Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

lkd, your garden looks great! Mine is doing okay, and will be doing much better once I figure out a way to keep the chickens out of my bins. I tried armoring the bins with twine wrapped around the borders, which worked for about two weeks, until plants starting growing up the twine and loosening the corners, causing sagging that the chickens laugh at while scratching up my plants. Now I'm buying the old fashioned metal borders and hoping that will work. This stuff is cheap at Lowe's: http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00GBYtKSrsCnpc/Garden-Border-Fence.jpg The flock's dynamics have changed since the boss chicken died. I'm still very upset over her death. I can't fathom why she flew over the fence into land of danger. I never did process my roo...one chicken death this weekend was enough. I think we'll do him Friday after work, brine him, and then have a nice crockpot meal on Sunday. I'm building a cool garden sink/planting bench/chicken and rabbit processing station. I spent a couple of hours on it yesterday. I'm using the base of a planing bench my husband made years ago--the base is still good, but the plywood top and bottom were dry rotting out. The sink has been waiting for a use in my garden for years...I kept trying to figure out where to use it for a planting bed, but never did find a good spot. I have all the wood cut out already, I just need to prime, paint, and assemble. Here is before: And here is after a couple of hours of work. Not pictured are the 2x4's for the hanging rack and backsplash piece. There isn't much workspace, but I'll save the piece I cut out for the sink to place over the sink when I need more table area.

That is wonderful... I love that you repurposed items.. I am the big recycler here in our home."DON'T let ANYTHING go into the landfill" !! If u can help it.. I have a roo you can process, want him?? P.M. Us & we can work it out.. If not anyone?

 

[City farm]

My garden is doing ok in some areas but it appears that a mouse or ground squirrel has burrowed it's way in to my fortress meant to keep the critters out.   It's time for me to go on the war path again. Lost all my watermelon this summer. They can get through anything. I refuse to give up. 

Hey I have an idea?? If you are not to far away you can borrow our carin terrier Trixie, she is relentless... She will have them gone in 1 day.
A neighbor had a roof rat get into her house.. Sure enough with in about 4 hours she brought her back.. Sometimes if she hears the lizards
she won't leave untill she gets it.. It is so funny.. She will let you know when it is cornered. You might have to move a piece of furniture on
your patio if she scares it out of its den..

 

[pipemum]

That is wonderful... I love that you repurposed items.. I am the big recycler here in our home."DON'T let ANYTHING go into the landfill" !! If u can help it..
I have a roo you can process, want him?? P.M. Us & we can work it out..

If not anyone?

I would, but I'm in Tucson!

 

[City farm]

 

Code:

I should have done more work on my garden today but I was lazy. The heat is still getting me down. 

Good job on your garden. 

At the moment I am only in the garden a few hrs at most a day.
[rule][rule]
I have a question, IS THERE A MALE/ROOSTER chick personality????


Basil is noisy and refuses to become tame.... Sort of. Will not stand for being held...

Not really.  I've had boys that tame easily and boys that don't.  Ditto with girls.  If anything, I'd say that boys are usually easier to tame.  But I honestly think it is very individual.

X2.....

 

[City farm]

pastrymama, your poor chicks!  Yuck! 

LKD, I wish they'd eat ants too.  I'm having such a hard time this year with leaf cutter ants.  They've killed a bunch of plants, and now are working on more!  The leaf cutters laugh at DE, party in the dust.  I don't want to use poison because of all the other good stuff around, plus the main ant mound is in the wash, where even more wildlife abound.  I still vividly remember when I was a kid, my grandma sprayed for ants.  The next day, all the baby quail that she used to feed were lying on her patio, twitching and dying what looked like a terrible, painful death.  

About DE and bees--I do use DE to control flies around the coop.  I spread it on the ground, no vegetation around.  Bees shouldn't be affected by the DE, right?  I've read they are quite sensitive to it.  

My rooster, the one destined for butchering this weekend, is suddenly being such a friendly guy.  Following me around while I water the garden, getting soaked in the spray, chasing rivulets of water, begging for grubs.  He must be trying to get on my good side.   

Animals have telepathy .. Mine do.. it is a bit freaky.. Gota love them..

 

[Demosthine]

Seeeee! You have to come to the East Side! Then you and my husband can talk manly talk and your wife and I can talk about our husbands...er, I mean girl talk. Scottsdale is pretty lenient with regards to chickens. They classify crowing and barking as the same. They basically say that the noise has to bother two or more people (one can be an animal control person). And they don't limit the number of chickens (thank God!) Where we are, our neighbors have stated that they either don't mind or that they actually LIKE my rooster. We do, however put him in the garage every evening. And we're not in the ritzy area. It may be different if we were surrounded by mansions.

Lmao! Sounds like Scottsdale wouldn't be too bad. We're discussing moving to Montana and starting a ranch, but I may look in to getting property here first to see how things go. I'd love to follow Joel Salatin's holistic management techniques and I think they could absolutely thrive here year round. I'm significantly more leary about it up North, where you have snow and diminished growing seasons.

I was discussing raw milk last night with the owner of Save Your Dairy in Queen Creek and she said they are having a huge shortage of milk. Between decreased production from the heat and the dramatic increase in demands, she can't handle it anymore. They have stopped delivering to the remote cities like Tucson and closed their main store at the farm. Everything is sold through their reservation and delivery system, called the Guardian Angel program. I've been running the math this morning, and aside from start up costs, a properly managed farm could be quite successful, I think.

The average dairy cow produces between six and eight gallons per day, or 180 to 240 gallons per month. At $10 a gallon, which is the discounted rate and significantly less than it could be, that's $1800 to $2400 per month for one cow. Each cow costs an average of $1800 for "heritage" breeds, i.e. non-Craig's List. The natural pasturing Joel believes in would eliminate feed costs, which is the largest expense of the typical dairies. The proper Salatin method requires about an acre per year per cow. Running tandem with that, is the flock of chickens. Three or four days behind the cows, he runs a flock of chickens. It equates to about 100 chickens per cow. Assuming a 75% lay rate, that's 180 dozen eggs per month, about $360 at $2 a dozen or $540 at $3. At my current feed rates for 14 chickens, it comes to about $150 a month for supplemental feed.

Multiply that gross income by ten for a "small" farm running on ten acres and you are looking at $24,000 for milk and $3,720 to $5,580 for eggs. A $1 million mortgage runs about $5,000 per month. I can't image the equipment and water sources would run any more than that. So a $27,000 per month income with $10,000 a month expenses... Yeah, that's a whole lotta money... Now, where to find twenty acres of agricultural land and get the farming grants to cover startup costs...

Yeah, yeah, too much math this early in the morning!!!

 

[pipemum]

Don't forget to factor in water costs! I'm guessing that those are HUGE here. I dunno, maybe water costs are another federal subsidy? Given the relatively low productivity of desert soil, I'll bet cows here have a greater than 1-acre per feed ratio, and I'm guessing it'll take more than cow and chicken poop to keep the soil fertile enough to keep producing pasture crops.

I do think a properly managed farm can rake in the bucks, especially located near a big metropolis like Phoenix. Folks have the money to pay for quality meat/dairy/produce.

 

[City farm]

Oh I almost forgot does anyone have free hens? I traded my neighbor for a bread machine.. She only wants 2 & possibly 3. At first
she wanted just one, but I thought that they do better as a few when moved to a new home.. I just gave away 4 of ours.. So , yes, after
that is when she said I'll trade you.. Huh.. I was bummed..

 

[City farm]

Seeeee! You have to come to the East Side! Then you and my husband can talk manly talk and your wife and I can talk about our husbands...er, I mean girl talk. Scottsdale is pretty lenient with regards to chickens. They classify crowing and barking as the same. They basically say that the noise has to bother two or more people (one can be an animal control person). And they don't limit the number of chickens (thank God!) Where we are, our neighbors have stated that they either don't mind or that they actually LIKE my rooster. We do, however put him in the garage every evening. And we're not in the ritzy area. It may be different if we were surrounded by mansions.

Lmao!  Sounds like Scottsdale wouldn't be too bad.  We're discussing moving to Montana and starting a ranch, but I may look in to getting property here first to see how things go.  I'd love to follow Joel Salatin's holistic management techniques and I think they could absolutely thrive here year round.  I'm significantly more leary about it up North, where you have snow and diminished growing seasons.

I was discussing raw milk last night with the owner of Save Your Dairy in Queen Creek and she said they are having a huge shortage of milk.  Between decreased production from the heat and the dramatic increase in demands, she can't handle it anymore.  They have stopped delivering to the remote cities like Tucson and closed their main store at the farm.  Everything is sold through their reservation and delivery system, called the Guardian Angel program.  I've been running the math this morning, and aside from start up costs, a properly managed farm could be quite successful, I think.

The average dairy cow produces between six and eight gallons per day, or 180 to 240 gallons per month.  At $10 a gallon, which is the discounted rate and significantly less than it could be, that's $1800 to $2400 per month for one cow.  Each cow costs an average of $1800 for "heritage" breeds, i.e. non-Craig's List.  The natural pasturing Joel believes in would eliminate feed costs, which is the largest expense of the typical dairies.  The proper Salatin method requires about an acre per year per cow.  Running tandem with that, is the flock of chickens.  Three or four days behind the cows, he runs a flock of chickens.  It equates to about 100 chickens per cow.  Assuming a 75% lay rate, that's 180 dozen eggs per month, about $360 at $2 a dozen or $540 at $3.  At my current feed rates for 14 chickens, it comes to about $150 a month for supplemental feed.

Multiply that gross income by ten for a "small" farm running on ten acres and you are looking at $24,000 for milk and $3,720 to $5,580 for eggs.  A $1 million mortgage runs about $5,000 per month.  I can't image the equipment and water sources would run any more than that.  So a $27,000 per month income with $10,000 a month expenses...  Yeah, that's a whole lotta money...  Now, where to find twenty acres of agricultural land and get the farming grants to cover startup costs...

Yeah, yeah, too much math this early in the morning!!!

NOW YOU ARE TALKING.. Boy that is all I ever do on that subject.. We Re right up there with you..

 

[City farm]

Don't forget to factor in water costs!  I'm guessing that those are HUGE here. I dunno, maybe water costs are another federal subsidy?   Given the relatively low productivity of desert soil, I'll bet cows here have a greater than 1-acre per feed ratio, and I'm guessing it'll take more than cow and chicken poop to keep the soil fertile enough to keep producing pasture crops.  

I do think a properly managed farm can rake in the bucks, especially located near a big metropolis like Phoenix.  Folks have the money to pay for quality meat/dairy/produce. 

Hay, piping in on H2o,
Does anyone have the water treatment that is piped into your main line from H2o???
We just got it installed yesterday.. I am so totally excited..no more smelling the chlorine or chemicals when we showere or
when we do dish's by hand.. We have a home that was built in the 5o's.. We are the dish washer..
The manufacture is called h2o concepts..