Arizona Chickens

[cyborg]

Agh, poor girl.. So glad she has a sister to hang with.. You are a good papa..
What about that "women" in the new house? Put her to work..

HA! She helped me put up the first "regular" pen today!

 

[moms3cuties]

So, I thought I'd post an update on the progress of my daughter's climbing. Mostly because I can barely contain my excitement and have to share. Last month Tucson hosted the Southern Mountain Regional Championships in bouldering and hundreds of youth climbers from AZ, UT and NM competed for seven invitations (for each age category) to compete in the Divisional Championships in Ogden, UT. There the winners for all the regions in the southwest US gathered last weekend to compete for seven invitations to the National Championship. My daughter rocked at both the Regional and Divisional Championships and will be competing in the National Championships in Madison, WI next month! She's now officially one of the top 35 best female youth climbers in the United States. We couldn't be more proud of her.

That is rad.. What a blast!

X2 How very exciting! Please introduce her to my daughter, my daughter would be elated to meet her!

 

[moms3cuties]

Those are pretty cool, they remind me of some of the native American gardens.

Be careful of using chicken droppings that are not composted enough, I burned a lot of my plants doing that, as in they burned and died. I was not a happy gardener.  Lesson learned, compost chicken and quail droppings before using them for plants!

Yum!

Poor girl.  I'm glad she has a sister to hang out with.  Does it help to have a rooster to keep the hens from picking on each other as much?  I've heard they will help prevent fights.

Unfortunately, they are joining in the gang violence, not preventing it!

Awww!
I hate when they do that.

Agh, poor girl.. So glad she has a sister to hang with.. You are a good papa..
What about that "women" in the new house? Put her to work..

HA! She helped me put up the first "regular" pen today!

Eggciting!.... sounds like a Good woman! you're definitely a good papa putting out a sister for your hen to hang out with!

Soo...how does one compost chicken poop? And do you just put it in a container all by itself and let it dry in the Sun or do you mix it in with dirt or potting soil??

 

[City farm]

grilled mesquite chicken, look who's looking to have a treat

 

[moms3cuties]

@City farmhow do you apply for that habitat for wildlife preservation sign that you have in your yard? Tell us all about that that's very fascinating to me. I do have some barnyard mix fertile eggs if you need them.

 

[City farm]

So, I thought I'd post an update on the progress of my daughter's climbing. Mostly because I can barely contain my excitement and have to share. Last month Tucson hosted the Southern Mountain Regional Championships in bouldering and hundreds of youth climbers from AZ, UT and NM competed for seven invitations (for each age category) to compete in the Divisional Championships in Ogden, UT. There the winners for all the regions in the southwest US gathered last weekend to compete for seven invitations to the National Championship. My daughter rocked at both the Regional and Divisional Championships and will be competing in the National Championships in Madison, WI next month! She's now officially one of the top 35 best female youth climbers in the United States. We couldn't be more proud of her.

That is rad.. What a blast!

X2 How very exciting! Please introduce her to my daughter, my daughter would be elated to meet her!

You're daughter is a climber? ?

 

[moms3cuties]

grilled mesquite chicken, look who's looking to have a treat

Yum! ....I think I might have to stop by and taste that for you see if it's good enough for you to eat, lol ...

...can you blame him?!...

 

[moms3cuties]

So, I thought I'd post an update on the progress of my daughter's climbing. Mostly because I can barely contain my excitement and have to share. Last month Tucson hosted the Southern Mountain Regional Championships in bouldering and hundreds of youth climbers from AZ, UT and NM competed for seven invitations (for each age category) to compete in the Divisional Championships in Ogden, UT. There the winners for all the regions in the southwest US gathered last weekend to compete for seven invitations to the National Championship. My daughter rocked at both the Regional and Divisional Championships and will be competing in the National Championships in Madison, WI next month! She's now officially one of the top 35 best female youth climbers in the United States. We couldn't be more proud of her.

That is rad.. What a blast!

X2 How very exciting! Please introduce her to my daughter, my daughter would be elated to meet her!

You're daughter is a climber? ?

Yes! ...my daughter is actually a budding athlete, lol she climbed the bunk bed when she was only a year old without any help! for her age she is truly amazing!

 

[DesertChic]

Awww!

I hate when they do that.

Eggciting!.... sounds like a Good woman!

you're definitely a good papa putting out a sister for your hen to hang out with!

Soo...how does one compost chicken poop? And do you just put it in a container all by itself and let it dry in the Sun or do you mix it in with dirt or potting soil??

There are a number of ways to do this, the most common of which is to provide carbon-rich bedding for the chickens to poop on. If you have one of those coops with a tray that needs to be pulled and cleaned, dump the bedding + poop into a designated composter.

If you just use deep bedding like I do, it takes care of itself in a few months to a year. I rake and turn the bedding every few days if the chickens haven't already done it for me, add to it as needed, and will just clear it out completely when it's time for the annual coop cleaning. I also use carbon-rich items like straw and leaves in my run and they're quickly turning it into compost...not to mention they LOVE it. Adding an old straw bale to the run keeps them busily entertained for days as they scratch and pick through all those little things I'm oblivious to.

You can also just tractor the chickens on a garden plot, planted with a cover crop that they can till in or just dirt covered with carbon-rich bedding like straw, soft wood and/or leaves, and let them work it for a few weeks, and then rest for a few weeks before planting your crops. (Resting the area allows the ammonia and nitrogen levels to stabilize so your newly planted crop won't burn.) I did this on part of my sterile earth even though my chickens were young and was left with a small, productive patch of land that I'm now able to grow some cover crops in for them to further eat. I'm hoping that given enough time my chickens will help me transform my property in to rich earth that can support more than just the native nutgrass. (My land used to be a rock quarry. The dirt between all the rocks barely qualifies as soil.)

And I recently read a book on poultry husbandry written back in the 1920s in which a woman details how she collected the chicken droppings, put them in a bucket, poured boiling water over it, let it cool, and then poured it on her landscaping plants and got great results. I haven't tried it myself....but I'm intrigued.

 

[City farm]

So, I thought I'd post an update on the progress of my daughter's climbing. Mostly because I can barely contain my excitement and have to share. Last month Tucson hosted the Southern Mountain Regional Championships in bouldering and hundreds of youth climbers from AZ, UT and NM competed for seven invitations (for each age category) to compete in the Divisional Championships in Ogden, UT. There the winners for all the regions in the southwest US gathered last weekend to compete for seven invitations to the National Championship. My daughter rocked at both the Regional and Divisional Championships and will be competing in the National Championships in Madison, WI next month! She's now officially one of the top 35 best female youth climbers in the United States. We couldn't be more proud of her.

That is rad.. What a blast!

X2 How very exciting! Please introduce her to my daughter, my daughter would be elated to meet her!

You're daughter is a climber? ?

Yes! ...my daughter is actually a budding athlete, lol she climbed the bunk bed when she was only a year old without any help! for her age she is truly amazing!

How old is she now? what gym does she climb at? We have one right over here by our house. Does she go to that one