Arizona Chickens

[FeatherPugs]

Two babies so far! I think I can hear other chirping too! I'm excited and I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do that!!

 

[Papas Chickens]

Just found Wi-FI here, will take time to read later, been fishing. Got breakfast, warming up, then will have to cook it.

I'm out there in shorts, every body else is dressed in waders.

Nice looking Rainbow Trout, where did you fish for it? Did you fly, spin or bait cast for it?

 

[ChuskaMtns]

I am terrible at housework and it is a skill I have little interest in refining. I just do enough to keep the health department from knocking on the door. Lol. My motto is "no one on their death bed wishes they had done more housework. ".

I love your motto! Life is too short to spend keeping the house perfect when we can be outside enjoying our chickens!

 

[ChuskaMtns]

Two babies so far!  I think I can hear other chirping too!  I'm excited and I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do that!!

That is very eggciting! Can't wait to see the pics of the little ones. All of you hatching are almost enticing me to put some eggs in my incubator.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Two babies so far! I think I can hear other chirping too! I'm excited and I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do that!!

Yay!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Last year I was using deep litter in the coop/run and wetting it down once a day with the hose. Everything went well until the rains started and the humidity kicked in. A few weeks later I discovered many of my birds were developing bumblefoot. I had to wonder if the wetness contributed to the foot infections. I totally mucked out the coops/runs and started over with lots of fresh pine shavings, and stopped wetting down the runs. (The birds still had wading pans available.) Treated all the birds and the foot problems eventually cleared up. Problem is the deep litter doesn't "compost" properly if it doesn't get wet down periodically. So I'm still trying to figure out the best arrangement for my setup. Curious to hear how the deep litter/mulch works for you guys over the stormy season. I like deep litter. I'd like it better if I could get it to "compost" properly here.

Welp, I should have heeded your warnings about deep litter more closely. When you posted this I immediately stopped adding any other material to the deep litter and stopped watering it. I intended to get in there and pull it all out, but other things got in the way. Then two nights ago one of my old hens was lying on the floor of the coop instead of on the roost when I went to lock them up. I put her on the roost and when I went to let them out in the morning she limped horribly slowly into the yard and laid down on her side and didn't move. I picked her up and checked her over and found she had a bumblefoot infection. It was shocking to me how quickly she was succumbing to it. The previous day she did not limp when she was let out of the coop and within 24 hours she was approaching death. I'm sure she's had the infection for a while but just now started succumbing to it. I did the surgery and have her in a cage rehabbing now. She wouldn't take food yesterday, but this morning she ate a couple dozen mealworms (after trying everything else). I'm hopeful that she'll pull through.

I don't know if the deep litter is to blame, but I know that I have not had a case of bumblefoot in nearly five years of having chickens here in AZ and it showed up only after my short flirtation with deep litter. My run normally remains high and dry, but in those abnormally heavy rains over the past couple weeks the litter was getting wet. After your experiences I can't help but suspect it as the cause. I spent yesterday pulling out all the material in the run and turning over the soil. I hope I have it in check and I'll be examining the other chickens carefully tonight. Thanks again for sharing your story.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Trying to read and catch up on all the reading, but I keep losing my Wi-FI connection, so I thought I better post then read. I hope no bad news, with all the rain at home. Phoenix is not equipped to handle rain like that. I know that when I was doing civil grafting we designed to handle 100 and 500 year rain. But not all at once. Is the drought over? The reservoirs filling up? Must be, I hope. But ground water there is no hope of filling up. That takes years.

I am in Montauk State Park in Southern MO. Trout fishing. It has been the time of my life. The case of hypothermia the first day. Had to buy wadders. Yesterday and today I started to caught fish. I never really did much trout fishing. Setting the hook is more difficult be course of there soft mouths. Once I learned the timing and how to properly set a hook I didn't do to bad. The limit is 4. I caught 3 yesterday, 1 still lively when I filmed it. The last 4 are today's. In the film I showed what I was warring for trout dishing in 40 degree water. Not a good idea, when it is cold out as well, for sure. You can see the smarter fisherman have not only wadders but more cloths. I am so glade I bought wadders, I couldn't really focuses on fishing. My girls have been enjoying fish as well. They have been very freaky the last couple of days.

I have meet a couple of people that have pet chickens. One woman said heather of her chickens lay anymore they are so old. She once had more, but desired that she did not want all the work, but she is attached to them. Another woman told me she had 3 Bantam chickens at home, then looked at her husband and said that they are going to have to fix something up so they can take them with them next time. Her husband did not look at all excited about taking chickens camping.

OOPPS LOST MY YOUTUBE CHANEL AND ALL MY VIDIOS! Need to figure it out. Will post it ASAP

Congratulations on the waders, fishing is no fun when you're chilled to the bone and your fingers don't work so well. I'm very envious of your fishing adventures! It's making me think I need to get out on a big river and fling some feathers soon.

 

[Papas Chickens]

I have a question. Should I turn over the soil in the coop and run? If so how many times should this be done say in a year? Ok that was two questions lol.

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

Two babies so far!  I think I can hear other chirping too!  I'm excited and I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do that!!

Very exciting. I'm expecting to see pips and chicks in 2-3 days. We are in lock down.

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

I have a question. Should I turn over the soil in the coop and run? If so how many times should this be done say in a year? Ok that was two questions lol.

I have heard a lot of people use sand as coop and run flooring. It takes the rain but it seems it might get hot in our blazing summers. I suppose you could wet it down in summer.