Arizona Chickens

[Arizona Son]

Well I just had something unusual happen. About an hour ago, i'm standing in the yard while my flock free ranges & I was setting up a water mister near a wire enclosure of newly hatched chicks about 2 days old. As i'm fiddling with the flow adjustment of the mister nozzle, I hear the chicks suddenly start shrieking & I look down & there not 3 feet away from me, in broad daylight, is a four foot long motherphucking snake with a baby chick in its mouth and another one already a lump inside its slender body!!!! I about flipped my lid! I grabbed at it and tried to wrestle it out of there, but there's a Pomegranat tree in the pen for shade, and it got tangled in the branches & got away from me temporarily by going through a chain link fence. I chased it all the way across my yard and it went into a ground squirrel hole on the other side of the fence! I was not about to let it get away because now that it knows where a reliable food source is, you can bet it will be sticking around. I dragged a garden hose & a long handled shovel out there and started flooding the hole. Sure enough, that punk-*** snake popped up for a breath & i taught him about fractions. Still, it doesnt bring my lil baby chicks back

Still cant believe this just happened! I lost my first chicken years ago, to a coyote & a few more since then. Then I fenced my entire property & got another BIG dog & that stopped the coyote predation. Then the raptors showed up & proceeded to pick off chickens at an alarming rate. Hawks during the day, owls at night. Now, I have added snakes to my shyte-list as well. I feel like you just cant win here in the southwest when it comes to predators. Sorry for the vent/rant... just really aggravated right now & feeling bad about the babies getting swallowed by that snake.

 

[pipemum]

How old were THOSE posts? $33 is pretty reasonable with current prices. Purchasing in bulk is less expensive (compare 25lb bags versus 50lb of the same product), and purchasing non-bagged is also less expensive, but I don;t know of anywhere in Arizona to purchase that way.

Ha, okay, they were old posts! I didn't notice the date before. I don't know what I was searching for the other day when I came across prices, but here's one old thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/241429/100-lbs-of-layer-feed-for-13-00

Sorry to hear about the chicks, ArizonaSon.

 

[pipemum]

MAN! i feel like I have been run over by an Australian Road train i have been pushing to get this coop done think roof, think roof, thing roooof . . . . . . Less then a week. . . . Roof, doors, paint, fence, don't know if I can do it. The heat ZAPS me. I would have more done if I hadn't pushed it yesterday.

Then clean.... Clean the yard, it is so messy right now. But that I can do one handed for the most part, a little at a time. Fill the trash and send it off each week.

I don't know how you can do all that is this heat! And one-handed??? I finished my coop, hmm, maybe 2 months ago, and at the end of each day working on it, I was wiped out. I have to take the coop roof off and on again this weekend and I'm so dreading it. It's galvanized tin, so I've got to work on it EARLY so I'm not roasted to death.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

Well I just had something unusual happen.

Holy crap! Poor chickies. What a complete d*ck. But at least you got him. I'm so paranoid about predation. I only let mine free-range when I'm out there with them. But this is the second time in like two months I've heard of someone being right there when an animal tries to get them. I can't remember who the other person was, but she said a coyote hopped the fence and grabbed a chicken while she was in the yard but had her back turned.

I guess everyone thinks our chickens are awesome. Just not in the way we want. Sorry about your chicks though.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I haven't fermented feed yet. My only experience with fermenting is with pickles. And I know there is a temperature zone for pickling vegetable so that you are getting good yeast and little to no mold. Is there an optimal temperature range for fermenting feed as well? It seems like it would be too hot here to get that 70-76 yeast fermenting range. I just read about people throwing feed and water into a bucket and letting it go. I'm wondering if they are in colder climates though. How do you guys do it?

Also, can you just still put the feed into a hanging feeder? Or do you have to offer it differently? Does it go bad in the feeder if they don't eat it fast enough? How does all that work?

I turned a closet in my garage into a fermenting room. I installed a small wall unit a/c and keep the temp in the high 60's. Of course that room is for fermenting my ales. I'm not fermenting feed.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Taught the snake about fractions

 

[MaddBaggins]

So, another egg today. That's 4 in 5 days. I'm pretty sure that it's just one of the girls laying at this point.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Sigh....those were the days....I can remember when I paid $9.99 for a bag of feed; didn't matter whether it was layer, starter or gamebird, or what brand...they were all $9.99 at virtually all the feed stores. Sweet feed and scratch were considerably less.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Taught the snake about fractions

But it is a shame about the chicks

 

[Mahonri]

I have 14, one month old Heritage Delawares for sale. These are HIGH QUALITY birds. I'll be saving at least 6 for Boston so that leaves 8.

I want at least $8 each. PM me. I also have 3 week old Aloha's, Some 6 week old FBCMs, a Blue naked neck, a couple of wheaten Ameraucanas and a couple of Olive eggers. Aloha's $4 each, $8 for the FBCMs, $5 for the Naked Neck, $8 for the Ameraucans and $9 for the Olive eggers.. Also a Heritage SLW $7.

I have to have the grow out pens ready to be taken apart by the 20th. If no one buys them, Boston will get all of them.

I also have a trio of 3 month old Silver Spangled Hamburgs. (roo and two pullets) $50 for the three.

Again, if you are interested PM me.

I can't believe I will no longer have chickens by the 4th of July.