Arizona Chickens

Sooooo after raising and caring for laying hens for most of my 57 years I find out from some of these folks that have had them for under 10 years that I am full of beans and do not know how to properly care for our flocks even though we have never experienced many of the issues worried over and discussed at the forums and have healthy birds with great egg production.

I was sent a PM by a popular member I politely disagreed with recommending I do not offer "out dated" advise on the forum as it can endanger their hens as well as confuse or upset folks? Really?

Sigh....

Think I will just check in here in AZ section now and then where common since dominates and stop offering advise or help elsewhere at BYC from now on. Bummer as it was fun being able to help and feel a part of this place....

Just a small rant I guess...

Well, keep your old-timer advise here, please. It seems many of us are much more for the old-school ways than this new-age stuff. I want to have as few problems as possible and I believe the animals, as well as the humans, should have as little medication as possible and let nature do it's work. They have survived thousands of years without much human intervention, so why should all the new-age stuff make that much of a difference. It's like the gardening. A recent article on Dr. Mercola was pointing out a lot of information we already know on this thread about how much damage the synthetic fertilizers are doing to the topsoil. Reminds me of a big, long interview with a farmer who cycled his chickens across huge acres of land, which helped the fields grow really, really well and then in turn sent the cows out to pasture. Aside from moving the chicken tractors and gathering the adults for slaughter, there was practically no other interaction. That's the type of perfect cycle I strive for.
 
My family has been buying from Bill for probably thirty years. I strongly recommend alfalfa for bold flavor, or citrus and mesquite for medium flavor. Daphine said he was running low last she went, so I'm not sure what his stock is.

Last I knew, a quart is $10, a half gallon is $20, and a gallon is $30. He gives you a dollar discount if you take your jar back.

The much more expensive route is Sprouts. It was $7.99 for a pint, if I recall the size correctly. They don't specifiy if it pasteurized, though. But that's about $60 a gallon and not local, so it will not provide the allergy benefits.

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Thank you! Unfortunately, Litchfield Park is quite a ways from me. Does he sell at local Farmers Markets? I guess I could give him a call.
 
southerndesert, don't let them get you down. IMHO I'd consider that PM a badge of honor.
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Your advice will always be welcome and appreciated here.
 
Thank you! Unfortunately, Litchfield Park is quite a ways from me. Does he sell at local Farmers Markets? I guess I could give him a call.

I don't believe so. As far as I know, he does it all off of his property. It really is well worth the drive, though. The last time I went, he had six flavors: cotton, citrus, two others, and then a blend of each set of two. And there are so many health benefits to the raw honey, it's truly amazing. From a sleep aid, to weight loss, to seasonal allergies.

He's a classic old-timer and will give you a couple sheets of paper with the curative recipes that have been passed down for generations. It includes everything from bad gas to curing cancer. I have no idea how accurate the cancer one is, but many of the others have worked for me and my family. No matter what, I hope you can get some. It makes the store bought stuff taste like second-rate manure.
 
My mom used to make quince jelly. It was great stuff. Second only to her beach plum jelly. Quince paste (membrillo) is good stuff, too. You can find it in a lot of the supermarkets here. Especially the markets on the southwest side of town. I used to have a quince tree when I lived in Maine so I wasn't worried about how it would deal with the Tucson version of "cold." It did drop most of its leaves during those chilly nights. I'm more concerned about the heat and dryness. This quince was from somewhere near Aravaipa. Very different terrain from the creosote flats in my part of town. Hope it survives the summer...

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-quince28-2009oct28,0,5254414.story

I read the wiki page on them after posting yesterday and was surprised to find that they were a pome. For some reason I thought they were something else. The LA Times article was actually much more inspiring to me. Plus, how often do you encounter a reference to Pliny the Elder?
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O.k., so heat is the issue. What sort of microhabitat in my yard would I look to as a suitable growing spot?
 
I don't believe so.  As far as I know, he does it all off of his property.  It really is well worth the drive, though.  The last time I went, he had six flavors: cotton, citrus, two others, and then a blend of each set of two.  And there are so many health benefits to the raw honey, it's truly amazing.  From a sleep aid, to weight loss, to seasonal allergies.

He's a classic old-timer and will give you a couple sheets of paper with the curative recipes that have been passed down for generations.  It includes everything from bad gas to curing cancer.  I have no idea how accurate the cancer one is, but many of the others have worked for me and my family.  No matter what, I hope you can get some.  It makes the store bought stuff taste like second-rate manure.


I totally believe you! DS #1 (7) and DS #3 (4) as well as DH have horrible allergies. DS#1 has been hospitalized twice for asthma/respiratory issues. Last time was a couple of years ago and he spent 3days in the ICU. It was horrible...anyway we only eat raw honey now, I'm just tired of paying an arm and leg for it (we go through a lot of honey between the 7 of us) plus, I'd like to give a local farmer my business directly. I just googled him, he's about 40 miles from my house...one way! Yikes!
 
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I found another one! (Egg video) That is so cool! Has it ever happened to any of you guys? Sorry I'm mobile so I cant post the video itself, just the link



Also, I've got to look into this USAA thing! My dad was paying for us to have AAA (platinum) and it was like $200/year for two cards (works with any vehicle you're in) and 100+ tow miles. Obviously we had to cancel when the recession hit hard last year.

I've seen apples grow all over. Usually granny smith types, really older trees that have been around 20 years at least. In colder places like Jerome there are all these super old apricot and plum trees, super cool! Around October we go and reach over fences for the fruit lol. Most of the fruit trees are in abandoned homes' yards, so I never think much about pruning. When we had fruit trees we just let them grow and had tons of fruit every year.
USAA requires that you, your spouse or a parent have served in the military. If a grandparent served, and your parent (his/her son or daughter) joined, then you can as well.
 
I have good friends in Casa Grande that sell honey. In fact when they came for their dental appointment yesterday, they brought us a pint. It's wonderful... They travel here (East Central Phoenix) quite often.
 
I totally believe you! DS #1 (7) and DS #3 (4) as well as DH have horrible allergies. DS#1 has been hospitalized twice for asthma/respiratory issues. Last time was a couple of years ago and he spent 3days in the ICU. It was horrible...anyway we only eat raw honey now, I'm just tired of paying an arm and leg for it (we go through a lot of honey between the 7 of us) plus, I'd like to give a local farmer my business directly. I just googled him, he's about 40 miles from my house...one way! Yikes!

Oh, believe me, I understand driving a long ways for the foods that benefit my family the most. For a few months, I was driving 60 miles each way to Save Your Dairy in order to get raw milk. It's expensive on top of it at $10 a gallon, but it was a much, much better option for my newborn and my middle daughter than the processed junk in the store. My oldest is milk intolerant, so I have to make rice milk for her. It causes horrible behavior issues. She turns in to the most emotional child on Earth. As long as she gets no milk products, she is infinitely better. I finally found out that they do a co-op type deal where they deliver a mass order to a single person in your neighbor on a set schedule and then you pick up from them. Now, I drive about 4 miles each direction. It saves me about $30 in gas each trip at our current rate.
 
Anyone else seen this video yet?! Amazing!
One of my Delawares laid an egg like that last year. It was crazy! I couldn't believe my eyes when I cracked it open and there was an egg inside an egg. Apparently this can happen on occasion, the inner egg is almost complete when it is "overtaken" by another egg, which enshells them both. Here are photos of mine. Here it is surrounded, on a 12"x12" tile, with some other eggs, including a turkey egg at the bottom: The normal sized Delaware eggs on the sides weighed 1.5 to 2 ounces. The Marans egg weighed 2.5 ounces. The turkey egg weighed 3 ounces. The incredible big egg weighed: 6.5 ounces!



Here it is when cracked open in a bowl:





It made a great omelet
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