Arizona Chickens

[Demosthine]

I just received this from my best friend and thought it was amazing. I'm more of a traditionalist, but the passion this group displays...

 

[Sill]

I have a nice bag of meal worm bedding..... Any takers? Otherwise I was going to put it in the garden.

I'll take it! Will PM you.

Before you go out and buy everything, if you're interested, I'll get with you and you can have my collection. I have a 10-gallon aquarium with plenty of bran in it, and a nice assortment of mealworms at various stages. They've been going for eight months or so. I forget exactly. This popular getting old routine is for the birds... Anyway, I have no use for them anymore. It has a mesh screen lid on it, so even if they wanted to, they couldn't fly out. I've never heard of anyone actually having them fly, though.

Sure am interested. Between chickens, quail and tilapia my black soldier fly composter just isn't enough bugs for my crew.

I know the beetles can fly, but if they have everything they need in the container (food, moisture, mates) they don't need to find another place to occupy. Which is a good thing considering they are not tiny, beetle wise.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Those of you that are culturing meal worms for your chickens can you keep them outside in the summer here if they are in the shade? I told my poor bug-phobic DH I was going to start culturing meal worms in a closet and he came unglued. He is fine with my black soldier fly composter since it's outside.
Bugs in the house? On purpose?

So...if meal worms can survive on a shady patio in summer here I'll try them. I need to keep my DH happy with no bugs in the house.

Yes, you can keep them outside as long as they don't get hit with direct sunlight or rain. A cover is essential to keep lizards, geckos and mice from eating them. Our summer heat really makes the colony explode and mine are currently outside.

I hide my colony in various places of the house during the winter, moving it every time Gallina del Cielo finds it. By the time she's completely fed up with it, it's spring and they can go outside. Surprisingly, that's worked out for us for about a quarter of a century.

But, for the sake of marital bliss, outside is fine, even in the winter here. I like it inside to keep it warmer and speed production.


ETA: When I say cover, I mean something like mesh or screen that doesn't impede air flow.

Sure am interested. Between chickens, quail and tilapia my black soldier fly composter just isn't enough bugs for my crew.

I know the beetles can fly, but if they have everything they need in the container (food, moisture, mates) they don't need to find another place to occupy. Which is a good thing considering they are not tiny, beetle wise.

I know people say they can fly, but all the years I've raised them I've never seen one fly or otherwise escape, even during the ten years that I was maintaining 20 or so colonies indoors and without covers. Those latter guys only got fed once or twice between September and March so they'd be highly motivated to escape.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
YES!!! I've been waiting to find someone heading to some other part of the state. If anyone finds themselves in Tucson and would like the Seed Box and can move it along, please let me know. I've been collecting everything I can to replenish it. I collected a Trader Joe's bag FULL of native globemallow last weekend for the box. I was hoping to get some Punta Banda tomato seeds for you kpgoldstar, the first tomatoes started ripening last week, but they've been so good we've eaten them all.


For the new people, this is the BYC Arizona Seed box. The idea behind it is to promote the community of our members and encourage gardening. I started it with another BYCer and we put all of our expired, nearly expired and excess homegrown seeds in there. Most of the seeds were from heirloom outfits like Native Seed Search, Southern Seed Exposure, Seeds of Change, etc. Anybody can get the box, you just have to help get it to the next member. You can take what you want from the box and add what you can. In some ways it was a big success the last time it toured the state, the box started off full and came back nearly empty. I don't think folks had enough lead time to collect their seeds. Start collecting your seed! Personally, I'm super interested in homegrown seeds that do well in our climate and that you think are special. LKD, if you're not going to keep your seeds, we'd all appreciate them for the box.



ETA: to whoever put the marigold seeds in the box last time, they are just beautiful around the outside edge of the run. My wife especially likes them.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Does anyone in the valley know of a beekeepers supply store? I had several boxes of bee hive parts sitting on the side of my house and with the warmer weather, noticed a few bees interested. So when I went to start relocating the boxes, I found a colony had established an actual hive in one of the deep supers. There were no frames inside, so they just built their own combs. You can see them in the picture below. But tonight, I took the rest of the pieces out and actually set up the hive. I moved the deep super over to the corner of the yard and set it on the base. I added six frames to it to fill the other half where the natural combs were not at. After a few weeks, I'll check it all again and probably remove the wild combs. In the meantime, I need to get some equipment. I gave everything I had to City Farm, who's friend set it up and immediately attracted a swarm of her own! I need to start building more supers and frames in the meantime.

​

On an interesting note, the wax combs from the old frames is a black color, which strikes me as very odd considering everything else I've seen is white or yellow colored. It has a very strong chocolate flavor to me, too! I really wish I had have been able to talk to the ol' timer when I got them from his wife, but he wasn't there. He was from out of state, so the possibilities are endless. I'll try to post some photos of the wax that I removed when the lighting is better. It smells so good, though. This new hive's wax is pure white. I need to research the differences.

Awesome! They know a good place to live when they see it. About the black comb, when I go help my friends at the Zia Queen Bee Company in NM in the summer, I spend a bit of time cleaning and repairing old frames and boxes and it seems that the older the box is, the blacker the comb. I don't know what causes it, I'll have to ask. I really love that smell too.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Yes, I trap the rodents in Have-a-Hart traps, they reproduce faster than I have time and energy to set traps. They cause a lot of digging and chewing problems, so I'd trap them with or without chickens to eat them, but am happy to give the chickens the animal protein---"free range organic meat"--

. They do not seem to know what to do with a whole animal, so after killing them with a quick head whack, I use a pair of serrated kitchen shears and cut them up into chicken bite-sized pieces and mix in enough water in a bowl so that the fur isn't fuzzy and flying everywhere---when cut up like this, the chickens will eat everything, fur, guts, bones: and lick the bowl clean. It is a bit tedious to cut them up, there must be an easier method but I do not have any kitchen appliance I am willing to use to grind up a mouse or packrat

They might be more interested in a live mouse but if I throw a dead one in the pen, even my ravenous Barred Rocks just look at it. But last year, I scared a mouse out, which ran from the pen it was in, through the next pen which had Rhode Island Red growing cockerels, and then into the next pen, which had some already huge growing Barred Rock cockerels and that mouse was history! One of them snatched it right up.

My chickens get excited when I pull out the Hav-a-hart traps. Well, about half of them anyway. I give the mice to them live and they really look like little velociraptors when they're chasing each other around the yard with a mouse. Occasionally they catch them on their own while out foraging. Some of the birds really like them, some couldn't be bothered. I bet all would like them prepared like you do!

 

[pastrymama]

YES!!! I've been waiting to find someone heading to some other part of the state. If anyone finds themselves in Tucson and would like the Seed Box and can move it along, please let me know. I've been collecting everything I can to replenish it. I collected a Trader Joe's bag FULL of native globemallow last weekend for the box. I was hoping to get some Punta Banda tomato seeds for you kpgoldstar, the first tomatoes started ripening last week, but they've been so good we've eaten them all.


For the new people, this is the BYC Arizona Seed box. The idea behind it is to promote the community of our members and encourage gardening. I started it with another BYCer and we put all of our expired, nearly expired and excess homegrown seeds in there. Most of the seeds were from heirloom outfits like Native Seed Search, Southern Seed Exposure, Seeds of Change, etc. Anybody can get the box, you just have to help get it to the next member. You can take what you want from the box and add what you can. In some ways it was a big success the last time it toured the state, the box started off full and came back nearly empty. I don't think folks had enough lead time to collect their seeds. Start collecting your seed! Personally, I'm super interested in homegrown seeds that do well in our climate and that you think are special. LKD, if you're not going to keep your seeds, we'd all appreciate them for the box.



ETA: to whoever put the marigold seeds in the box last time, they are just beautiful around the outside edge of the run. My wife especially likes them.

I will be in Tucson in June for a weekend if that helps. I could have you drop it at the in-laws and I'll bring it up to north phoenix for whoever wants it first.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I will be in Tucson in June for a weekend if that helps. I could have you drop it at the in-laws and I'll bring it up to north phoenix for whoever wants it first.

Thanks pastrymama! If it doesn't go before then I'll definitely do that.

 

[Demosthine]

Awesome!  They know a good place to live when they see it.  About the black comb, when I go help my friends at the Zia Queen Bee Company in NM in the summer, I spend a bit of time cleaning and repairing old frames and boxes and it seems that the older the box is, the blacker the comb.  I don't know what causes it, I'll have to ask.  I really love that smell too.

I guess the age would make sense. I think they'd said it'd been about five years without a colony. And considering DaPhane said a hive took up residence within about a day of her friend setting up the other hive I gave them, I think there's something special about these boxes. In 17 years of being in this area, we've never seen very many bees and never had a swarm. I am really looking forward to getting flowers and stuff planted. I missed the window for the garden, though.

What was the best way to clean out the frames? A few have the plastic starter sheets and the scraper doesn't do a good job. The heat gun made the wax bubble and pop, more like it was burning instead of melting. And the hot water didn't help. I'll definitely be making frames this week.

 

[alohachickens]

Hey, check out this really neat decorative corn! OMG is this stuff cool:

http://shop.nativeseeds.org/products/ts363

I broke down and ordered a packet. Um, problem though. I'm lousy at growing things, PLUS I'm planning on being out of town for part of the summer.

Is there anyone here who wants a few seeds to try? I'd love an ear back if it works! Because I really don't have a lot of faith in my own personal growing skills, sigh!

Especially if I'm not around to water it . . . .