Arizona Chickens

[squeakyballs]

Ours are really loud too....this time of year the "egg drama" is a little ridiculous. Several yelling for a couple of HOURS b/c someone else is already in their favorite box, the one in the box yelling at the interlopers ogling her nesting box, ones who are laying elsewhere "singing" (ie YELLING their egg songs) ...repeat 18-20 times per day...

DH had had to grab some of the worst offenders and bring them inside to try and break up the 'singing' ...lol. Last time one of them snuck off an laid an egg in his closet next to his shoes. Now she purposely tries to sneak back into the house to lay....he should have known better...

 

[countrygirl74]

Thanks for the encouragement flower & maryhsong!!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I have had chickens a few months, I am surprised at how quite they are. I think when they are happy they are quite. They make wonderful happy sounds. Those with more experience will have to confirm my thought. On the other hand I have not heard their egg song. For me I will see about noise when they start laying.

Some breeds make more noise that others.  My Welsummer is very vocal and hens are quite noisy when they start their laying cycle.

Interesting, maybe I lucked out with my girls. I have my figures crossed for their egg song. All I have had is the "Hay! Don't step on me!", "Ok! I'll move",and the "where is every one!".

 

[City farm]

Well, today we culled our first roos. We had to kill 5 of them. It was tough, but we did it and I feel a sense of accomplishment for that. I now have 5 bags of meat in my fridge.
I definitely would recommend having someone experienced with you for the first time. We tried to do the first one and didn't realize how much pressure you really need to make sure you get a good cut on the jugular and so that was a little traumatic, especially because it was on the one rooster we had raised from a little yellow baby chick. It doesn't feel very good when you don't get it right and you have to keep cutting and try to get it so you can put the poor thing out of its misery. Once we realized how to get it right, with help from an experienced person there with us, the other 4 went more smoothly - not necessarily easier to do, but death was quick instead of traumatic. I did cry a couple times and my husband had to walk away a couple times before the next kill as it was starting to get to him. I have to give him the credit. I only helped kill one and after that all I did was the plucking and help dress. The positive thing about it is they had a wonderfully, spoiled life and now they are feeding us. It was the right thing to do as we had more roosters than hens. Now, although I still feel the sadness of the day, I feel a sense of relief that we are done and they are gone.
For those of you that cull regularly, does it get easier or is it always difficult? I'm not really looking forward to doing it again but it's all still fresh in my mind right now... it does give you a whole new appreciation for your food.
I love that it's snowing so beautifully now and making everything pretty - a nice end to the difficult day.

So true it does really make you appreciate our food...

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

It is a very sad day for my family...

Wife in hospital diagnosed with with advanced lung cancer today....

She went in feeling bad, we had no clue...

It has also reached her brain...

We need your prayers or good vibes...

Barb is only 51....

There is nothing they can do at this point...

It was not supposed to go like this and we still are raising our last child Mikayla (14) love more and hate little my friends, because life can be so short.

Bill, I am so sorry to hear such news. Keeping you and the family in my prayers.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Well, today we culled our first roos. We had to kill 5 of them. It was tough, but we did it and I feel a sense of accomplishment for that. I now have 5 bags of meat in my fridge.
I definitely would recommend having someone experienced with you for the first time. We tried to do the first one and didn't realize how much pressure you really need to make sure you get a good cut on the jugular and so that was a little traumatic, especially because it was on the one rooster we had raised from a little yellow baby chick. It doesn't feel very good when you don't get it right and you have to keep cutting and try to get it so you can put the poor thing out of its misery. Once we realized how to get it right, with help from an experienced person there with us, the other 4 went more smoothly - not necessarily easier to do, but death was quick instead of traumatic. I did cry a couple times and my husband had to walk away a couple times before the next kill as it was starting to get to him. I have to give him the credit. I only helped kill one and after that all I did was the plucking and help dress. The positive thing about it is they had a wonderfully, spoiled life and now they are feeding us. It was the right thing to do as we had more roosters than hens. Now, although I still feel the sadness of the day, I feel a sense of relief that we are done and they are gone.
For those of you that cull regularly, does it get easier or is it always difficult? I'm not really looking forward to doing it again but it's all still fresh in my mind right now... it does give you a whole new appreciation for your food.
I love that it's snowing so beautifully now and making everything pretty - a nice end to the difficult day.

I found it easier, the knowlage of as painless death, a good life, the appreciation and the recognition of the value of life is what helps me. When we, my late husband, went hunting, he would always take a minute and give thanks before we dressed it. We never contracted buck fever, our mind set was not on getting a buck, but selecting a buck for the table, and having a clean shot. When you cull, giving thanks is important. When you set down to dinner, giving grace includes reverance for the source of the meal. All of this helps to make you a better humanbeing.

 

[kukupecpec]

We had sort of a bittersweet weekend.
Got outside yesterday morning to make a few upgrades to the coop - took the tarp roof off the flimsy flat metal support beams, added a chain link panel on top, and replaced the tarps, looks great an much more ready for the monsoons - and found that one of the roosters who is kind of a loner refused to sleep with the other the night before. We had had MEGA wind that night and had tarped the entire coop as they don't have an actual enclosed sleeping area (we are converting a kids plastic little tykes playhouse day - too late I suppose) and he curled up inside a cardboard box and died in his sleep. I would guess it was from the cold, he was always very healthy, just low man on the totem pole and a total scared spazz ball.

Then this morning, I have 7 out of 7 eggs pipping! I got 7 local barnyard mix eggs off CL for $5 to run a test hatch with regular sized eggs - only been hatching serama til now - and hadn't been able to see ANYTHING through the shells the entire incubation! I thought maybe I'd been ripped off and given unfertilized eggs, but let them sit in the bator since it isn't needed until my BLRW eggs arrive this week. And voila! All 7 pipping on day 20! I guess you gotta give up life to get some.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Great about the hatch! I really don't think it got cold enough to kill a healthy rooster. He may have gotten injured some how. Poor baby.

 

[Demosthine]

That's an absolute shame about your rooster. I find that more difficult to understand, the sudden death, as opposed to sending one to Camp Freezer. There is an ultimate cause and benefit from the latter.


On a few positive notes, the Black Copper Maran chicks are getting bigger by the day and are significantly more heavy at this stage than the Barred Rocks are the Production Red were. I hadn't thought about there being a weight difference like that between breeds. Two are already roosting on the sides of their container and pooping on my floor.

I also just put up an ad on Craig's List to sell some of my mealworms. The colony completely took off and I have too many to be giving my girls. I listed them at $5.00 for a quarter pound, which is quite a lot of worms, actually. I still barely put a dent in the colony.


And we just started getting some rain up here. The temperature had a sudden drop about a half hour ago and the wind kicked up. My wife had some hail down at 99th Avenue and Greenway road. Looking to be a good night!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I need some help in explanation. I covered my T-Frame, as everyone knows by earlier entrys. I used Home Depot 4mil plastic. My nephew is questioning what I have done, my design. He is watching it on my security camera on his computer. He is watching it blow in and out as the wind blows it. He is telling me I did it wrong, I and not keeping the warm air in. I have to many holes in it.

I told him that the plastic is not the right kind and not designed for this application. No it is not sealed. It dose have tears in it, the wind the first night tore holes in it at the clips. This plasic is brittal, when you open it is is like opening paper. The other, if you remember flowed over the frames, I used the same clips on them and it did not tear it. The plastic has stretch to it. To some degree it is air pressure. You have X volume of air. When it is pushed in on one side, the air pushes out the other side, when the air pressure releases, there is now a sucking in because some air had beed forced out.

How can I explain? Or am I wrong in my physics? I do not mind being wrong, but I would move to be corrected. I have over a 222 sq ft sail. I no longer have my old formula books, I do have the Internet (better then the books). But is it really worth me figuring out the ft pounds of air pressure, the curve of the tops and adding in the vectors. If I wonted to do that I would have gone into Brigid or skyscrapers design. I know of it, had to do it in school, that is it. Strieght of materials, physics, metallurgy, and all the math classes, in collage gave me foundation, I only used that what I needed in residential design and civil engendering on roads, sewers and such such as water flow and compactly. Maybe a pilot, or a sailer help me? I feal so in adequate in my ability to communicate.