-frame, so I figured the coast. Made a budget..... Something happened, twice the size and twice the expense, twice the time. Then turning one T-F rame into a green house

It has turned into a monster of a garden. But, it is not there to save money so much, I want healthy, flavorful food.

Flavorful food is right.. I envy your garden space..

 

[countrygirl74]

I heard back from Ideal about my horrible ratio of my order that I ended up with 5 roosters and 4 hens when I had paid for 9 pullets. They apologized and refunded me the amount I paid for the 5 roos. Now, off to purchase new chicks to replace all those roosters and wait again for them to grow up and give me some eggs!

 

[notinoz2007]

I am excited about getting fresh, healthy meat. I just am dreading my first kill... Right now I only eat organic chicken which is very pricey so from what I see from other's numbers on here the price per pound is much better when we butcher our own chickens rather than trying to buy the expensive chicken from the health food store. I haven't bought any meat from a regular grocery store in a really long time! This Spring I am going in on a 1/4 grass fed cow with some friends. That will be nice!

That WILL be nice. when i was a newlywed we would raid my dads freezer after he bought a half. we lived in kansas where there was plenty of great pasture. the price was awesome and the taste was unbeatable. that lasted my parents, my family and my brother almost the whole year. between that and the pigs in the freezer. mmmm, i miss that

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

I just made a batch of elderberry syrup for my sick kid and I hate to throw out all those used berries if it's safe for the chickens.
Ingredients are boiled and strained:
Dried Elderberries
Fresh Ginger
Whole Cloves
Cinnamon stick

Does anyone know if it's safe to feed?