Arizona Chickens

[kpgoldstar]

I am going to let my chicks completely free range in my backyard this weekend. We have a pool so that will be a challenge getting them to realize that is off limits. I have veggie gardens on 2 sides of my yard, one that is fenced right now to about 2 ft. We are using the fencing that goes around the other garden to contain the girls in a lawn area for their unsupervised free ranging. I have read in the BYC for Dummies that they should not eat any plant matter from the nightshade family, mainly tomatoes and eggplant. How does anyone keep them from eating tomato greens and do they know it is poisonous for them so they just don't eat it anyway? I am planting my tomato seedlings this weekend as well. I know, I am backward of many of you that garden! Given where I live with almost never a freeze I start my tomatoes from seed in the house in Aug or Sept then they get planted out in Oct. I am a couple weeks late this year.
I can put my fencing back around the tomato section of the garden but at this point (5 weeks) they are pretty flighty and I want to make sure they don't get to those plants, 1) for their health 2) so I have tomatoes come February. Should I devise some sort of extra chicken wire barrier above the fencing to insure they don't get in there, or can I count on the fact that they will have a HUGE area to forage compared to the small lawn section they were allowed and they won't be interested in flying over a fence to get to greens?
I am also on the fence about clipping wings. A week ago they were easily flying up the the top of the lawn barrier but none of them landed on the other side. Now that they are fat and sassy with the ff, the desire to fly has seemed to diminish. Plus as they age, their flightiness should diminish with weight gain. Should I just watch and see their behavior and if they attempt to fly to the top of the 6 ft wall surrounding the yard deal with it then? Or nip a potential problem in the bud and clip all 4 ahead of time? We are not zoned for poultry and I really don't need a chicken on the wall advertising.
Thanks again for any and all advice!

 

[MandyFitch]

I don't know the answers to any of your questions but I have a pool and the chicken haven't encountered it yet so I'm interested in the answers you get. I also have some useless tomato plants they've yet to discover.

Regarding your zoning, I'd say four chickens are not poultry, they're pets. If anyone see one of your birds tell them they are "desert pigeons."

 

[Bobby Basham]

We use a flood light at night to seed the lawn.. When the wild birds are sleeping they have "literally" NO IDEA that the seed is even there..
Been doing that for 4-5 years now.. It totally works.. Problem solved..

I'm really liking this idea. I haven't given the neighbors any reason to suspect that I've been partaking in any suspicious activities since I moved here five years ago, but If they saw a bunch of flood lights in my back yard sprouting some plants (I live on a peninsula with a culdesac in front and back), the Law Enforcement and SWAT team would be here in a heartbeat, scaring the hell out of me and my babies. and confiscating all my rye, wheat, fodder, fermented feeds, maybe the hens, too, with allegations of COCK fighting with the gals.

Sheesh, I live paycheck-to-paycheck, eeking out a meager living. I don't have everything I want, but everything I NEED. I don't who or what you believe in, but I've been blessed over, over, over and over again. Things that I thought were impossible, came to past and fruition, not high on the hog, but not at the poverty level either. Call me a wimp, but it's an emotional thing for me seeing how far I've come and it makes me break down and cry every time I think about it. I did my parents proud and have to give Thanks everyday, because there are alot of folks out there worse off than me.

I do print out portions of your postings and put them in my Honey Do (Chicken Do) tray for future reference. I think I may expand those planter boxes out further, maybe create some type of oasis with a little bit of everything, even some misters. Hey, the whole back yard is just plain dirt, a complete blank canvas.

Still haven't heard back for the H.O.A. about my kennel height, heck with them. As much as I wanna buy one of those pre-fab coups, I may end up building my own maybe in the style of those. Hand tools, power tools, levels etc., are no strangers here and can navigate around them fairly well.

Sorta jumping around to various posts, but congrats to those who have new babies! If I can get some furniture moved outta here, I can start building my brooder (oops, forgot to put that on the list).

Keep those ideas flowing, you folks are amazing! --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

 

[AZKat]

Only one of the eggs that was under my broody has hatched out so far, the good news is that the chick is healthy and thriving. I really, really hope that its a girl, since its only the one chick. Its a Welsummer/EE cross. If nothing hatches out by tomorrow night I'm going to pull the remaining eggs.

 

[pipemum]

I will probably have at least a few. I have blue, green, khaki, light tan/pink through dark brown. Just depends on whose laying at the time.

I'll keep you in mind. I have to look up Claypool again. Ok, just did, it won't be a problem to pick up eggs from you in a few months. We camp in the Sierra Anchas often enough.

AZkat, congrats on the little hatchling.

Demosthine, I think I never did congratulate you on your rabbits--congrats. How are they doing? How do you plan on I'm taking a rabbit class in a few weeks, mostly to find out if it's feasible in yard. I still have my doubts. I don't quite have a safe space you like do.

 

[Demosthine]

Demosthine, I think I never did congratulate you on your rabbits--congrats. How are they doing? How do you plan on I'm taking a rabbit class in a few weeks, mostly to find out if it's feasible in yard. I still have my doubts. I don't quite have a safe space you like do.

Thanks for the congrats and they seem to be doing great. They are very active and a couple starting opening their eyes two days ago and then a few more yesterday. That puts them at about eight or nine days old, we estimate. I had to relocate them to a new nest area because of fencing off the chickens in to the side yard. Momma found them in their new nest that night and all appears well. Not sure what you were asking when you said "How do you plan on" because it wasn't finished.

I have no idea how your yard is set up, but ours has worked extremely well so far. There has been a slight amount of burrowing, but they are in good areas. First and foremost, it is in the girls' sandbox and does absolutely no damage at all. Since the girls haven't been playing outside, they won't disturb the rabbits. The other spot was in our compost pile and every time I messed it, they simply remade it. I think that's about the only two places I've found. They love hiding under the oleander bushes and at the foot of the slides. In the new temporary fencing, they found (or made) a hole large enough to squeeze through to visit the flock. I find them in there socializing several times a day.

So far, I could not be happier about them free ranging in the backyard. They are extremely happy, growing well and seem to be doing a great job parenting the kits so far. I know it's not for everyone, but neither are free-range chickens or turkeys. Since she kindled, I've been feeding more pellet feed for her, but otherwise, they were eating about two cups of pellets a week, rather than the cup or so per day. I want a good milk supply and healthy doe for her next kindling, so she can have more for the time being.

Hope that answers your questions. Anything else, feel free to ask. Where's your class at? I'm still interested in taking one, but I haven't bothered looking in to them yet. Let us know if you enjoy it and would recommend it.

 

[pipemum]

The class in here in Tucson, but the presenters are from the Phoenix area. Hostile Hare. The group seems a little extreme (the logo I find a bit repulsive (even as a gun owner and user, I hate guns, and I hate guns "in my face" like that)), but also seem like they'll be a good source of info on rabbits in the desert.

As of now, the one part of the yard that would be safe and comfortable for rabbits is my garden area, and I'm more interested in keeping it a garden area. The safe is relatively speaking, as bobcat could easily get anything uncaged. The rest of the yard is open to my dogs, and they are not small-animal friendly. I'm pretty sure I want to and will raise meat rabbits, and I have a big yard, so I'll figure something out. I'm thinking with my yard backing out to a natural wash with all sorts of predators that unpenned rabbits aren't going to last long in my yard.

I was going to ask how you plan on killing your rabbits on butcher day. I've been watching videos on processing, and the kill part still makes me very uncomfortable to watch. The most palatable method I've seen is the Rabbit Wringer, followed by the same guy's Zinger--though the after-body twitches with the zinger (bolt through the brain), again, make me uncomfortable. It's a normal reaction to growing up with the likes of Bambi and Thumper, no doubt! Anyway, something like the Wringer would mount at a perfect level on my garden sink/processing station.

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Chicken news
My meaties are doing great! It's apparent I have a couple of males, and wow, they really do feather in much more slowly than the females. I'm considering processing a few as Cornish game hens--something my parents love, so maybe a couple of dead chickens will make up for my teenage years. Ha. If I do that, I'll be processing some as early as next week. This weekend I'm going to assemble a drill plucker. Looks easy to build, inexpensive, and seems to work faster than hand plucking (which I've only done once and wasn't really too bad...).

3 eggs again yesterday! I'm getting enough to give away a 6-pack a week to my parents or a lucky friend! If all 6 ever start laying--egg-city.

 

[flower]

pipemum About your comment growing up with Bambi and Thumper..............it seems that most of us have grown up with conflicting ideas due to the propaganda of Big Business and Big Government's using the media and controlling our schools. Never the less it is difficult for most of us to kill. I just try to think of how much adulteration is infused into our foods and everything else we use today including shampoos and skin creams. I learned years ago that by the time an infant has grown to one year of age at least 25 chemicals have been used on the skin because Bossiness's would not flourish without selling............ I am reading a book about the use of Mercury to cure disease between the 1700s until 1900s. It use caused insanity and death and even though the medical profession found evidence of this they persisted in using a CURE which was more deadly than the disease. ugh

On a lighter note, there was some rain mixed with hail a few minutes ago and I delighted to see that the girls were inside. So they got their pot of cooked lentils early !

 

[Fuzzybird]

Well folks, My DH and I have a new home and starting in Jan. we will be off traveling the USA for 6-12 months or so. We will then find where we want to stay but the thing that makes me happy is we have a place until we find that perfect spot for us! We will have our two whippet dogs with us but no chickens.

She is a 1986 Jayco but has been very well cared for.

 

[pipemum]

Fuzzybird, my husband and I developed a 5-year plan on our honeymoon and, according to plan, by next year we were supposed to have sold the house and spend the next year traveling the country in an RV, looking for our next perfect home! Well, uh, pregnancy shortly after and having a kid was NOT part of the 5 year plan, but happened anyway (no regrets, just not part of the plan)! Selling the house and traveling the country has been delayed. I'm still hoping to do that as a family while my daughter is young, or at least before she graduates high school! The RV looks great! Have fun, and you should post some of your adventures here!!