Arizona Chickens

[Arizonachicken]

The Big Sky feed I buy has fishmeal in it, and it smelled horrid when I first started fermenting. Once I got a really good brew going, though, it drastically cut down the smell. I mean, if you're holding a cup of, it still smells, but it isn't making my entire shop smell like vomit. I would stick with it and keep the fishmeal around.

Thanks, Demosthine, I just lost my appetite.

 

[maryhysong]

The Big Sky feed I buy has fishmeal in it, and it smelled horrid when I first started fermenting. Once I got a really good brew going, though, it drastically cut down the smell. I mean, if you're holding a cup of, it still smells, but it isn't making my entire shop smell like vomit. I would stick with it and keep the fishmeal around.

I also feed the Big Sky with fishmeal. Funny, I only noticed a faint fishy odor when I first started with it (and I feed fermented). Don't really notice much of anything now, except a sour dough type smell occasionally. I guess I'm used to it. ;=)

 

[notinoz2007]

If I designed my dream house, stained concrete would be the preferred flooring type. We painted our enclosed porch with concrete paint, and that has not held up well to traffic...mainly large dog traffic, plus they track in lots of dirt and sand to etch away at the paint. Staining would have probably held up better, but we went with the cheaper and less time intensive option.

I'm so impatiently waiting for eggs. 21 week EE is ready, the other not so much. One of the 18 week barred rocks is getting red now too.

I think I need to manage my compost better. I mentioned a while back that I didn't really take too much care of my compost and it still produced nice, rich compost? Still true, but this weekend I was turning it, and I found an ant colony, grubs, and a HUGE centipede living in the compost. It's not getting hot enough to deter pests. I also found a bunch of plastics and non-degradables that have snuck in (via the vacuum bag, I'm sure). I keep a separate chicken coop compost that is primarily chicken poop, sand, and pine shavings...and I dug through that and it also had a ton of grubs, though the bottom stuff was fairly well broken down (and I've only had chickens since May).

I'm not sure what my point is regarding compost, but I feed the grubs to my chickens, and whoo boy, that was fun.

when we moved here our back patio was painted the same color as the house, and i dont think that was concrete paint. it has not held up well at all, no surprise there.

interesting about the compost - mine is the same. i was getting great compost but then it got so full i couldnt turn it and just kinda let it go. i recently bought 2 more bins and was transferring from old to new and fell upon a mess of bugs. some orange roach/beetle looking things and lots of pill bugs. also, in the middle it wasnt getting moist enough to compost! so we dumped the whole thing out and have let the chickens stir it and the rain muddy it for the past few days. i scooped some of it into the new bins today and had just a peaceful happy feeling. its looking better already just from being wet. even tho my backyard is a muddy stinky mess from chickens/rain i really enjoyed working back there today. first day i havent almost caught fire from the heat.

 

[notinoz2007]

so i think the girls are going through something... not sure what. maybe its the humidity, maybe they're molting, or maybe they're just mad i havent made a proper nesting box since they keep destroying them. 1 egg in 2 days from 5 hens.
today i let everyone out to play nice in the puddles. (i have 2 different pens, plus 4 regular all around the yard chickens) one of my older hens was standing like a flamingo on the patio, one leg tucked, falling asleep. then another hen, ginger, stood straight in front of her and puffed up about twice her normal size, like you would see a broody do. i thought maybe she was ready to attack. then, crack... she dropped an egg, right on the patio. i stared, my daughter stared, ginger turned around and stared. it was the strangest thing. five minutes later she passed part of a yolk and some albumen, and then THAT was the strangest thing. then everyone ran to taste it and i grabbed the hose.

 

[Demosthine]

so i think the girls are going through something... not sure what. maybe its the humidity, maybe they're molting, or maybe they're just mad i havent made a proper nesting box since they keep destroying them. 1 egg in 2 days from 5 hens.
today i let everyone out to play nice in the puddles. (i have 2 different pens, plus 4 regular all around the yard chickens) one of my older hens was standing like a flamingo on the patio, one leg tucked, falling asleep. then another hen, ginger, stood straight in front of her and puffed up about twice her normal size, like you would see a broody do. i thought maybe she was ready to attack. then, crack... she dropped an egg, right on the patio. i stared, my daughter stared, ginger turned around and stared. it was the strangest thing.  five minutes later she passed part of a yolk and some albumen, and then THAT was the strangest thing. then everyone ran to taste it and i grabbed the hose. :/

Lmao! Now that's funny. Makes me think of Henrietta the Hen from Easter!

Mine haven't laid a single egg in a week, so I think it's that time of year for moulting and rejuvenation. In sire isn't the food supply! Maybe the humidity, but I don't think so. There have been feathers around, too.

Sorry ArizonaChicken!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:

Exactly! My wife showed me the penny floor pics a few months ago, knowing full well how that would totally tap into my OCD for tediously meticulous tasks like that. I started thinking about the amount of time it would take to glue each individual penny down and I realized it would probably be one of the most expensive floor options with all the labor. It does look good though.

Thanks everyone (especially AZKat) for their thoughts on stained concrete floors. It helps to hear positive stories. I'm testing out color samples today.

One question to ask is how well it stands up to throw rugs. I have a neighbor with concrete stained floors, and the stain peels off under their door mats. I'm thinking it was probably not properly done, but it was a significant enough issue that if I ever stain our floors, I will definitely ask about it.

 

[pimachickens]

so i think the girls are going through something... not sure what. maybe its the humidity, maybe they're molting, or maybe they're just mad i havent made a proper nesting box since they keep destroying them. 1 egg in 2 days from 5 hens.
today i let everyone out to play nice in the puddles. (i have 2 different pens, plus 4 regular all around the yard chickens) one of my older hens was standing like a flamingo on the patio, one leg tucked, falling asleep. then another hen, ginger, stood straight in front of her and puffed up about twice her normal size, like you would see a broody do. i thought maybe she was ready to attack. then, crack... she dropped an egg, right on the patio. i stared, my daughter stared, ginger turned around and stared. it was the strangest thing. five minutes later she passed part of a yolk and some albumen, and then THAT was the strangest thing. then everyone ran to taste it and i grabbed the hose.

Sorry, it probably wasn't funny for you, but

.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

GALLO, look at YouTub videos on it, there are time saving and time labor methods of doing it. Please don't let your wife know of my Suggestion or she may be

me.

One question to ask is how well it stands up to throw rugs. I have a neighbor with concrete stained floors, and the stain peels off under their door mats. I'm thinking it was probably not properly done, but it was a significant enough issue that if I ever stain our floors, I will definitely ask about it.

I've read so much and watched so many videos over the past year that my brain has nearly turned to mush on the subject. It seems that most problems are caused by inadequate concrete preparation or preparation with materials inappropriate to the stain you're using. Some require prior etching prior to staining, while other stains will not take at all if you etch first. It seems that once you make the decision of the type of stain you're going to use, you really should stick to all of the steps and materials appropriate for that specific proprietary stain. From my reading, that will head off most problems (given the floor is properly prepped). The nerve-wracking aspect of it all is that it's so permanent. It's not so easy or cheap to change your mind on the color once you've laid down a coat of stain. We lived in this house with white primer on the walls for years, just because of our indecisiveness on color (where poor color choices are so easily corrected). I suspect that we'll be happy with whatever we choose, it's just hard making that leap.

 

[Demosthine]

One question to ask is how well it stands up to throw rugs. I have a neighbor with concrete stained floors, and the stain peels off under their door mats. I'm thinking it was probably not properly done, but it was a significant enough issue that if I ever stain our floors, I will definitely ask about it.

If done correctly, it is supposed to hold up fabulously to even the most high-demand traffic areas. After the pennies are laid, you cover it with an extremely durable two-part epoxy coating that is supposed to hold up to everything except extreme heat. There was a warning when I was looking at doing my kitchen counters this way, that you can not set hot pots on it. It begins to melt and discolor the epoxy. The boiling point of water is 212*, so you would be way up there in temperatures to reach the temperature of a hot pot!

The Hotel Congress in Tucson just recently closed their cafe for a week to rejuvenate their penny floor. It supposedly lasted over seven years with excellent results. But can you imagine how much traffic they get? My house will never get the amount of traffic in a year that they have in a week!

 

[City farm]

desertmarcy I really like your new website! I especially like how you listed "advantages and disadvantages" for each breed. FYI, I checked it out on both my iPhone and iPad and it worked great on both. Awesome job!

Yeah we think we need to get something for our wifi.. All of us are having trouble texting, phone calls and streaming.. I have decided
I am only using my phone for calls & texting.. I like having the big screen for emails or video.. Blondie is doing well.. I trimmed her nails
again.. One I went just a bit short.. She is so beautiful.. We put pretty boy outin the front yard full time.. Every time I was oot back he
would peck & twist off their feathers.. By adding and getting rid of others I did not want the new flock to have to put up with his behavior.
So far so good.. No loud squeaking.. He was just so agressive.. I am sure he is not happy being away from the flock, but it is freedom
out front or crockpot.. We will see how it goes.