Arizona Chickens

[countrygirl74]

many pages back someone mentioned a local person who made the chicken saddles or aprons. i have only 5 hens between my 2 roos and they are all completely barebacked now so i thought i would give those a try. *plus i am getting more hens

would you repost that link or contact info? please and thank you.

all you who raise chicks without a broody, where do you buy your heat lamp bulbs?

those of you fermenting feed in az, do you have it outside in the heat? i let mine get all gross and stopped but i only have 1 week of school left and plan to get back into it. if i have to i'll clean out a spot under the kitchen sink. what about mealworms, how do they do in the heat?

I don't know who the local person is.... but this is where I got mine: http://www.chickensaddlesanddiapers.webs.com/
I especially like that I can get saddles with wing guards as one of my girls was getting bare there too.

I found the heat lamp bulbs at our local feed store but I've also seen them at Cal-Ranch - do they have a Cal-Ranch down there?

As for fermenting, I keep mine in one 5-gallon bucket in my laundry room.

LoL. Sort of, from my understanding, the two mostly replace each other. If you sprinkle ash in the coop, it will still help with the parasites, but a dust bath is always recommended. Whether it's plain old fine dirt, fine sand, DE or ash, it will help. I catch mine alternating between regular dirt, dirt with rocks and the sand box.

The DE in the coop keeps parasites out of there, but they can still get them while free-ranging or in their run. The dust bath gives them a way to smoother and kill those external life and mites.

Besides, it gives you a reason to break out the hardware again! Power tools for a wooden box or garden tools like mine. In the name of Tim Taylor... More power! ARRR ARRR ARRR!

I'm pretty sure the wood ash is the BEST for preventing and getting rid of mites. I use DE too but have heard better results from the wood ash.

 

[Mahonri]

I've bought all of my heat lamp bulbs at Ace Hardware...31st Street and Indian School Road.

 

[MaddBaggins]

LoL. Sort of, from my understanding, the two mostly replace each other. If you sprinkle ash in the coop, it will still help with the parasites, but a dust bath is always recommended. Whether it's plain old fine dirt, fine sand, DE or ash, it will help. I catch mine alternating between regular dirt, dirt with rocks and the sand box.

The DE in the coop keeps parasites out of there, but they can still get them while free-ranging or in their run. The dust bath gives them a way to smoother and kill those external life and mites.

Besides, it gives you a reason to break out the hardware again! Power tools for a wooden box or garden tools like mine. In the name of Tim Taylor... More power! ARRR ARRR ARRR!

Binferd 2000

I've seen them dusting in the run, but it's still a bit damp from the mister incident the other day.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I use a combination of wood ash and DE. It's interesting that a number of ethnoveterinary studies have shown that poultry keepers in the most far-flung reaches of the world also use wood ash. However, I have yet to find a single study demonstrating its effectiveness. In contrast, there are a number of studies that show the effectiveness of DE at controlling mites, even with exposure to very small quantities. DE completely eliminates mite reproduction, but works slower on mite mortality. In addition to the slow action on mortality, the other downside to DE is that its effectiveness is, in part, determined by humidity levels. For example, at 75% RH, it controls mites fairly well, but significantly less so at 85% RH. DE works to kill insects by pulling off the outer cuticle through adsorption. Once the insect's cuticle is damaged, it is unable to maintain water balance and dies through desiccation. Our dry climate here in AZ is well suited for using DE to control mites. The best attribute of mechanically-acting control agents is that the mites can't develop resistance them as they are with many acaricides.

 

[Phottoman]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens/1960
good thread about growing your own fodder, thought with our lack of greenery some people may be interested in this, Im not sure what type of seed we should be sprouting out here with our high heat most of the year but just thought id pass along something that I found interesting....

I've been growing fodder now for a little more than three or four months. Not only is it a great treat for the girls, but it is one way to get all the girls to come to you in the late afternoon. I mention that because some-one (don't remember who) mentioned Thai he had a "lost girl" somewhere in the yard ... several days.

It only took about a week for the fodder to grow to where I could give it to the chickens as something they would go after, and boy, do they ever. I had Jamie take some pictures of me bringing fodder out to the yard and how the girls swarmed all over me trying to get at the greens.






I finally built a wrack out of scrap 1" X 2" lumber, that took a couple of hours to measure and build, and then I located the right trays for growing the fodder. It now takes me ten days to grow what you see in these pictures, the first two days are in buckets. It takes me a total of fifteen minutes at night to rinse/water the seeds and place them in that days tray, and about five minutes in the morning to water. The seeds get watered twice a day, and the end result is what you see in these few pictures. I made a HUGH posting on that thread.

Where we live, there is NO SUCH THING as "grass" and this is the next best thing, plus it has cut the feed bill to about 1/4 what it had been before foddering. I use about eight (8) to ten (10) ounces of seeds per day, that grows into very close to ten pounds of fodder in ten days. None of it is wasted, they eat every last morsel and try to play "take away" with the last few bits of grass.

Oh, this feeds nine chickens, all are one year old last month.

I almost forgot to mention what seeds I am growing. I started with barley (recleaned, 50# bag at $16), Wheat (same price) and I tried oats, but that doesn't sprout as well so I gave up and started fermenting oat seeds instead, and I have BOSS that I will throw a large hand-full into the tray to add different taste and texture to the mix.

If any one has questions, just ask and I will try to answer.

Skip

 

[pipemum]

I used to grow and juice wheat grass in my woo woo days. I still have a few trays that I could set up, though my chicks get plenty of my garden greens.

I moved my 2 EE chicks out to the coop over the weekend. They're doing okay, but they haven't quite figured out how to get in and out the ramp, so they're spending all day in the coop. They seem to have reverted to feral chickens, but the little things come running over like mini velociraptors when I bring them some greens.

I went to pick up 4 more chicks from Hippie Chicks N' Eggs, and ended up with another customer's order. No bueno. 4 chicks turned into 5, because John heard it was my daughter's birthday--he threw in an extra silkie mix. So sweet! Somehow along our exchange, 4 chicks turned into 18. Needless to say, I have some chicks to give away. I wish I could keep them all but my coop will hold 10 at the overcrowded max.

 

[Demosthine]

I used to grow and juice wheat grass in my woo woo days. I still have a few trays that I could set up, though my chicks get plenty of my garden greens.

I moved my 2 EE chicks out to the coop over the weekend. They're doing okay, but they haven't quite figured out how to get in and out the ramp, so they're spending all day in the coop. They seem to have reverted to feral chickens, but the little things come running over like mini velociraptors when I bring them some greens.

I went to pick up 4 more chicks from Hippie Chicks N' Eggs, and ended up with another customer's order. No bueno. 4 chicks turned into 5, because John heard it was my daughter's birthday--he threw in an extra silkie mix. So sweet! Somehow along our exchange, 4 chicks turned into 18. Needless to say, I have some chicks to give away. I wish I could keep them all but my coop will hold 10 at the overcrowded max.

It's so funny how that all works out, eh? My wife started asking if we could keep "Squeaker," one of the Speckled Sussex were chicksitting for Sommer's Aloha Project. She spent a chunk of time on her, making sure she made it through whatever the disease or illness was that they shipped with from the hatchery. We're already at 15 and I don't think we can keep a single four-week old when the next closest is about 9 weeks old. She needs a buddy her age.

Here I was only planning on 4 to 6 hens... Now we're at 3 laying hens, three roos, and 9 pullets. When will the madness end?!?

 

[jbolt]

@notinoz I get bulbs at Pratt's I El mirage for about 5$ each

 

[MagicChicken]

While other folks are building up their flocks, I'm shrinking mine. Culled 3 of my 14 roosters last weekend. Yesterday I noticed my one-and-only named hen was covered in lice. I had moved the pullets in with the laying hens to separate the poor girls from the testosterone-filled cockerels. So all the girls have been exposed to the lice. Ick. Haven't found any lice on the pullets yet, but I will be dusting them soon.

I went off for a sunset hike to clear my head and figure out the best way to handle the invasion. Was thinking I need to cull the infested hen, but didn't really want to. She is kind of a pet. She is always the first one to roost in the evening so I was surprised to find she was not in the coop when I went to close them in for the night. Found her sleeping on the porch. I guess that was her way of telling me it was ok to cull. I processed her last night. She is now resting in the fridge.

Now I am off to scrub down the coop. Oh, joy...

 

[Demosthine]

While other folks are building up their flocks, I'm shrinking mine. Culled 3 of my 14 roosters last weekend. Yesterday I noticed my one-and-only named hen was covered in lice. I had moved the pullets in with the laying hens to separate the poor girls from the testosterone-filled cockerels. So all the girls have been exposed to the lice. Ick. Haven't found any lice on the pullets yet, but I will be dusting them soon.

I went off for a sunset hike to clear my head and figure out the best way to handle the invasion. Was thinking I need to cull the infested hen, but didn't really want to. She is kind of a pet. She is always the first one to roost in the evening so I was surprised to find she was not in the coop when I went to close them in for the night. Found her sleeping on the porch. I guess that was her way of telling me it was ok to cull. I processed her last night. She is now resting in the fridge.

Now I am off to scrub down the coop. Oh, joy...

Wow is all I can say. I think my wife would be devastated if I had to do that. That's a tough call with the lice. I haven't had any experiences with those yet, but it really got that bad that the best option was to cull? I would have thought any number of other options including diatomaceous earth or wood ash would have fairly immediate impact. As a newbie, if I may ask, what caused you to cull rather than treat? We were just talking about this earlier... Do you have a diatomaceous earth or wood ash bath available for them? I know mine love taking their dust baths and it's really quite comical to watch. I was concerned with the number of times they were doing it, but I haven't been able to find any sort of infestation amongst any of them, so I've just taken it to be a routine part of their week.

Our thoughts are prayers are with you, though. It's always hard to lose a pet like that.