Arizona Chickens

[Gallo del Cielo]

THANK YOU. As soon as my husband comes home this next weekend we are going to assess the chicken coop and see what needs to be done before we get more chickens. The part that got ripped open is just 2x4's and wiring so the chickens wouldn't get to hot but maybe we need to put some plywood or something along the bottom for the first 2 feet?

desertmarcy, thank you SO much for your offer. I will probably be contacting you when we get things sorted out. We were expecting to start getting more eggs by September and I don't know if I can wait that long all over again!

You also have to have something to prevent diggers (if you don't already). An apron of wire around the edge works wonders to keep them out. I used old 2"X4" welded wire connected perpendicularly to the bottom of the wire in the coop/run and extending out about 20". Coyotes try digging at the edge of the fence and encounter the wire. We've seen a number of holes at the edge where they've tried to get in.

 

[City farm]

I am a cantankerous person by nature. You would think this would keep me safe....for the past 29 years I have been the recipiant of many an errant child. Why people think this is a good idea, I will never know. I have never gotten a child from the state, but through the church and word of mouth. I've taken in more than one child or dog in the middle of the night. I can't count the number of dogs or cats or horses, but there have been 21 foster children. I have a small house. Funds are always tight. I make them do chores. I MAKE them behave. I scold them, reprimand them. I'm a slave driver. I made them go to church, volunteer, go to bed on time, and dress like a respectable human being. And on the inside I might cry for them, because their life is crap, but I wouldn't ever tell them that. I tell them if they don't like their life...fix it. They have choices.

That's very good of you to do Syl. I'm the youngest of 3 kids that have never lived with their mom and dad. It's amazing that it took me 30 some odd years to figure out exactly what a disservice I was given thanks to them. Until I married last year and experienced what a real family should be like with her and her parents. I was tossed to Great grandmother until she died, then grandparents and then a great aunt, then mom and step dads and that's where things got real bad and I ended up in Brenham, Tx. at a place called Miracke Farm Inc.

360 acres if I remember right. When you arrive, after checking in you live in the woods for 2 weeks and build your own shelter in the trees and live and work outdoors. The point is to build trust and respect and to learn the rules. Learn how to talk to someone. Learn how to deal with your anger etc.

When you graduate this course you move into a house with bunk beds in the rooms and a centralized bathroom. The Home Parents live in an attached apartment and often have children of their own. There were 4 different houses that were progressively nicer to live in than the next.

It was ran with rankings like any Ranch, that started with Greenhorn, then Maverick and Top Hand and so-on ... I remember the Top Hand made $10 per week and the Greenhorn made $1.50 per week.

5:30 am we woke up and everyone had chores based on the ranks. Pig Stalls would be on your low end and feeding grooming the horses or goats on the high end of chores to have. Lol The Farm is situated like a strip with a road all the way down the middle of it. From front to back there was a Sheep Barn/Rabbit boxes on one side and a Goat area on the other side. Eventually I would start Great Pyrenees to protect them. At the far back were the Cow/Horse Barn and the Pig Barn then the pastures, and everything that comes with all of this. Oddly enough, no chickens. Now that I think if it, that's weird. Anyways.

We had to feed everything twice a day. Milk Goats and Cows everyday. Clean everything's stall and areas. Address problems that they might have. Mow/Weedeat the ENTIRE place. Cull dinner. Repair fence and equipment. I'm from Louisiana originally and there were alit of other country kids there but imagine there were these city kids that got sent there and how hard it must've been for them to transition. Many were scared of everything at first. Eventually you have no choice but to toughen up.

Once a year we had a livestock auction and event at the farm. During baby season, we all claim newborns from all the animals and train and from them for showing at the auction. It is run off of do actions so most of the time the winner donates it back to the farm and may see it next year and so-on.

This place changed my life. My brother just got out of jail for his third DWI and I could have very easily gone down this path. It's because of people like you Syl and places like this that a lot of us were not forgotten and thrown into the world with no clue of how to conduct ourselves.

Know how we were punished?

For minor infractions, (talking back, arguing etc) we could get a drop in tank which meant a drop in allowance obviously but also dropped you to worse chores than you had a day ago. Doesn't sound bad but it's the difference in bathing a beautiful horse or washing out hog stalls.

For fighting and major infractions it may be surprising. Immediate drop to the lowest rank and had no allowance. You also had No Chores and got to participate in any project like building fences or anything. Just watched everyone else work while you wait in the truck. Doesn't sound too bad but when it's 100 degrees out and everyone resents you for not helping, peer pressure works both ways.

I'm sure I will be taking in some strays before too long. We're wanting kids of our own and I'm sure my door will open in the future. I'm 38 now and left the farm when I was 18. Joined the Army not long after and here I am now.

Helping over 21 kids is amazing. You know how much they say raising a kid is? Wow. Just 1 is a big difference, 21 is special Syl.

Some people have no idea how to parent..it is easy for those of us that say, "how could they do that"? But most of the time we never really know the truth.. You are truly blessed to have been in that program.. We too also talk about oster care.. It is the paper work that gets me to say no. The actual paper work, I can barly get our Tax's done in time.. Plus our home is soooo small.. If we did we would want teenagers.. Sounds weird, but they are more self sufficient.. Do you have photos or still talk to the ther kids??

 

[City farm]

 
I've been out of the loop for a while, I don't think I have been on BYC in at least a month or two but I just needed some advice. I'm going to go back and read through the thread in a little bit so I can catch up.

We had 4 adult laying hens, and 15 chicks that I got from Meyer back at the end of March and everything was going well. I went to Texas for 2 weeks to be with my husband while he was working out of state, and had a high school gal checking on my chickens daily. Her parents have chickens as well, so I knew she would do a good job. Well we just got home this evening and every single one of my chickens is dead. Some are missing, some are still in the coop, and I can tell it was a predator because there is some wiring torn off a corner of the coop. It happened within just the past 24-48 hours. We've never had a problem with predators, but we have also never been gone this long before with the house empty and our dogs not at home. I feel so defeated. I don't really want to start all over again, but we had just spent time and money adding on to our coop for the new chickens we had got. 

So. What would you do? Would you start all over again from scratch? I don't know if I want to get chicks again and start from the beginning, but I don't know anyone with pullets either and our local feed store only has chicks (we are an hour south of Tucson). This is just not what I wanted to come home to after a 6 hr drive in a van with my 3 children and a dog. 

That's the pits, sorry for your loss! I am a little ways from you, being on the northwest side of Tucson, but I have a TON of extra hens and pullets to sell right now. The hens, a lot of them are too broody for my liking and if I don't sell them soon, they will be stewing hens. Olive eggers and blue egg mix mostly, since I used a terribly broody Black Ameraucana as their mother--now all her offspring are broody. REALLY nice hens, nice dispositions, mellow---olive eggers are from last year's hatch and the others are Ameraucana X Orloff and have sweet Orloff disposition--kind of hate to butcher them, but I don't use broody hens for hatching and they are kind of driving me nuts. Also have some nice New Hampshires, some other ones too.

Young pullets, I have a lot of them that are extras. Mostly around 3 months old, Black Copper Marans, Delaware, Heritage Barred Rock. All organically fed. I'm pricing them pretty low for what they are right now because I have too many birds and need to thin out drastically. Also have 6 nice red sexlinked pullets, from heritage parents (not hatchery), those are the youngest, about 5 and 7 weeks old.

IF you decide to get more birds, PLEASE give me a call! And anyone else who wants more layers

Your flick sounds great.. Next time we need hens we will give you a call..

 

[a little chiken]

So the plan was to go to the Poultry meeting yesterday but unfortunately my friends car broke down as I was getting ready to leave my house. Plus I was running late trying to take care of my scalped chick "Momba" which by the way went to heaven this am. I tried my hardest to save her.

 

[a little chiken]

I've been out of the loop for a while, I don't think I have been on BYC in at least a month or two but I just needed some advice. I'm going to go back and read through the thread in a little bit so I can catch up.

We had 4 adult laying hens, and 15 chicks that I got from Meyer back at the end of March and everything was going well. I went to Texas for 2 weeks to be with my husband while he was working out of state, and had a high school gal checking on my chickens daily. Her parents have chickens as well, so I knew she would do a good job. Well we just got home this evening and every single one of my chickens is dead. Some are missing, some are still in the coop, and I can tell it was a predator because there is some wiring torn off a corner of the coop. It happened within just the past 24-48 hours. We've never had a problem with predators, but we have also never been gone this long before with the house empty and our dogs not at home. I feel so defeated. I don't really want to start all over again, but we had just spent time and money adding on to our coop for the new chickens we had got.

So. What would you do? Would you start all over again from scratch? I don't know if I want to get chicks again and start from the beginning, but I don't know anyone with pullets either and our local feed store only has chicks (we are an hour south of Tucson). This is just not what I wanted to come home to after a 6 hr drive in a van with my 3 children and a dog.

so sorry for your loss. I know Desert Marcy has all ages of chickens for sale. I will have some EE chicks for sale as they hatch. There are a LOT for sale on craaigslist lately. Do not give up. It is such a great way to teach kids responsibility and where eggs come from. It is very frustrating though. I will be crossing my fingers you find some good chickens.


edited to say I did not realize there were two more pages and Marcy had already responded. Sry. My computer was not showing everything. ugh.

 

[a little chiken]

THANK YOU. As soon as my husband comes home this next weekend we are going to assess the chicken coop and see what needs to be done before we get more chickens. The part that got ripped open is just 2x4's and wiring so the chickens wouldn't get to hot but maybe we need to put some plywood or something along the bottom for the first 2 feet?

desertmarcy, thank you SO much for your offer. I will probably be contacting you when we get things sorted out. We were expecting to start getting more eggs by September and I don't know if I can wait that long all over again!

we have a 2 feet plywood barrier around all our coops. It works very very well.

 

[moms3cuties]

So the plan was to go to the Poultry meeting yesterday but unfortunately my friends car broke down as I was getting ready to leave my house. Plus I was running late trying to take care of my scalped chick "Momba" which by the way went to heaven this am. I tried my hardest to save her. 

hugs! I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[K9Dave]

Some people have no idea how to parent..it is easy for those of us that say, "how could they do that"? But most of the time we never really know the truth.. You are truly blessed to have been in that program.. We too also talk about oster care.. It is the paper work that gets me to say no. The actual paper work, I can barly get our Tax's done in time.. Plus our home is soooo small.. If we did we would want teenagers.. Sounds weird, but they are more self sufficient.. Do you have photos or still talk to the ther kids??

The problem with a teenager is finding ones that want to be helped. I've thought about this before and it's quite a risk. I'll tell you why....

I don't remember how long I had been at Miracke Farm before my roomie Trey and I decided to run away. Thanks to my fascination with Cormac McCarthy's book "All the Pretty Horses" we stole 3 horses and headed out one night. We had a plan to go to Mexico on Horseback and find jobs. We got pretty far and I stepped in a Fence Post Hole and ripped my ankle apart. Trey kept going and I went to the first house I could see with lights on as it was maybe 3 am. A Beautiful blonde lady answers the door and took me in and with such kindness I'll never forget. She said she would call her husband, Detective something or another, and he would know what to do. He came home and we talked. I hadn't ran away because I hated the place, I just wanted to do, what I wanted to do. I had been tossed around so much and by then I had ran away over 35 times in my life so I felt like it was second nature and I deserved it after all the crappy stuff that had happened to me in the past.

Bob Cooper ran the Farm then with his family living and working with the kids. He was probably 75 then and had a gang of grand kids living on the farm. He picked me up from the Detectives house in the early morning and on the drive back to the farm he didn't say a word for maybe 20 miles. Struck me as odd. Then he said the words that I'll never forget. "I'm very disappointed in you David" is the only thing he said. I'll never forget it. Funny how something so small can stick with you. Weird as it may sound, that was a big changing moment in my life. Trey was caught maybe 3 weeks later at his house in La Grange, Tx.

Sorry for the long posts, I thought maybe it would help if you ever thought about helping a teenager. Make sure they really want the help and aren't gonna steal everything and leave. Watch your horses. Had we had chickens, I could have stolen one of them and had fresh eggs every morning. Oh well there's always next time.

If you go on the website now, it has grown Sooo big. They apparently have an Arena. It was not very high budget when I was there.

http://www.childrenatheartministries.org/Miracle-Farm-Home

 

[a little chiken]

I have this pipe dream that my husband and I start a not for profit farm where we have rescued animals and we work with a group that helps at risk kids. We would assign animals to the at risk teen for them to care for. built trust skills. I am working on my animal science degree at the U of A and that is what I want to do with it. Thing is I have no idea how to start it. I know how to start a not for profit as I started my kids booster club for their school and I know how to raise animals as I have had them off and on for 37 years. I just do not know how to jump from the animals to working with at risk teens. There are many of them in need and I know it helps.
I will be looking for a model and there are a couple here in Tucson so hopefully.
I appreciate your posts Dave, thank you for sharing.

 

[jubilation]

Need to rehome a rooster, he's about 16 weeks old and not aggressive to people.