Arizona Chickens

[kevs-chickadees]

Oh, you haven't heard? It's the miracle tree that will save the world. Seriously though, it's a super fast growing tree with edible leaves and seeds that are high in protein. The leaves are a bit bitter for my tastes and apparently the tastes of my chickens. Hopefully the seeds will be better.

It's amazing how fast they grow. Last winter I brought mine in during the cold nights at 2' tall and finally planted it in the spring. It's currently 15' tall. Went from 2' to 15' in 8 months. Gallo let me know how your nemetoads do, did you decide against the drench? I've changed my mind about my problem being the root rot. Same symptoms but just to small of a location. The kids found a lot of grubs in that area when digging around last week.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

I believe there is a branch of the CA Rare Fruit Growers in Phoenix, at least there used to be. Apples don't come true from seed. It is pot luck. You might get a good one, or you might not. Also remember a lot of our fruit trees are grafted onto root stock that helps the tree, usually with disease. Like stone fruit on nematode-resistant root stock. Fuji apples require more chill hours than what you get in Mesa. Chill hours are the number of hours below 45 degrees but above 32 degrees. For Tucson, 100-200 chill hours works well. Anything over that and it is hit or miss. Not sure what your chill hour requirements are for Phoenix area, but would be at least as low as Tucson. Chill hours are important for all stone fruits, pears, cherries. Citrus doesn't matter. I've given up trying to grow apples, they just don't do well for me and the fruit is substandard. Better quality from Willcox

and we just limit ourselves to apples for a short season in the fall for however long we can store them.

Chill hours can be tweeked. A low variety will obviously do better but with proper fertilization you can get away with higher chill hour varieties. We are told here in the valley that we get less than 300 a winter but I've got varieties that require 500 and do just fine. I've also been told by different people that a high chill variety will adapt some what to its environment and require less hours to produce fruit. That's my 2 cents.

 

[DesertChickens1]

Typically goats will eat the egg but not the shell, but, it is possible. It's more likely though that their nest is well hidden or they are molting. Is there a way for you to confine the hens to see if they are laying?

There's no sign of any egg shells or yolk anywhere. They might be hiding them well, but their nests where they layed were in the little barn, so i guess they are just molting or slowing down for winter

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

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It's not actually the "cold", but the lack of light that slows down the laying. Shorter days = less eggs unless you supplement lighting.

 

[Tanichca]

Got my first egg today! It's nowhere near as pretty and dark as the other marans egg someone posted, but hey, this is a feed store bird.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

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It's taken a while for it fully sink in for me.

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Yeah, two that I planted last spring are 15'+ too. One of them is still in a pot! Both have trunks that are about 4" in diameter. I think that if I hadn't bobbed them off they'd be nearly twice as tall now. I'll let you know how the nematodes work. I decided against the systemic poison.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Got my first egg today! It's nowhere near as pretty and dark as the other marans egg someone posted, but hey, this is a feed store bird.

Congratulations!

 

[desertmarcy]

I've always thought I should've been born much earlier in time. The saying about finding something you love to do and never working again would never be more true for me. I love working outside.
Thanks. @desertmarcy do you have something in a dark egg variety?

I have a couple of Blue Copper Marans. They don't lay quite as dark an egg as the Black Copper, but they are still nice, plus the parents all laid large eggs so once these get older, their eggs should be good sized. I am still growing a batch of Black Copper Marans pullets. Waiting for them all to mature so I can pick for breeders. I will probably part with a few more in the coming months. I am also thinking about selling my black Ameraucana pullets. Not sure on those yet.

 

[desertmarcy]

Does anyone know if my goats might be eating my chicken eggs? I was getting 4-5 eggs a day, then they just stopped. I was guessing that its just getting colder so they were slowing down, but it just seemed quite abrupt they would all stop at the same time

Are they molting? All my older birds started molting and almost all quit laying. That is about 45 hens all stopped at once. They also lay less in the shorter day length. Some chickens won't lay at all in the shorter day length, others aren't affected. Sometimes the younger birds less than a year old will continue to lay over the winter then when they get older, they don't. Once mine all finish their molt, the lights on timer will go on.

 

[K9Dave]

Got my first egg today! It's nowhere near as pretty and dark as the other marans egg someone posted, but hey, this is a feed store bird.

Maybe it will darken as she has a few more? The egg should get larger as its her first and maybe the color will darken a little too. Just hopeful for you, I'm pretty new here and don't know that much. Someone may chime in now and correct or agree with me.

I have a couple of Blue Copper Marans. They don't lay quite as dark an egg as the Black Copper, but they are still nice, plus the parents all laid large eggs so once these get older, their eggs should be good sized. I am still growing a batch of Black Copper Marans pullets. Waiting for them all to mature so I can pick for breeders. I will probably part with a few more in the coming months. I am also thinking about selling my black Ameraucana pullets. Not sure on those yet.

What are you asking or would you rather PM? Maybe we could get a couple of the Blues now and you can keep me in mind when the Black are ready? I'm glad I have an excuse to get one of your birds. I've seen your beauties.

Are they molting? All my older birds started molting and almost all quit laying. That is about 45 hens all stopped at once. They also lay less in the shorter day length. Some chickens won't lay at all in the shorter day length, others aren't affected. Sometimes the younger birds less than a year old will continue to lay over the winter then when they get older, they don't. Once mine all finish their molt, the lights on timer will go on.

I commented that we're getting a lot more eggs lately. Funny how the flocks can be so different.