Arizona Chickens

[K9Dave]

Thought I'd post this. Makes me laugh. It's the day we got our chicks and brought them home. My wife brought in 2 cats to the marriage and I was sure how they'd react. I've caught one of them hiding under the coop inside the run a couple times with chickens all around him. (Dumb chickens). He was just watching. The other one runs from the chickens. I didn't expect that but a pleasant surprise it was.

My caption would be "is this how dinner is being served now?" Cats name is Nemo.

 

[carnivore]

I eat some, give them to neighbors, take them down to the food bank, etc. Sometime tomorrow or the next day, I have to pick a bunch of those little yellow pear tomatoes, they are taking over the greenhouse. I cut out a bunch of beefsteaks last week, and found a couple giant eggplants hiding in the back under the tomatoes. I know I have some yellow crookneck squash that's about due for picking, and it might be time to pull up some onions and garlic to check progress. I think all my tomatillos burned and died before I changed out for a larger piece of shade cloth.

 

[Demosthine]

I have discovered cockroaches!!!! UGH!! Who knew this would be a byproduct of having chickens?? First one I saw was in my guest bath, just a loner that I killed. The big long sewer roach kind. We have never had them before, especially not in my house.

This past week, going out to lock up the girls after dark, I saw a few crawling around in the run area near where I feed. I do FF so they don't scatter it everywhere, but there are still some remnants. I also have watered down the ground so we have moisture where there never was any before. I was a little freaked out when I saw them out there and wondered how on earth the one got into my house!

Last night I put a mouse glue trap outside of the run adjacent to the food trough. We caught about 7 of them!!! EWWWWW! Most were the bronze colored ones but 2 were black. THEN, to top it all off... I fluffed my comforter that we fold onto the floor each night to put back on the bed this morning and there was one inside of that!!!! OMG, I just don't know what to do??? How can there be so many so soon? Where did they come from and how are they getting into my house?

I put another glue trap out tonight, along with a tray of powdered sugar and baking soda. I read a bunch of threads and will also do the glass jar thing with shortening and something sweet in the bottom to see how many I catch. I have been tossing straw in the run so my girls don't have to stand on the hot ground and rocks, but I may have to curb that until I see to what degree my infestation has gotten. I also plan to get some orange guard (??) to spray all around my home entrances. I still just don't know how they are getting in!!

I read DE, cucumbers, etc will also help. Anyone in AZ have any experience with this? Any tired and true remedies to get rid of them for good? So far other than the ones inside I have only seen them at night so the chicks aren't eating or chasing them. I also read about eye worm that they can spread so I'm not planning on letting my girls eat them even after I catch them.

Depending on your residence, there may not be anything you can do at all. We haven't had roaches in the 17 years we've lived in this area, until this year when the sewer roaches showed up. Obviously, they live in the sewers, so there will always be prime real estate for them beyond what you can control. You can request the local municipality or utility company to treat the problem, but when we were down in Phoenix, we found they tended to be smart enough to flee the sewers until the dangers were gone. And guess where they fled to...

I think the biggest problem this year is that we had such a mild winter, it didn't kill off any of the pests that it normally would. We've already had far more flies, scorpions and wasps this year than normal. When I had my full flock, my bug count was practically non-existent. Since we got rid of them, I've watched the numbers grow. Bonnie's flock is eating well at the moment.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Lorenzo, Black Copper Marans, 8 months old is still looking for a forever home. I move into Lady KotaDoria's June 6th and he cannot move with me. His 2 brothers have gone to their new homes and for now he is the king of the coop. I was asking $25.00 but make an offer for a rehoming fee. He is a good boy and is taking care of the girls. PM me if interested or if you know anyone that could provide him a home.
Thanks Chris

 

[carnivore]

Lorenzo, Black Copper Marans, 8 months old is still looking for a forever home. I move into Lady KotaDoria's June 6th and he cannot move with me. His 2 brothers have gone to their new homes and for now he is the king of the coop. I was asking $25.00 but make an offer for a rehoming fee. He is a good boy and is taking care of the girls. PM me if interested or if you know anyone that could provide him a home. Thanks Chris

PM sent. He is a beautiful bird.

 

[City farm]

Thought I'd post this. Makes me laugh. It's the day we got our chicks and brought them home. My wife brought in 2 cats to the marriage and I was sure how they'd react. I've caught one of them hiding under the coop inside the run a couple times with chickens all around him. (Dumb chickens). He was just watching. The other one runs from the chickens. I didn't expect that but a pleasant surprise it was.

My caption would be "is this how dinner is being served now?" Cats name is Nemo.

j

Ahwhhhh, that is previous.. Most people automatically assume that a cat will take out a chicken.. What is funny as well, the assume all eggs are white or brown..

 

[City farm]

We have lots of aerial predators here, and since we installed the camouflage cloth, they just fly on by!

Still so sad, our German Shepard is a large one.. She jumped up & opened up the gate..
Yesterday when we were cleaning out the coop getting ready to add the new coop, the jungle fowl figured out how to escape
threw a hidden opening, went on the top of our tall wall.. Then our G.S. gumped up to get it, she flew in to our yard where they went after the one & only single escape artist.. We have netting up, a chain the size for a large ship, ect...
I ran screaming, put the dog up.. The little bugger did not show up till almost bed time.. We looked at all the neighbors homes.. So that had to have sparked her to get them this morning.. When we first rescued her she did know how to wiggle our gate to get out..
I feel like a horrible pet owner now.. She is alway put up when the flock is out.. I can't even type what has happened.. Still crying..

Preditor proof is so flipp'n important.. Our G.S. has had her time with our cat.. She wanted her for dinner.. Their relationship is good
now... So I think we are going to have to a similar to what ya all have said.. If we tie up our dead ones around the neck.. You really think that works?? It gives me the ebbbie Jeeves

 

[City farm]

It didn't even hit quite 100 here today, and I lost 3 hens, presumably to the heat. That was quite a shock. I don't usually turn the misters on until it gets hotter, and the one pen where 2 died has no mister anyway. The only thing I can think is, it got hot so suddenly. We have had a relatively mild May so far, and just came out of a nice cool spell, then the temp. really soared today.
Last year, I did lose a few birds, but it was when it got up to 110 degrees and had been consistently hot for a month or more. I am just surprised. I lost an Orloff, an olive-egger, and a Rhode Island Red. Not a mark on them or anything wrong, they just keeled over in the late afternoon.

It just sucks loosing our animals.. Condolences from us..

 

[a little chiken]

Still so sad, our German Shepard is a large one.. She jumped up & opened up the gate..

Yesterday when we were cleaning out the coop getting ready to add the new coop, the jungle fowl figured out how to escape
threw a hidden opening, went on the top of our tall wall.. Then our G.S. gumped up to get it, she flew in to our yard where they went after the one & only single escape artist.. We have netting up, a chain the size for a large ship, ect...
I ran screaming, put the dog up.. The little bugger did not show up till almost bed time.. We looked at all the neighbors homes.. So that had to have sparked her to get them this morning.. When we first rescued her she did know how to wiggle our gate to get out..
I feel like a horrible pet owner now.. She is alway put up when the flock is out.. I can't even type what has happened.. Still crying..

Preditor proof is so flipp'n important.. Our G.S. has had her time with our cat.. She wanted her for dinner.. Their relationship is good
now... So I think we are going to have to a similar to what ya all have said.. If we tie up our dead ones around the neck.. You really think that works?? It gives me the ebbbie Jeeves

oh no im so sry for your loss. i think its just a dogs instinct when a chicken flies. still so sad.


I am so sorry for your loss too Marcy for the chickens you lost yesterday. The heat is never our friend where our animals and plants are concerned.

 

[Annalog]

City Farm, you have my condolences.

{{{Hugs to all who have lost animals}}}