Arizona Chickens

[LadyKotaDoria]

Thank you for all the PM's I received about carrying concealed, and being certified.

A quick explanation of what I do and where.

I have a set up in Oatman, Arizona, where the donkeys run wild and untamed in the streets.  There are gunfighters taking to the streets several times a day.  I was one of them for several years, and I sometimes still today am recognized by people when Phottoette and I travel out of town.

The tellers in the bank I do business with are always having fun with that, often when I am in line at the bank, one of them will see me in line and say out loud, "Hey, Skip, what is it you do for a living?"  And of course I have to reply "I'm a bank robber."

Although certified, I do not teach anymore, but when I did, it was in Bullhead City, just across the river from Laughlin.

Phottoette was a Homicide Detective until she retired, and I have worked for many years now as a Fugitive Retrieval Officer for the State of Arizona, even when I was living in California.

Now I live in Golden Valley, where the low this morning was 15.5*F and is currently 19.7*F.

I started raising chickens in March last year, and after the attack of whatever killed and ate eight Free Ranging chickens about a week ago, I now have only eleven survivors and one rooster, and between them all, since the attack, I am getting one egg per day or less.  And yes, their water has been freezing overnight for several nights now, so I have been getting up several times a night to carry out warm water, checking my girls, and comforting them as needed.  

I am in NO WAY a person that wants to see ANY form of gun control, but I did object loudly when ALL ARIZONIANS were granted the "right" to carry concealed with or without having been permitted, I believe that was asking for trouble.  Part of the permit and schooling on these permits was actually qualifying and proving the ability to handle and shoot a firearm, and I was surprised to see how little people knew about actually SHOOTING a hand gun after taking a class.  Often times a permit was withheld because of the inability to shoot a handgun at an object just ten feet away.

I was listening to a radio program a few days ago where the 'star' of the show was telling people that he had carefully removed the magazine from his hand gun, and carefully placed both the weapon and the mag on the table/desk in front of him and was keeping a watchful eye on both.  He said he was ready to evacuate the room and building if anything unfortunate 'happened' while he was on the air.

The mockery was pointed to say the least.  You have all heard it before, guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people, and when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

I now have another reason to carry my piece as I work here at home, there is/are predator(s) roaming in my wonderful home area, and I fully intend to shoot (to kill) any predator(s) that invade my home, makes no difference how many legs that predator has, two or four, I will protect my home and homestead.

I spent over nine years in the military, serving my Country.  I have my own opinions, as a right given me several hundred years ago by Our Constitution, and others have the right to believe differently, and I will fight to the death your right to your opinion, that may or may not "hit home" for you, but IN THIS STATE you have the RIGHT to defend yourself in a manner that fits your lifestyle.

Personally I never thought I would ever have to carry my weapon to defend my property, but I see it more and more clearly every day.

I sure didn't mean to ramble so much here, but I will say this.  If you are ever in Oatman, stop and see me.  I am across the street from the Post Office, on the side walk in front of the Mother Road Store, I hope adding culture and friendliness to tourists, and welcoming you to Oatman, and we can talk chickens or anything else you care to talk about.

Skip 

(whew, now step back, take a breath, and walk calmly to the chicken coop and check on the girls)
7:20 AM, Sunday morning, January 13, 1213)

that's all I have to say.

 

[City farm]

I'll have room for 4 chickens, but one spot is already reserved for Two-Shoes, my only chicken that survived the dog-attack a few years ago. She is living with our friends now, and apparently not laying. They keep asking if they can eat her. So that leaves room for 3 chickens.

I want friendly chickens that are great layers... I'm going to buy from desertmarcy.

I'm thinking:

1 Black Sex Link
1 Russian Orloff
1 New Hampshire
1 Rhode Island Red
2  Barred Rocks

That should give pretty good odds of ending up with 2 - 3 pullets, right?

And yes, Mahonri and Cheese, friendly.

We got our chicks at 1-3 days old... We held them 1-3 times a day in the beginning...
Even now at 6 months old... We can walk right up to them and pick the majority of them up.. A few are not as easy when they
are in the front yard .. I want to be able to inspect them at any time...plus some people that have never held a chicken find it
fasinating to hold or even touch them... However the down side to that is, we have to walk really slow around them... They stay
close by & will get under our feet...

 

[City farm]

Personally, I don't care how "safe" people feel coming to my door.  The personal protection of my family exceeds any concerns of people coming on to my property.  I do live in a somewhat isolated neighborhood on the outskirts of town now, so we don't get those types of beggers anymore, though.

Carrying my firearm around absolutely everywhere I go, I've found that here in Arizona, most people are extremely accustomed to it.  I can count the number of times that someone has said something on one hand.  The exception to that, of course, is the snow birds that come to area here in Sun City every winter.  Some of them can't get used to it.  Working in Law Enforcement for the last decade, though, it is never the person who is carrying open that you need to worry about.  All of the criminals have their weapons hidden.


For your care packages, Goodwill is an excellent place to pick up some of those things for really cheap.  I've picked up blankets, sweaters, pants, unopened toothbrushes, etc. for as little as $1 each.  Generally, I pick them up with they are $2 or under.  I even found a nice sleeping bag for $3 once.  Every other Saturday, the stores have a half-price day where absolutely everything is discounted down.  You can put together a really nice package for mere pocket change.  Another excellent thing for them is candles.  The homeless can use them for a bit of heat, mostly for their hands, but it's a really comforting thing to have for them at night.

X2

 

[City farm]

Thank you for all the PM's I received about carrying concealed, and being certified.

A quick explanation of what I do and where.

I have a set up in Oatman, Arizona, where the donkeys run wild and untamed in the streets.  There are gunfighters taking to the streets several times a day.  I was one of them for several years, and I sometimes still today am recognized by people when Phottoette and I travel out of town.

The tellers in the bank I do business with are always having fun with that, often when I am in line at the bank, one of them will see me in line and say out loud, "Hey, Skip, what is it you do for a living?"  And of course I have to reply "I'm a bank robber."

Although certified, I do not teach anymore, but when I did, it was in Bullhead City, just across the river from Laughlin.

Phottoette was a Homicide Detective until she retired, and I have worked for many years now as a Fugitive Retrieval Officer for the State of Arizona, even when I was living in California.

Now I live in Golden Valley, where the low this morning was 15.5*F and is currently 19.7*F.

I started raising chickens in March last year, and after the attack of whatever killed and ate eight Free Ranging chickens about a week ago, I now have only eleven survivors and one rooster, and between them all, since the attack, I am getting one egg per day or less.  And yes, their water has been freezing overnight for several nights now, so I have been getting up several times a night to carry out warm water, checking my girls, and comforting them as needed.  

I am in NO WAY a person that wants to see ANY form of gun control, but I did object loudly when ALL ARIZONIANS were granted the "right" to carry concealed with or without having been permitted, I believe that was asking for trouble.  Part of the permit and schooling on these permits was actually qualifying and proving the ability to handle and shoot a firearm, and I was surprised to see how little people knew about actually SHOOTING a hand gun after taking a class.  Often times a permit was withheld because of the inability to shoot a handgun at an object just ten feet away.

I was listening to a radio program a few days ago where the 'star' of the show was telling people that he had carefully removed the magazine from his hand gun, and carefully placed both the weapon and the mag on the table/desk in front of him and was keeping a watchful eye on both.  He said he was ready to evacuate the room and building if anything unfortunate 'happened' while he was on the air.

The mockery was pointed to say the least.  You have all heard it before, guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people, and when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

I now have another reason to carry my piece as I work here at home, there is/are predator(s) roaming in my wonderful home area, and I fully intend to shoot (to kill) any predator(s) that invade my home, makes no difference how many legs that predator has, two or four, I will protect my home and homestead.

I spent over nine years in the military, serving my Country.  I have my own opinions, as a right given me several hundred years ago by Our Constitution, and others have the right to believe differently, and I will fight to the death your right to your opinion, that may or may not "hit home" for you, but IN THIS STATE you have the RIGHT to defend yourself in a manner that fits your lifestyle.

Personally I never thought I would ever have to carry my weapon to defend my property, but I see it more and more clearly every day.

I sure didn't mean to ramble so much here, but I will say this.  If you are ever in Oatman, stop and see me.  I am across the street from the Post Office, on the side walk in front of the Mother Road Store, I hope adding culture and friendliness to tourists, and welcoming you to Oatman, and we can talk chickens or anything else you care to talk about.

Skip 

(whew, now step back, take a breath, and walk calmly to the chicken coop and check on the girls)
7:20 AM, Sunday morning, January 13, 1213)

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE...
& thank your family for their sacrifice!!!
Let us know if you ever come to Tempe... We grill up some of the best chicken ...

 

[City farm]

I use a iPad where is the icon to tell when everyone is on line?

 

[City farm]

Does anyone think that if a chicken never gets any SUN.. Their eggs are different??

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I'll have room for 4 chickens, but one spot is already reserved for Two-Shoes, my only chicken that survived the dog-attack a few years ago. She is living with our friends now, and apparently not laying. They keep asking if they can eat her. So that leaves room for 3 chickens.

I want friendly chickens that are great layers... I'm going to buy from desertmarcy.

I'm thinking:

1 Black Sex Link
1 Russian Orloff
1 New Hampshire
1 Rhode Island Red
2  Barred Rocks

That should give pretty good odds of ending up with 2 - 3 pullets, right?

And yes, Mahonri and Cheese, friendly.

We got our chicks at 1-3 days old... We held them 1-3 times a day in the beginning...
Even now at 6 months old... We can walk right up to them and pick the majority of them up.. A few are not as easy when they
are in the front yard .. I want to be able to inspect them at any time...plus some people that have never held a chicken find it
fasinating to hold or even touch them... However the down side to that is, we have to walk really slow around them... They stay
close by & will get under our feet...

You got that right.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: Flower What is the silver chick? So pretty!

 

[flower]

cbnovick beautiful chicks, I see you like variety also, I guess a lot of chicken "keepers" do like different colored eggs and the birds who lay them

Thanks for the compliments. My birds did not look so nice when they were in the feather picking mode. I think that I have them cured of that at the moment. The cause I determined is lack of free ranging at the moment. When I move to N AZ I hope that I can give them more time to be out and about but I will still run into trouble because my house is within the city limits and I will be pushing the law. Whn I lived ther in 05, no one minded but I have more now.

Flower What is the silver chick? So pretty! Fuzzybird I did not post chicks but if you mean the big birds that I posted, I went back to the post and labled the chickens.

BTW why do you use such LARGE font size ?

And last do I need to buy a gun to live in AZ ?

My dad used to take me to target parctice with a rifle but I never wanted to own a gun because I have enough trouble taking care of all my other STUFF . In other words owning a firearm requires too much responsiblity for this little old lady.

 

[countrygirl74]

HI...I thought I would post some cutie chick photos I took yesterday and today of 2 day olds....got 2 brooder lamps going in th garage keepin' these babies warm since the cold front especially!

Oh, they are sooo cute! Mine are already 3 months now... growing up! What breed is the all gray/silver one and the all white ones? I've never seen any those colors. My babies' photos are posted within my profile at the bottom if you want to see.