Arizona Chickens

[Gallo del Cielo]

Well, where to start? I'm still alive and kicking. Tired of doing a/c work in Phx in the summer, it takes all my time and energy. Still have chickens and ducks, and have added guineas, geese and turkeys. Still battling coyotes and feral dogs, as well as hawks and owls, Ran into LadyKortaDoria at the grocery store and found out in conversation about turkeys that she was on BYC, which in turn prompted me to get off my tush and log in and see what's been going on. Nice to see Gallo and some of the others I remember. Great deal on those cisterns Gallo!. Moringas... mine died back last year with the freeze before the seed pods ripened, but did come back so I'm hoping I get some this year. I'm going to try and catch up on some of the recent past posts and hope to check in more often.

OMGosh! It's great to see you Bob! How are the boys? Sorry about the predators. We've been dealing with brazen urban coyotes here. Good to hear about your moringa trees too. And meeting LKD at the grocery store? How random is that? Did you two know each other beforehand? I love strange coincidences like that.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

desertmarcy, Today I was reading my email from EcoGro and found this advertisement. What a good idea, there oughta be some good customers in their subscriber list:

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser​

Organic Turkeys and Chickens​

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Organic Holidays​

Want Organic Turkeys and Chickens for the Holidays?

Our friends at Feathered Reptiles Farm raise Organic & Heritage turkeys and chickens and are now offering organic ready-to-cook chickens. Fresh or frozen. These are very flavorful and not like the factory-farmed breeds.

They are taking reservations now for holiday heritage turkeys. Organic eggs and processed birds as well as live chickens for your flock may be picked up at their farm in NW Tucson.

We have tried one of their turkeys and it was WONDERFUL!

Email [email protected] or call 520-744-4211. Website: FeatheredReptilesFarm.weebly.com

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[Gallo del Cielo]

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!

I wouldn't worry too much about the tomatoes and the eggplant. Yes, they are nightshades and your chickens will likely eat them, but the amount of solanine in the leaves is relatively low. I wouldn't purposefully feed it to them though either. Mine regularly eat tomato leaves and haven't shown any ill effects. I do think that they avoid most plants that are more seriously toxic just by the bitter taste of the toxic alkaloids (I wouldn't trust them around wild mushrooms though).

I use 2' high lengths of 2" X 4" welded wire to keep my chickens out of the garden and away from plants I need protecting. I also use 2' high X 3' diameter cylinders of hardware cloth to protect plants. Most birds won't try to fly on top of wire like that, although, as MagicChicken recently pointed out, there are some breeds that are more likely to violate that rule. I've raised mostly heavy breeds for this reason.

Keep an eye out for them flying up onto the wall, but the only times I've ever had a chicken fly over my 6' wall was when they were chased over by coyotes or kids. I don't clip wings just so they have a chance at getting away if something does chase them. My birds seem to view their walled back yard as their sanctuary and have made no voluntary attempts to leave it. When starting out free-ranging, I'd suggest doing it in the late afternoon before going to roost so they get a couple hours out and then extend it each day they are out.

 

[notinoz2007]

i was raking out the run today, molt feathers everywhere! at least i dont have to worry about egg eaters - she's probably not laying because of the molt. anyway, i was thinking there are tons of little hiding places for kits to be born. i'm sorry to hear about your losses today demo, have you ruled out the parents as suspects? i know thats fairly common in rabbits and an undesirable breed trait. I hope it wasnt them - then again, i hope something hasnt decided your yard is a buffet table.

my chicks and chickens have eaten every tomato plant i've ever planted. they love every part. they are also extremely fond of the mexican petunia and i think i will plant more of it because no matter how much they eat it comes back completely in just a short time. they wont touch lantana, i wonder if its toxic, or they just dont like it.

night all...

 

[AZKat]

Notinoz: I think it must be your chickens, since mine LOVE lantana. Awhile back, my mom got rid of a volunteer lanatana bush in her yard, and I took two garbage bags of it home for my chickens. By the next day it was just woody stems.

Everything is going well over here, the baby is doing well, and she is getting really big. She isn't quite 5 months old, and she's already starting to outgrow some of her 6-9 month clothes. The boys are all doing well too, lately the big excitement is the older two going to Code Club at the library. Its a organization that helps kids learn to write computer programs.

 

[flower]

lately the big excitement is the older two going to Code Club at the library. Its a organization that helps kids learn to write computer programs. Wow, I like the sound of that ! How wonderful to learn that stuff so early.
ha ha I am so old that when I took my son to the library and science museum for computer learning, we were shown how to use the "floppy disks" before they were inserted into the little hard plastic envelopes if any of you remember all those little disks that had almost no memory. They were being used before CDs and way before the little flash memory sticks.

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[flower]

greens au gratin alternator layer white sauce with cheese, steamed greens (these are mustard greens from Bonnie's garden) and sliced boiled eggs add crumbs and grated cheese before baking in oven. Bacon adds a nice flavor but I already had plenty with the baked fish and brown rice.


I love to eat well and take time to cook basics.

 

[Demosthine]

lately the big excitement is the older two going to Code Club at the library. Its a organization that helps kids learn to write computer programs. Wow, I like the sound of that ! How wonderful to learn that stuff so early.
ha ha I am so old that when I took my son to the library and science museum for computer learning, we were shown how to use the "floppy disks" before they were inserted into the little hard plastic envelopes if any of you remember all those little disks that had almost no memory. They were being used before CDs and way before the little flash memory sticks.

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I started writing code on a Comadore 64 and "upgraded" to an Apple IIe with those floppy disks. I still write a majority of my code by hand because it is cleaner and nicer that way. So yeah, many memories from an age already being lost...

 

[flower]

I started writing code on a Comadore 64 and "upgraded" to an Apple IIe with those floppy disks. I still write a majority of my code by hand because it is cleaner and nicer that way. So yeah, many memories from an age already being lost...

Yeah I have heard about the Comadore 64 but your skills with IT are much mcuh greater than mine.

But I do have some other skills. Like Tailoring as if that is necessary in this life. ha ! But then........................ssssurvival and fun is where I am

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Has anyone seen or heard advertising for or against solar home energy? The energy/electric company's wants to raise rates on people that have solar panels, plus not pay home owners for or pay less for surpluses energy produced by home panels. I just heard on the radio one point on solar energy....... From the electric company's spokesman, that Solar energy has not been proven as sustainable. Any opinions of that? They are saying that those that do not have solar panels are subsidizing solar users. The programs helping people go solar are mostly government money. Anyone have information otherwise?
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I had a Commodore 64. I remembered that old code. Not dead to see it mostly gone. Learned to write my own codes in Auto-cad.
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HI, Bobs Henhouse, no we did not know each other. Met over the turkeys. I know I will have yo buy one, and now that I have been educated over the past year, chicken and turkey are not the same. I have looked on line,Heritage Turkeys are selling for $10.00 a pound. Some are selling or over $300.00 (with shipping), and they seem to be frozen at time of shipping. It is sad, people do not realize the bargain Desertmarcy's Turkey are. Adding time and fuel to the price of her turkeys is still a bargain. Tight money and an uneducated public is the problem. We have the cheep east food/meats. At Cannon Street Farmers Market in San Diego, chickens sold for $20.00 dressed, not by the pound. Now that I know about chickens, that sounds right, $15.00 to $20.00 or around $4.00 to $5.00 sounds right. I love our cheep food....... As someone on limited income. But I lament the quality of it and acceptance of inferior foods. When I was in San Diego I paid 50¢ Per egg, and really in joyed my weekly eggs.