Arizona Chickens

[Demosthine]

LKD  when I drive down on sunday I should be able to help you with sex determination on your birds. See you then. Demo, I have a few green wine bottle for you if you want them ? You could stop over and pick them up ?

Cool, that's great to hear. I completely missed all information on the party this time around. When will you be down there, so I know when to stop by? I plan on processing our Thanksgiving turkey the following weekend. This weekend is a bit too far out for it to sit in the fridge that long.

Welcome to the Forum, Cindy. And congrats on the eggs. It seems like any eggs this time of year are special. My flock hasn't resumed laying after their moult yet.

 

[flower]

Welcome, Stynch!

LKD, my BCM is totally black too. Speaking of her, her eggs (4 now) have been getting progressively lighter as she lays. But, her egg is already bigger than my EEs (by 0.1 oz, hahaha).

I'm starting to get a little stressed at the upcoming broiler processing on Saturday. They still chirp like chicks!!!!!! But, the big ones are 2.5lbs, ready to be processed as Cornish game hens. Ugh. Life as a meat eater.

Sometimes that anticipation is worse than the actual deed. You can do it but it will be a DAYS WORK. And tell us how tasty they are !
My Marans make large eggs also.

 

[Angelray]

I'm a newbie who just joined, so I thought I would introduce myself!  I live in an un-incorporated part of Buckeye with my husband and 4 chickens.  One started laying last weekend, another is starting to make alot of noise and spending time in the nesting boxes, and the other two are probably still a couple weeks out.  We are newbies at little birds, but a few years ago, we raised ostriches!  After trolling BYC for the past few months, I figured it was about time I joined!              --Cindy

Welcome! Did you eat the ostrich eggs? If so how did they compare to chickens?

 

[kpgoldstar]

I don't remember his exact age but it was a good 2 weeks after the last of the other cockerels before his comb started to develop. I butchered three cockerels at 14 weeks and the testes ranged from small navy bean to almost chestnut sized. Those birds all had red combs but the large-testes bird had the brightest comb. The tiny-testes bird was at the bottom of the pecking order.

Development times can vary a lot. The late-blooming cockerel was much bigger than my pullets, which is why I was hoping he WAS a pullet. My pullets are much smaller than they should be per the Standard. A relatively large one would have been right on Standard weight. Once the late-bloomer hit about 7 months old he beefed up to the point where he tied for my largest (heaviest weight) cockerel. The other heavy bird was one of the first to mature.

I wanted the pullets separated from the cockerels because the pullets were not yet mature and they were getting harassed by the males. I wanted the pullets especially to be able to put on some weight without constant stress. I did eventually put one cockerel in with them (I have 8 pullets). But it wasn't the late-bloomer.

Thanks for all the information MagicChicken! I will keep posting on the progress of my small flock. Yesterday morning I threw out some ends of a zucchini I had trimmed and by the time I got home, it looked like they had some interest in them. Prior to now they haven't touched a single table scrap, yogurt, apple, kale, lettuce, thinnings from my beets and spinach. When they got their breakfast I tossed in some quartered leftover cooked butternut. Later on when I had to leave for work they had all pieces covered in their sand bedding so were obviously tossing it around. The only other thing besides chick starter they have eaten are the fresh herb twigs and rose petals that I put in the coop and run. One to give them something to keep occupied during the day, and two it helps to keep everything smelling nice. I'm glad they are slowly coming around to being my pet garbage disposal.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Welcome to Cindy! I am fairly new here too, just joined last month. I have 4 RIR's who are just 6 weeks old. It will be March before I get my first eggs. Everyone here so nice and helpful!

 

[Stynch]

Angelray - One ostrich egg equals about 24 chicken eggs! There is more white and less yoke, proportionately, so scrambled eggs are kind-of grayish! I had to add yellow food coloring before kids and grandkids would eat it!

 

[pipemum]

Angelray - One ostrich egg equals about 24 chicken eggs! There is more white and less yoke, proportionately, so scrambled eggs are kind-of grayish! I had to add yellow food coloring before kids and grandkids would eat it!

Equivalent to 24 chicken eggs! Wow! That would feed a whole lot of people. Guess I don't need an ostrich around, there's usually only 3 of us to feed. I used 9 eggs last night for dinner/today's lunch--and I thought that was a ton of eggs! Granted, most of them are still small pullet eggs....

 

[Stynch]

Equivalent to 24 chicken eggs! Wow! That would feed a whole lot of people. Guess I don't need an ostrich around, there's usually only 3 of us to feed. I used 9 eggs last night for dinner/today's lunch--and I thought that was a ton of eggs! Granted, most of them are still small pullet eggs....

We only ate ostrich eggs a couple of times, because too much went to waste. We had to eat at least one, because when we started selling them to restaurants, we had to be able to answer their questions!! But the meat was awesome - very low fat, deep red meat that made great burgers, steaks, and one of our favorites, stew using the neck (about 4 pounds of meat from a single neck).

 

[Fuzzybird]

i personally do NOT have a turkey (but i really really want one) but i believe they can be raised together. maybe not in the same coop, but they can share a run and free range space. turkeys help as a natural protection against the mareks virus BUT the turkeys are more prone to blackhead disease if housed with chickens. It is a pretty divided camp out there;. lots of people say dont do it, lots say it doesnt matter. if i had the space i would try it and find out which camp i would be in

Had no trouble at all having chickens and turkeys run together. The black head problem is mostly in the wetter climate. I would raise the turkeys in a different coop tho. They eat a lot more then chickens.

 

[City farm]

No Bashams out here that I know of...all my folks are back in Pennsylvania, thank goodness.  There are at least four Robert Bashams listed locally in Tucson...never met any of them.  I was told there's another Robert Basham on the East Side somewhere that plays piano/organ, and I'm the black guy that plays piano/organ in mid town, maybe on a bit more of a "soulful" nature...LOL!  I can spank a Hammond B3 pretty good.

I get a kick out of folks when I get on the elevator with David Basham, a tall white guy and defense attorney, and we greet each other as Mr. Basham.  Some folks just roll their eyes, while others who have been around awhile know.

Then again, I can play Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and others, so I can hang with all folks...Music is universal.  Who'd a thought, with us country farm folk back in the 50's, Momma loved BB King/Jazz/Blues while Daddy loved Charlie Pride...where did the Classical come from?  LOONEY TUNES, OF COURSE! All that crazy classical caught me as early as 5 years old.  Hungarian Rhapsodies, Strauss Waltzes, Liszt piano pieces...my goodness, what a menagerie and I was hooked. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

What a gift to be able to play...