Arizona Chickens

[primaknits]

I've been out of the loop for a while, I don't think I have been on BYC in at least a month or two but I just needed some advice. I'm going to go back and read through the thread in a little bit so I can catch up.

We had 4 adult laying hens, and 15 chicks that I got from Meyer back at the end of March and everything was going well. I went to Texas for 2 weeks to be with my husband while he was working out of state, and had a high school gal checking on my chickens daily. Her parents have chickens as well, so I knew she would do a good job. Well we just got home this evening and every single one of my chickens is dead. Some are missing, some are still in the coop, and I can tell it was a predator because there is some wiring torn off a corner of the coop. It happened within just the past 24-48 hours. We've never had a problem with predators, but we have also never been gone this long before with the house empty and our dogs not at home. I feel so defeated. I don't really want to start all over again, but we had just spent time and money adding on to our coop for the new chickens we had got.

So. What would you do? Would you start all over again from scratch? I don't know if I want to get chicks again and start from the beginning, but I don't know anyone with pullets either and our local feed store only has chicks (we are an hour south of Tucson). This is just not what I wanted to come home to after a 6 hr drive in a van with my 3 children and a dog.

 

[Sill]

I have black Jersey Giants, partridge Cochin, golden sex links, and one BCM rooster. Oddly enough, my sex links also suffer the most in the heat.

And I had thought that OE and EE would do worse since they have tiny combs and a extra face feathers when here are these sex links with nice big combs to shed heat. My next chickens will be Penedesencas, they are heat tolerant and have darker than Marans eggs.

Agh, your hens love eachother...

At least the ones that grew up together are.

I love teaching/ educating young mothers in my part of town on waiting before creating new babies that they're not ready to take care of and helping them with the ones that they have!

I understand one of you have dealt with CPS and I have to do a house inspection. I'm afraid if they look at the backyard and see my chicken babies my four hens and one Turkey that they will,"Can,"me at reuniting with my kids. my flock is free roaming I do not have anybody caged and they sleep in my trees at night. here is one picture of one part of my yard. Any advice?

Thanks

Not sure why CPS would have issues with backyard chickens. Knowing where your food is coming from, learning to take care of pets, what can be better for a kid?

I like the term," rebooted,!"
...This was a good post indeed!

It's the universal Windows fix, so why not for a broody?

The problem with allowing your birds to roost in the trees at night, is nocturnal predators like owls and bobcats or even feral domestic housecats. You will NOT know the predators are around until you start having birds come up missing. They hunt silently, while you and your chickens are fast asleep. Barn owls are very effective & strong hunters, and can easily carry away the biggest baddest rooster you have! DO NOT underestimate Owls, they kill for a living every single day or they dont eat. And more often when they are raising young themselves. It is nearly impossible to prevent them from entering your yard and enjoying the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken Buffet. Once they have feasted upon fresh chicken on your property, you can rest assured they will return there again & again until their food source is exhausted. Unless you entirely enclose the tree's canopy with a netting of some sort, you will be hard pressed to keep out owls. I have experienced severe losses due to night time raids by Owls (and occasionally a feral cat). Now I keep all my valuable birds cooped at night. Just my 2 cents

Don't forget those grey foxes, they can climb trees!

 

[Sill]

First a broody, now a different sex link hen of mine is starting to try to crow!

It sounds more like a sick cow, but her posture as she is doing it is pure rooster. I had not seen her at the nest boxes for a while, maybe her ovaries are shrinking? Any advice? Why is this happening??

 

[K9Dave]

I am a cantankerous person by nature. You would think this would keep me safe....for the past 29 years I have been the recipiant of many an errant child. Why people think this is a good idea, I will never know. I have never gotten a child from the state, but through the church and word of mouth. I've taken in more than one child or dog in the middle of the night. I can't count the number of dogs or cats or horses, but there have been 21 foster children. I have a small house. Funds are always tight. I make them do chores. I MAKE them behave. I scold them, reprimand them. I'm a slave driver. I made them go to church, volunteer, go to bed on time, and dress like a respectable human being. And on the inside I might cry for them, because their life is crap, but I wouldn't ever tell them that. I tell them if they don't like their life...fix it. They have choices.

That's very good of you to do Syl. I'm the youngest of 3 kids that have never lived with their mom and dad. It's amazing that it took me 30 some odd years to figure out exactly what a disservice I was given thanks to them. Until I married last year and experienced what a real family should be like with her and her parents. I was tossed to Great grandmother until she died, then grandparents and then a great aunt, then mom and step dads and that's where things got real bad and I ended up in Brenham, Tx. at a place called Miracke Farm Inc.

360 acres if I remember right. When you arrive, after checking in you live in the woods for 2 weeks and build your own shelter in the trees and live and work outdoors. The point is to build trust and respect and to learn the rules. Learn how to talk to someone. Learn how to deal with your anger etc.

When you graduate this course you move into a house with bunk beds in the rooms and a centralized bathroom. The Home Parents live in an attached apartment and often have children of their own. There were 4 different houses that were progressively nicer to live in than the next.

It was ran with rankings like any Ranch, that started with Greenhorn, then Maverick and Top Hand and so-on ... I remember the Top Hand made $10 per week and the Greenhorn made $1.50 per week.

5:30 am we woke up and everyone had chores based on the ranks. Pig Stalls would be on your low end and feeding grooming the horses or goats on the high end of chores to have. Lol The Farm is situated like a strip with a road all the way down the middle of it. From front to back there was a Sheep Barn/Rabbit boxes on one side and a Goat area on the other side. Eventually I would start Great Pyrenees to protect them. At the far back were the Cow/Horse Barn and the Pig Barn then the pastures, and everything that comes with all of this. Oddly enough, no chickens. Now that I think if it, that's weird. Anyways.

We had to feed everything twice a day. Milk Goats and Cows everyday. Clean everything's stall and areas. Address problems that they might have. Mow/Weedeat the ENTIRE place. Cull dinner. Repair fence and equipment. I'm from Louisiana originally and there were alit of other country kids there but imagine there were these city kids that got sent there and how hard it must've been for them to transition. Many were scared of everything at first. Eventually you have no choice but to toughen up.

Once a year we had a livestock auction and event at the farm. During baby season, we all claim newborns from all the animals and train and from them for showing at the auction. It is run off of do actions so most of the time the winner donates it back to the farm and may see it next year and so-on.

This place changed my life. My brother just got out of jail for his third DWI and I could have very easily gone down this path. It's because of people like you Syl and places like this that a lot of us were not forgotten and thrown into the world with no clue of how to conduct ourselves.

Know how we were punished?

For minor infractions, (talking back, arguing etc) we could get a drop in tank which meant a drop in allowance obviously but also dropped you to worse chores than you had a day ago. Doesn't sound bad but it's the difference in bathing a beautiful horse or washing out hog stalls.

For fighting and major infractions it may be surprising. Immediate drop to the lowest rank and had no allowance. You also had No Chores and got to participate in any project like building fences or anything. Just watched everyone else work while you wait in the truck. Doesn't sound too bad but when it's 100 degrees out and everyone resents you for not helping, peer pressure works both ways.

I'm sure I will be taking in some strays before too long. We're wanting kids of our own and I'm sure my door will open in the future. I'm 38 now and left the farm when I was 18. Joined the Army not long after and here I am now.

Helping over 21 kids is amazing. You know how much they say raising a kid is? Wow. Just 1 is a big difference, 21 is special Syl.

 

[carnivore]

First a broody, now a different sex link hen of mine is starting to try to crow!   It sounds more like a sick cow, but her posture as she is doing it is pure rooster.  I had not seen her at the nest boxes for a while, maybe her ovaries are shrinking?  Any advice? Why is this happening??

You don't have any roosters, do you? A hen can take the place of a rooster in the flock, except for that little business of fertilizing eggs.

 

[desertmarcy]

I've been out of the loop for a while, I don't think I have been on BYC in at least a month or two but I just needed some advice. I'm going to go back and read through the thread in a little bit so I can catch up.

We had 4 adult laying hens, and 15 chicks that I got from Meyer back at the end of March and everything was going well. I went to Texas for 2 weeks to be with my husband while he was working out of state, and had a high school gal checking on my chickens daily. Her parents have chickens as well, so I knew she would do a good job. Well we just got home this evening and every single one of my chickens is dead. Some are missing, some are still in the coop, and I can tell it was a predator because there is some wiring torn off a corner of the coop. It happened within just the past 24-48 hours. We've never had a problem with predators, but we have also never been gone this long before with the house empty and our dogs not at home. I feel so defeated. I don't really want to start all over again, but we had just spent time and money adding on to our coop for the new chickens we had got.

So. What would you do? Would you start all over again from scratch? I don't know if I want to get chicks again and start from the beginning, but I don't know anyone with pullets either and our local feed store only has chicks (we are an hour south of Tucson). This is just not what I wanted to come home to after a 6 hr drive in a van with my 3 children and a dog.

That's the pits, sorry for your loss! I am a little ways from you, being on the northwest side of Tucson, but I have a TON of extra hens and pullets to sell right now. The hens, a lot of them are too broody for my liking and if I don't sell them soon, they will be stewing hens. Olive eggers and blue egg mix mostly, since I used a terribly broody Black Ameraucana as their mother--now all her offspring are broody. REALLY nice hens, nice dispositions, mellow---olive eggers are from last year's hatch and the others are Ameraucana X Orloff and have sweet Orloff disposition--kind of hate to butcher them, but I don't use broody hens for hatching and they are kind of driving me nuts. Also have some nice New Hampshires, some other ones too.

Young pullets, I have a lot of them that are extras. Mostly around 3 months old, Black Copper Marans, Delaware, Heritage Barred Rock. All organically fed. I'm pricing them pretty low for what they are right now because I have too many birds and need to thin out drastically. Also have 6 nice red sexlinked pullets, from heritage parents (not hatchery), those are the youngest, about 5 and 7 weeks old.

IF you decide to get more birds, PLEASE give me a call! And anyone else who wants more layers

 

[Sill]

You don't have any roosters, do you? A hen can take the place of a rooster in the flock, except for that little business of fertilizing eggs.

No I can't have a rooster here. Funny thing is this hen is not even the alpha hen, she is maybe third down from the top! And since I've got some young pullets just coming up she may fall even further down the pecking order. As long as her "crowing" doesn't get any louder it won't be too bad, as long as no one thinks I've got a diseased bovine in my backyard! The bad thing is she isn't even laying eggs right now. She might need to go to freezer camp...

 

[kacklinkelly]

I am a cantankerous person by nature. You would think this would keep me safe....for the past 29 years I have been the recipiant of many an errant child. Why people think this is a good idea, I will never know. I have never gotten a child from the state, but through the church and word of mouth. I've taken in more than one child or dog in the middle of the night. I can't count the number of dogs or cats or horses, but there have been 21 foster children. I have a small house. Funds are always tight. I make them do chores. I MAKE them behave. I scold them, reprimand them. I'm a slave driver. I made them go to church, volunteer, go to bed on time, and dress like a respectable human being. And on the inside I might cry for them, because their life is crap, but I wouldn't ever tell them that. I tell them if they don't like their life...fix it. They have choices.

I wouldn't consider myself cantankerous and you and I have a similar belief and approach. (including the cry on the inside sometimes) You've taken your approach much closer to home than I have. Being able to go home after 8 or 10 or 12 hours is always a good thing for me. I would just like to say thank you for all you have done and continue to do. I KNOW it makes a difference!

 

[a little chiken]

Wow. That came out harsher than I meant.
But I am a cantankerous person. It doesn't work for all kids, but most of the kids I've had responded well to my husband and I. He was a correctional officer for 20 years and I worked with animals. You could say we both worked with animals.
Anyway, we are both retired now. Emphasis on tired. And I just got a call from my son about a child that's needs someplace to go. It never ends. People make me mad. I prefer chickens.

You are a great person!!!! I want to take in foster kids. I would love to help kids in need.

 

[moms3cuties]

The problem with allowing your birds to roost in the trees at night, is nocturnal predators like owls and bobcats or even feral domestic housecats. You will NOT know the predators are around until you start having birds come up missing. They hunt silently, while you and your chickens are fast asleep. Barn owls are very effective & strong hunters, and can easily carry away the biggest baddest rooster you have! DO NOT underestimate Owls, they kill for a living every single day or they dont eat. And more often when they are raising young themselves. It is nearly impossible to prevent them from entering your yard and enjoying the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken Buffet. Once they have feasted upon fresh chicken on your property, you can rest assured they will return there again & again until their food source is exhausted. Unless you entirely enclose the tree's canopy with a netting of some sort, you will be hard pressed to keep out owls. I have experienced severe losses due to night time raids by Owls (and occasionally a feral cat). Now I keep all my valuable birds cooped at night. Just my 2 cents

And I had thought that OE and EE would do worse since they have tiny combs and a extra face feathers when here are these sex links with nice big combs to shed heat.  My next chickens will be Penedesencas, they are heat tolerant and have darker than Marans eggs.

At least the ones that grew up together are.

Not sure why CPS would have issues with backyard chickens.  Knowing where your food is coming from, learning to take care of pets, what can be better for a kid?

It's the universal Windows fix, so why not for a broody?

Don't forget those grey foxes, they can climb trees!

thanks for the info, but I'm in Central Mesa and it's too much city here that's not likely to get some of those predators, it would be quite odd. But I'll keep that in mind!