Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

LOL! I am getting ready for a doc appt right now, then some quick grocery shopping while in town, home to drop off the grub, then off to work. I appreciate the rain, but it always makes me depressed. My mailman got stuck in the mud in front of my house this morning, had to hook up a tow strap and pull him out. All for another wad of junk mail.

I heard ya all got a ton of rain? I have to say we did not have the heavy down pour like before.. Thank God.. Literally..

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

My Pepito (the runner duck) is doing better. We think it was a head or neck injury. He can stand and stagger around a bit now, kind of like Falstaff. He's weak, but he hasn't eaten that much either. I tried putting him out in the pen today, but if he keeled over the hens (the little velociraptors that they are) ran over and pecked at him. He's definitely been out of the flock too long, plus he's the weak link. If my boyfriend weren't allergic to feathers I would put a diaper on him and make him a house duck. I don't know that I have the facilities to take care of a special needs duck long term. Would anyone on here be interested in taking Pepito under his or her wing (heh ... pun intended)? I don't want him to have to live in the old dog crate the rest of his time.

Sweet Pepito Feo:

 

[City farm]

Question for you all. I have three chickens a few years old, maybe 3/4 and only one is coming down from their roost in the morning. I just went to check on them at 2pm and the two were till there. I carried them down. This has happened the last few days. What is going on? They sleep on a pole near the top of the covered area in the enclosed run. They have always come down before. They both started doing this the same time. One comes down right away like normal, two stay up. I did have another chicken die a few months back, egg bound. I just recently had a quail die that was in their cage, she was very old. I don't know if that could be any connection. They eat and drink fine. They look fine too, no open sores.

There must some preditor. Snake, hawk, or something that is making them not want to get down.. What about bumble foot?

 

[City farm]

I do enjoy this part of living here.

Sounds like fun to me. I like playing in the rain and mud though.

Well, I just spent about 4 hours trying to pull a 747 out of the mud. we had two tugs hooked together with a steel tow cable, and managed to make some impressively deep ruts. We left the 747 in the mud for day shift tomorrow.

oh boy hope it drys out for them.. 4 hours is a long time to work on that.. You will need more than some tugs & tow cable.. Did the pilot power up the engines? Or was the plane just sitting like a duck ?

 

[Sill]

Question for you all. I have three chickens a few years old, maybe 3/4 and only one is coming down from their roost in the morning. I just went to check on them at 2pm and the two were till there. I carried them down. This has happened the last few days. What is going on? They sleep on a pole near the top of the covered area in the enclosed run. They have always come down before. They both started doing this the same time. One comes down right away like normal, two stay up. I did have another chicken die a few months back, egg bound. I just recently had a quail die that was in their cage, she was very old. I don't know if that could be any connection. They eat and drink fine. They look fine too, no open sores.

Have you checked them for bumble foot? Did something frighten them so they don't want to leave their roost?

A bit of a sad day around here. We have had our chickens for just over a year. Sisters, RIR hatcheries all raised together. My Snoop lately has just been WAY too loud. She molted in some lighter feathers a couple months ago and has since become our transvestite. I swear she thinks she is a rooster. She squawks at the top of her lungs every morning for well over an hour. A squawk with every breath. Seriously it sounds like you are torturing a cat! It is the most god-awful sound! My neighbor called me and said her bug lady thought there was a sick bird over here and thought she should check it out. We aren't zoned for chickens and I had them growing up and never remember any chicken screeching the way she does.

We have tried a number of methods and nothing works. She just squawks for no reason. Food, no food, treats, in the coop, out of the coop, free range all day, it doesn't matter. We finally came to the conclusion she either goes to freezer camp or gets rehomed. Other chicken owners in my area are rare, but thankfully the gal who owns the feed store offered to take her.

Prior to the noise problem she was my husband's favorite chicken. She learned to follow him around when he was skimming the pool waiting for him to give her some bugs. She was the most curious, most adventurous, but also the bossiest of the 4. She will be missed for sure. I think hubby even got a little tear in his eye when we bid her farewell.

Marcia, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you can find a solution. My one chicken leaving the homestead seems miniscule in comparison.

I have one of those, she sounds like a sick or dying cow! At least here I can keep her even if she is a bit noisy. My coop is well away from my neighbors so they shouldn't find her too obnoxious.

I heard ya all got a ton of rain? I have to say we did not have the heavy down pour like before.. Thank God.. Literally..

For sure! I can take this nice light rain but that down pour a while back was terrible. It's great not having to water anything, must be what it's like living someplace else.

 

[City farm]

Well, I just spent about 4 hours trying to pull a 747 out of the mud. we had two tugs hooked together with a steel tow cable, and managed to make some impressively deep ruts. We left the 747 in the mud for day shift tomorrow.

Wow. That tops my heaviest by a but I'm sure. I was the TC of the M88 Recovery Vehicle in the Army. My heaviest mud stuck vehicle was an Abrams Tank which is 62 tons, give or take a few. What's a jet weighing nowadays?

Did you get it out of the mud

 

[City farm]

No precator here at the moment because I haven't started on my pending projects

I've been getting some of those hunting/outdoor magazines for the last several years. Some of those pellet/CO2 guns can do some significant damage to critters (and some disrespectful two-foot ones) who have total disregard for another''s property and have nothing better to do than torment/steal your animals.

Some of these guns close to discharging a firearm in the city. I haven't read up on the ordinances for many months, but where is the line drawn between a BB/Pellet gun and a dangerous firearm?  I won't hesitate to shoot anyone, even if it's with a sling shot, bow & arrow or just throwing a **** rock at them. I just have an issue with folks violating others' property. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

I would take photos of them and hand it over to P.D. Get a night vision game camera. Don't mess with them in a way that will end you up in court.. Now if they enter into your home, that is different.. Even then you never want to have to deal with a dead body in your home.. Get a large dog..

 

[City farm]

My Pepito (the runner duck) is doing better. We think it was a head or neck injury. He can stand and stagger around a bit now, kind of like Falstaff. He's weak, but he hasn't eaten that much either. I tried putting him out in the pen today, but if he keeled over the hens (the little velociraptors that they are) ran over and pecked at him. He's definitely been out of the flock too long, plus he's the weak link. If my boyfriend weren't allergic to feathers I would put a diaper on him and make him a house duck. I don't know that I have the facilities to take care of a special needs duck long term. Would anyone on here be interested in taking Pepito under his or her wing (heh ... pun intended)? I don't want him to have to live in the old dog crate the rest of his time. Sweet Pepito Feo:

Agh, poor dude.. Hope someone will take him for you..

 

[cyborg]

Why is there a 747 in the mud?

I heard ya all got a ton of rain? I have to say we did not have the heavy down pour like before.. Thank God.. Literally..

oh boy hope it drys out for them.. 4 hours is a long time to work on that.. You will need more than some tugs & tow cable.. Did the pilot power up the engines? Or was the plane just sitting like a duck ?

Did you get it out of the mud

OK, I work at a repair station, where we service and repair all types of aircraft. We also store aircraft for various reasons. Most of them belong to aircraft leasing companies, and are between leases. At any given time, we have several hundred aircraft in storage, and one or two dozen actually being worked on.
Many of these aircraft are stored out in the dirt on the other side of the runway. This particular aircraft has been sold, so we need to pull it out, service it, and send it on its way.
It has been raining steadily all day, and our dirt storage areas are looking like shallow lakes.
No, we did not get it out. It is close enough to other planes that we can't start up the engines. I think this one will stay where its at until it dries out a bit.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

I would take photos of them and hand it over to P.D. Get a night vision game camera. Don't mess with them in a way that will end you up in court.. Now if they enter into your home, that is different.. Even then you never want to have to deal with a dead body in your home.. Get a large dog..

I lived in a sketchy area of Tucson for the first 4.5 years I've lived here. Houses around us got broken into--even the landlord's 1 BR casita. We never had a problem and I'd even forget to lock the door often. We have a 110 lb lab and a very skinny, but tall greyhound, who apparently is intimidating. I've never owned a gun, and never shot one. I don't begrudge anyone mentally sound, trained, and liscenced having one. Just don't want one of my own in a house with an autistic kiddo.