Arizona Chickens

[flower]

Yeah being part of backyard chickens opens up a whole new world. !!! It is a very productive "interest group" as Pete Segeer and/or Arlo Guthrie would say
"It's a movement !" In fact for the old timers it WAS Arlo who said that in ALICE'S RESTAURANT.

Seriously yous guys, sustainablity is significant. Locally grown food is more nutritious and it saves on greenhouse gas emissions. And I am not kiddin !

 

[Demosthine]

Today was a pretty productive day for homesteading. My Dad and I picked up three truckloads of composting horse manure from nearby so that we can fertilize his yard and garden. The artificial methods have been a dismal failure, so I'm making them do it right. Now to move it to their backyard...

I also processed our largest turkey for Thanksgiving today, like my wife mentioned. He was 30 pounds live and 20 pounds dressed. Not too bad for a five month old tom. We're started two or three months earlier next year, hopefully, so we can get a bit more weight. I also want to start a few heritage turkeys to keep around for breeding purposes, but we'll see if that happens.

I was also proud of the kids. Ranging from four to nine, they handled it quite well. Our 19 month old baby did well. They all said thank you for giving us food and then goodbye. It wasn't until I started skinning him that my baby had a problem. She did not like that. All said and done, they handled it well.

One of these days, we'll make it to the Tour. We both worked, though, so it made it hard. Glad everyone seemed to enjoy it, though. In the meantime, I need to get the posts and trellis up for my wife's garden. If all goes well, I would love to start tomorrow. A few other things come first.

Oh, and the pasture grass is coming in nicely. A bit slower than I anticipated, but you know the phrase "It's like watching grass grow..." Yeah, not an impatient man's dream.

 

[flower]

Hey Demo sounds like a wonderful time yous had today. I agree with the manure au naturell stuff. I prefer goat and rabbit dung though. I enjoyed your children when we visited at Bonnie's. I miss kids. The 18 mo old is a trip, not afraid of anything !

Yeah make your wife happy ! Get working on that garden stucture. and oh BTW, about wine bottles, you do not want them unless they are colored ? I have clear bottle also ?

 

[Demosthine]

Hey Demo sounds like a wonderful time yous had today.  I agree with the manure au naturell stuff. I prefer goat and rabbit dung though.  I enjoyed your children when we visited at Bonnie's. I miss kids. The 18 mo old is a trip, not afraid of anything !

Yeah make your wife happy !  Get working on that garden stucture.  and oh BTW, about wine bottles, you do not want them unless they are colored ?  I have clear bottle also ? 

Oh, clear works great, too. Any color, shape and size. I'll post some photos, tomorrow. The prickly pear is SO beautiful! The blackberry had to go in dark bottles, otherwise it's color fades. One person had a urine colored blackberry wine because it was bottled clear. I bought some beautiful red bottles, too. A silver cap will look amazing on them. I'm so excited. Hopefully, I can start a batch of strawberry kiwi or pomagranite as soon as they go on a good sale.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

FLOWER: you are just have COS. There is no curer.

DEMO: I am thinking of getting some Kentucky Bourbon Turkey eggs this spring for my BD. If you are interested I hopefully will have extra poults. I have to figure out if I can make space for a couple of them. I have hatching fever, I'm taking it one day at a time. I am past the "I am powerless" part.

I wish I had time to visit coops in the area, but it was 4:00 by the time I got to the tent to get tickets. Next year I will get out earlier. I love it with so many people keeping chickens. I was surprised to see both APS & SRP there, and the solar panels. I wonder, who are they going to say is subsidizing! I hate it that they spend so much on TV Ads then say they need use to pay more to pay for it. I am also discussed that they use little cute kids to make their point. They want us to think they are suffering and being deprived because of the people with solar panels. Ya! I'm sure every parent buys their kid every toy they see or want. Sadly I bet there are people out there that believes them and the evil solar users.

I have been looking to see what is on the market, I would like to sell this place and get a home with a Little land. I found a really nice home on 5 acres, no utility's. It had a solar array, as a big selling point. You have to truck in water. I wonder if the power company wants that home owner to pay them. If the price had been right and I younger it would have been perfect. A little to isolated for me now.

kacklinkelly: Desertmarcy as amassing barred rocks. If you want one talk to her first to see if she has any. Mine is also big, very big.

 

[ctroyer]

It was great to go on the Tour De Coops this weekend. Some interesting Coops out there. The best thing for me was seeing all the ideas on raised Garden Beds. We did things a little backwards and got chickens before gardening. Seems like everyone we meet started out gardening and then moved to chickens. Planning on building our beds this winter to be ready for early spring planting.

 

[Demosthine]

DEMO: I am thinking of getting some Kentucky Bourbon Turkey eggs this spring for my BD. If you are interested I hopefully will have extra poults. I have to figure out if I can make space for a couple of them. I have hatching fever, I'm taking it one day at a time. I am past the "I am powerless" part.

I completely forgot that we have an incubator we bought from RedRocket! Apparently, they are not good layers, so I can't get eggs until spring. And a heritage breed won't get big enough by the holidays, I don't think. I may have to hatch eggs and then raise a a few broad breasted for next year.

I don't really like the looks of the Bourbons. I would like Bronze, Narangansettes or Royal Palms. Time will tell, though. Thanks for the offer and I'll keep it in mind.

 

[pipemum]

I spread in some teff and omega-3 blend into my recently overseeded rye patch. I doubt it will make it through the chickens' grazing, but I also started some trays of the pasture blend. No sprouts yet, but it's only been 2 days!

So my supposedly funny story about my husband, the chicken hater, isn't so funny a few days past the event. The guy can't stand the chickens. Doesn't help out with them, doesn't help me with a single chicken related thing. Okay, of course I'm fine with that, the chickens are my thing. And his refusal to help has forced me to learn tools I was too intimated to try before, so that's pretty cool. Anyway, the guy doesn't have a problem eating MY chickens or their eggs. Seems to be able to do that just fine. The other night, I prepared a delicious crockpot concoction with the two of the birds I'd processed as Cornish game hens, with lots of butter, veggies, herbs, some wine. The next day, it was his job to get the fixin's from crock pot to plate. He demanded I get the chicken out of the crock and serve it up. I was like, "wut, say again, dude?" His complaint is that, get this, the chicken is TOO TENDER AND FALLS OFF THE BONES and then bones are everywhere and it's a big pain. Cry me a freaking river. The perils of owning chickens. Wreaks havoc on marriages, I tell you!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: The Feed Barn has it

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Wouldn't it be fun t get together in a Sports Bar to watch as a group (like some folks do for a favoured team's game)