Arizona Chickens

[notinoz2007]

Quote:
i can also bring extra chairs, extra roosters, and i'm probably bringing an extra person. my mom always helps me, i do the butchering and skinning, she does the gutting... cuz she likes to keep that stuff.

i can also bring water containers potable and/or not. if its is going to be at 5 in the far north west valley i might be a bit late...

 

[notinoz2007]

What a summer! Lost 3 chickens with the heat and now I have lost one chicken for the last 3 days! I went out just now with frozen and I lost 2 more! One was my beloved 6 year old silky rooster Tumbleweed!

They have a good coop and go in every night when I call them. Nice laying boxes. Two were still laying. One was my blue egg layer. No reason for Tumbleweed not to come. I have looked all over! I have seen coyote in the area but they have never jumped the field fencing. We also have large dogs that mark territory and bark so I guess maybe hawks? No feathers at all are found! Would the Harris Hawk be able to pick up full grown hens, they were not a large breed, Morans, americanus, and young reds and my silky, with out feathers being left?

i'm sorry to hear about all your losses. maybe the heat ages our birds faster than normal.?? hope you find out whats happening and have no more loss this year.

 

[redrocketrooster]

Welll.....one of my silkies is a roo. Anyone interested in a silver white silkie cockerel? 8 weeks old. Hes from East Coast Silkies show pen so hed be great for FFA and 4H. Is $10 an ok price?

 

[AZ_HenHouse]

To keep wild birds out, i used bird netting over my large outside run. that way they can have access anytime and nothing gets in

bought a big roll of it pretty cheap at home depot it is 7-8 foot wide and the roll was 75 or 100 feet long. i think i paid maybe $20. used zip ties to connect to fence, trees, other pieces of netting.

fyi--hard to type with one hand while holding baby chicks with the other. just a little bit longer and they can meet their momma (her eggs did not hatch

three of them looked good at the end of last week but quit before hatch day on Wednesday) Wish them luck

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

i haven't gotten a hold of Flower yet, but it looks like the last Sunday of this month. I am getting my yard clean out so we have a place, PLEASE PM ME so I can send you my phone no, address and direction from the 101 loop and the 303 loop, covering all directions. Looking forward to seeing everyone, it will be dinner time, so if you have a strong stomach we could have a pot luck. Mind as well. If you put salt in you ice and a little water it will almost or it will semi freeze stuff, makes beer extra cold in 5 min. Takes heat out of dead things to keep them good.

I told my sister, she was upset. " what are you going to do with all the dead chickens, it will still up the place!" "No, it will not, we eat the chickens,....... Good Grief, we are possessing, not getting to gather just to kill chickens! She is not the farm type.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

What a summer! Lost 3 chickens with the heat and now I have lost one chicken for the last 3 days! I went out just now with frozen and I lost 2 more! One was my beloved 6 year old silky rooster Tumbleweed!

They have a good coop and go in every night when I call them. Nice laying boxes. Two were still laying. One was my blue egg layer. No reason for Tumbleweed not to come. I have looked all over! I have seen coyote in the area but they have never jumped the field fencing. We also have large dogs that mark territory and bark so I guess maybe hawks? No feathers at all are found! Would the Harris Hawk be able to pick up full grown hens, they were not a large breed, Morans, americanus, and young reds and my silky, with out feathers being left?

They may not be big, but they hunt in pairs and last years off spring. Usually only 1 but sometimes 2, I have heard but never seen more the 4 in a group. They will lay more then 2 eggs, but infanticide of nest mates usually ends up with 1 or 2 strongest hackling s. sense they hatch a day apart, egg # 3 gets tossed out or chick is killed after hatching. But you should have found feathers. They will dismember game and carry away what they can. I will have to check, but I think the Sparrow Hawk can fly carrying its own weight, they are the strongest of the rafter family.

 

[notinoz2007]

i haven't gotten a hold of Flower yet, but it looks like the last Sunday of this month. I am getting my yard clean out so we have a place, PLEASE PM ME so I can send you my phone no, address and direction from the 101 loop and the 303 loop, covering all directions. Looking forward to seeing everyone, it will be dinner time, so if you have a strong stomach we could have a pot luck. Mind as well. If you put salt in you ice and a little water it will almost or it will semi freeze stuff, makes beer extra cold in 5 min. Takes heat out of dead things to keep them good.

I told my sister, she was upset. " what are you going to do with all the dead chickens, it will still up the place!" "No, it will not, we eat the chickens,....... Good Grief, we are possessing, not getting to gather just to kill chickens!

She is not the farm type.

She does bring up a good point. when does your trash run? i usually try to process on fridays cuz my trash runs on saturday and i dont have 'remains' sitting in the barrel for long. i use vanilla scented bags too, but now every time i open my under sink cabinet and smell the vanilla, i think of processing day. not fondly either i must say, lol. i certainly wouldnt say i enjoy it... its a means to an end tho and feeds my family. do you have a large pot for boiling water?

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: So there is a raptor that can carry off chickens with out a lot of feathers being spread around? That seems to be the big mystery here. I do think I found just a small handfull of poor Tumbleweeds feathers in the front yard near the house but nothing of the other 3 chickens I have lost this week. Very strange.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

opps! It will be the 1st Sunday for the party

 

[Arizona Son]

So there is a raptor that can carry off chickens with out a lot of feathers being spread around? That seems to be the big mystery here. I do think I found just a small handfull of poor Tumbleweeds feathers in the front yard near the house but nothing of the other 3 chickens I have lost this week. Very strange.

Oh yes, raptors are killing machines with hundreds of thousands of years of killer instincts honed by mother nature. I've actually seen them swoop down in broad daylight not 5 feet away from where I was standing in my yard, and snatch a half grown pullet! I've also had issues with owls hunting during hours when you wouldnt think an owl is out & about. It's very difficult to protect your free ranging birds from this type of predator. Livestock dogs have helped me a lot, but I still lose a few chickens a year to raptors.