Arizona Chickens

[a little chiken]

Yep that little riot is hilarious... BTW, your little jabber is awesome!

yeah even though I am a wildcat myself I cannot understand why some people feel the need to riot when any team wins or loses. But then I am much older than the normal college attendee and I am also an animal science major. Animal students are usually (not always) but usually more responsible. Must be all those years of animal rearing.

 

[FeatherPugs]

City farm, congratulations on the BYC Friend award! You deserve it.

Congratulations City Farm!! Well done and done just right!

 

[rockmissjess]

My yard has so much in it. My garden makes it difficult for Arial attack. I have hawks all over, My vertical T-Frames are in the way, the bailing line adds that much more protection. My girls hange out in my beds that give the greatest protection.

I am so over whelmed by this mess. There really is so little that is being kept. It is the letting go. The boat is one of the hardest things. But storing it makes mo sense at all. I just hope I can sell it quickly.

Im about a hour north of you give or take.. i dont see many hawks but we are surrounded in ravens... and i have no cover except my two back porches and my trampoline... I let the chicks out all day and no problem... for now..

 

[Demosthine]

The white rabbit that came from Demo',s place kindled last Sunday. She had four, and they are all doing well.
In other good news, the first mulberries are getting ripe, and are really delicious.

Wow, she's an amazing breeder. I think that's eleven in the last three or four months. Keep us updated and send me some photos when you get the chance, please? I'd love to see them. Have you guys eaten any of the others yet? Curious to hear how they tasted. Once I know I'm keeping the house, I'll be getting chickens and rabbits again.

I want to try some meat birds, 2 or 3 so I don't want to order online, anywhere I can get some cx local?

Not sure what part of Phoenix you're in, but Pratt's in Glendale always have them when I've been there and they said the store in Surprise does, too. The Stock Shop and Tractor Supply Company also have them pretty routinely. Just give any of them a call and they can let you know.

City farm, congratulations on the BYC Friend award! You deserve it.

Congrats City! Glad to see you got some recognition for your amazing hospitality!

 

[chicksurreal]

Just curious if anyone in desert or high desert AZ keeps Silkies?

We have lots of plants and critters that wouldn't be hospitable to them, so I am curious if anyone has tried it and what you've done to protect them if you let them free range. Thanks!

 

[svalleys]

I have one silkie mixed in with 9 other hens. She currently is raising three chicks, one from a fertile egg we placed under her and two buff orpingtons we placed with her. She is a great little mama. She does fine free ranging in my backyard with the rest of the gals.

 

[chicksurreal]

I have one silkie mixed in with 9 other hens. She currently is raising three chicks, one from a fertile egg we placed under her and two buff orpingtons we placed with her. She is a great little mama. She does fine free ranging in my backyard with the rest of the gals.

Thanks! Do you have any problems with her getting burrs or stickers in her feathers? We have tons of weeds and bushes like horehound and cockleburs around us, plus cactus and other plants that get a little too "friendly". They don't bother our other chickens, but I wondered about Silkies. We are surrounded by a wilderness area and don't have a proper yard to contain our chickens. I've had them climb the side of a mountain that is next to our property that is mainly scrub oak, cedar trees and cactus. Crazy little chickens. Lol!

 

[Macboat]

Just curious if anybody in Phoenix keep American Bresse? I read in another thread that these are considered the "kobe beef" of chickens.....

 

[pipemum]

I've read some of the bresse chicken threads. I'm gonna guess taste difference between chickens is usually due to management differences...like food, housing, etc. Not because one type of chicken is inherently more tasty than another. Following the bresse protocol, aren't the birds pastured for a certain amount of time, and then caged and feed a diet of milk and grains? I'm sure that affects taste...kinda like the pampered kobe cattle routine? Probably not the bird, but the management of the bird-- though certainly, you can't get that kind of meat out of a leghorn, haha!

Taking a cue from the bresse technique, just last week did mix in a bit of cream into every evening feed for my meaties for a week before I slaughtered one. Happened to be the best CX yet. Two more CX and 7 brahmas to go. I think I will continue to mix in dairy in one feed per day for a week or two before butcher. The brahmas (these were the packing peanuts that came with my CX order) are ridiculous, as far as meat birds go. The feed they'll go through before they are ready to butcher--I could raise 2 more batches of 10 CX in that time for the same amount of feed. Oh well, lesson learned. I'll have to find something else to do with peanuts (give them away?), if I raise more CX in the fall. Can I request the hatchery NOT to send peanuts?

I posted a few days ago that my EE was egg-bound. I guess she wasn't. Still no eggs from her--she'd been laying almost daily for a few weeks--but whatever it was, she's back to normal--minus the daily egg.

It's time for the little polish/silkie bantam to get integrated back into the layer coop, but the layers are horrible to her. She wasn't pecked on before she left to raise these meaties, but it's downright nasty what they are doing to her now. They go out of their way to chase her down.

 

[pipemum]

One more note: I've been trying the pin-prick method for hard boiling fresh eggs. Seems to work. I use a thumb tack to poke a tiny hole in the bottom of the egg, trying not to poke through the inner membrane, which is surprisingly easier than it seems. I've only pricked through one membrane. I drop the eggs in boiling water for 10-12 minutes, and then they go immediately in ice water. So far, all the eggs have been easy to peel, even the ones laid on the same days as boiling. I don't add anything to the water--no salt, no oil...just water.