Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

As I rounded one of the last corners to my house this afternoon, there was a blue Camry with a BYC sticker on it.
Anyone from this thread? You are right around the corner from my house, you're welcome to come meet/greet and see the flock and taste a homebrew. Kolsch on tap.

 

Wish it was us!! Man I am really thinking of doing my own brew... I need to do some research on that ??

 

[City farm]

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... 

Oh no!!! Shoot was she the only one with mites??? If so how can that be? I thought they move around.. Or pick a certain chicken??
I had a dream that a bunch of wild birds were in our run bothering our flock.. Only a dream. Our dogs have been chasing off the gagkels.
Spelling on that is wrong.. They are the birds from Mexico that push out the eggs from other birds.. Unresponsible birds..

 

[City farm]

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

Skip that is awesome.. Love the photos. Is that a Delaware or bramah?

 

[MaddBaggins]

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.

I just built a (appx) 2x2 dust bath in the run. I built it up with red brick and filled it with sand/wood ash/DE. The girls are very curious, but haven't jumped in yet.

 

[AZKat]

I caught Ms. Broody of the nest today, and snuck in and candled the eggs. 6 out of 8 were developing nicely. The other two were clear, so they must have either been infertile or very early quitters. A lot can happen in a week, but I'm optimistic that she'll manage to hatch a chick or two. Maybe I'll even get a pullet

 

[Arizonachicken]

the sulmtalers are hatching e  e  e

You are a hatching genius!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

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... 

Lesson learned, I'll never take a nap on your porch

 

[kevs-chickadees]

Lesson learned, I'll never take a nap on your porch

Ha ha! Hey that beekeeping thing tomorrow, is that an outside event and is it a come and go sort of thing? Not sure if we're going yet, depends on a lot of things and a decision won't be able to be made until mere minutes before it starts. I don't want to be the guy that interrupts the class and has everyone stare at me.

 

[Phottoman]

Skip that is awesome.. Love the photos. Is that a Delaware or bramah?

I don't know which lady you are referring too, but I had nine chickens as of that picture, the fifteen (15) newer birds are all in a roost and run to teach them "where home is." In this flock I have three Light Brahmas, one Dark Brahma, one Gold Brahma Bantam, two RIRs that seem to have a lot of EE in their genes, and two (surviving) White Leghorns.

ALSO, this is new ... I'm sure most communities have something like the Kingman Free Cycle. a post if you have or need something free ... Well, last week I saw an ad that was posted about re-homing a rooster that was born/hatched in December. I wrote to the lady that offered it, and she said my letter was the best inquiry, and said I could have the rooster. She wasn't sure what his genetic mix was, but he looks a lot like a barred Rock, with red under-feathers, so I am guessing RIR in there too. He is currently residing in the isolation pen, he has small black spots on his comb, so I am taking no chances that he has something that may hurt the rest of the flock.

He IS gorgeous, he has a name, "Wings," but I have only been referring to him as "the Rooster," and he may get that changed. His spurs are just small bumps right now, but they look like they had been ground, I hope not.

And he is out there now singing his little heart out. I'll take and post pictures soon.

Skip

 

[Rezia]

I caught Ms. Broody of the nest today, and snuck in and candled the eggs. 6 out of 8 were developing nicely. The other two were clear, so they must have either been infertile or very early quitters. A lot can happen in a week, but I'm optimistic that she'll manage to hatch a chick or two. Maybe I'll even get a pullet

Good luck! Maizee went broody about two weeks ago... I put an icepack under her to quit her. Let's just say it worked XD.
Anywho, Rosie is laying an egg a day and Maizee stopped! I'm guessing it's because she hasn't quite been through a hot summer yet... Rosie's used to it. I was thinking about putting some quail eggs under Maizee when she was broody, but she would abandon the nest for hours at a time... Not a good idea.