Arizona Chickens

[GoneHomeGrown2]

Yet another question i cant help with but

that they continue to get better and no one else gets sick.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I hope everyone's birds are getting better. Sounds like it's been a hard winter on them. Mine are good so far.

We plant our winter garden in the last week of Aug.-first week of Sept. here in Tucson: Beets, carrots (roots in general), lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, swiss chard, celery, cilantro, etc.). I had a terrible time with sparrows eating everything and we got off to a slow start this year. We've been harvesting all the lettuce and celery we can eat since early Nov. and only recently have the broccoli and cauliflower been producing. Last year I timed everything just right and we were harvesting all the broccoli we could eat from the first week of Nov. through May. It is a good thing our family loves broccoli. We share it all with our friends and neighbors. It is so rewarding to see their faces when I come calling with a huge bowl of fresh produce. Every day is a good day to plant in the winter at low elevations in southern AZ.

Here's one of our patches of lettuce (12 varieties) and celery from a little more than a month ago:

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Good morning

My sick hen is outside today, but she's still a little weak and the others are kind of picking on her. She used to be top hen. She wanted outside though, so I'm keeping her away from the rest so she can get her strength back.

I'm concerned because she lost so many feathers while she was inside. She looks like she went into instant molt. Why would she lose so many feathers? Do you think the warm temps inside the house caused a molt or could it be related to her illness?

Gallo: Great garden! Mine used to look like that. Now it looks like a big patch of bermuda. Any hints on getting rid of it while keeping the garden organic?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
That's weird that you said that about the instant molt. My CM finished molting a couple months ago and had returned to laying. Suddenly, about a week ago, she did just what you are describing--like an instant molt. She dropped all kinds of feathers--from her cape, flight feathers, etc. She still looks good, her face and comb are still very red, but the number of feathers she dropped over two days was frightening. She is the top bird too. I'm really wondering if it was due to the plastic owl a friend gave to us for Christmas. It has a moving head and very lifelike. It freaked out the chickens, causing my CM to sound the alarm (rare around here even with all the hawks I have) and it was the day after they saw it that she dropped all those feathers. I've been reading a bit about this and wonder if it was the stress. Maybe your girl was stressed by being removed from the flock? Does anyone else have experience with this phenomenon?

My garden is mostly organic too, but I don't have many weeds. In fact, I probably didn't pull more than a dozen weeds from my decent sized garden all last year. My yard is walled in, which helps keep them out. I do have to constantly monitor weeds in the yard. I let a lot of natives go, but the real invasive weeds I remove immediately (especially before they flower). I think that helps keep the weeds down in the garden and I don't have to do much in the yard anymore either. I also use large amounts of mulch--as much as the plant will survive. This is very effective at keeping weeds out and water bills down. Some of my plants will have as much as 18" of mulch by the time they are harvested (e.g. celery). For mulch I use all kinds of things, but principally layers of alfalfa and pine shavings from the chicken coop. Fortunately, I don't have a problem with Bermuda grass in the garden. I water a patch of it in the yard for the chickens, but it hasn't gotten close to the garden yet. It sure can be a pain to deal with. The best thing to try is removing the roots and be vigilant!

edited for clarity

 

[pimachickens]

Beautiful garden Gallo! I was already jealous of your fantastic grapevine covered run...now I have one more picture to drool over.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Thanks for the props pimachickens! The beauty of the garden is only surpassed by its tastiness.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Gallo, nice garden. I haven't even started my plants yet, and didn't have hardly any winter garden.

Too much to do, too little energy and time. Sick chickens really drain me.

Some of the babies, just for fun

 

[Mahonri]

Love the little "King" on top of the waterer.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Yeah, I caught him looking at the camera just at the right time. There are 2 identical ones that like to sit up there. I figure I have about 2 more days till they are flying out of their house from the top of the waterer.

 

[LarryPQ]

BEAUTIFUL GARDEN!

I am going to need to do some planting now...


Bob- I am loving those babies! I will have pics of mine tomorrow.

Happy Thursday everyone!