Arizona Chickens

[Sill]

@Sill Territorial Seed Company in Oregon has the purple sweet potatoes, but they sell them as part of a sweet potato collection, 2 plants each of purple, Beauregard (my fave), and O'Henry, a white fleshed variety. They ship live plants in mid-April or mid-May.

Edited to add: they also have Georgia Jets. Never tried any, but supposed to reach maturity in about 90 days.

The variety I really want is the Okinawan or Japanese purple sweet potato. Its pale tan outside, purple streaked to solid purple inside. They are my favorite. I can only find them at Lee Lee, but they are sprayed and will not sprout.

Mekong never has them.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Bad day in Chickenville. <Sigh> Polly, the chicken I've had the longest, passed away tonight from shock I think. I'm so sad. I dealt with the other deaths better, but this one has hit me harder. Mostly I feel guilty for messing up with the dogs. I told my boyfriend and roommate that the chickens were freeranging and not to let the dogs out, but somehow Mr. Darcy got out. A series of unfortunate events began. I wasn't outside, but my roommate was. He was making a roof for my side pen for the little bantam Easter Egger and Stan the Silkie cockerel. The EEer got caught in the fencing ... she freaked out because Stan was roaming around outside the isolation pen (and she wasn't). She basically scalped herself from the base of the neck to her pea comb. All the neck anatomy was showing and the skin was hanging down like a great big apron. Then I saw Polly. She was lying on the ground panting. I picked her up and tried to replace her on her feet. She was good on one but was a little weak on the other. I didn't see any blood but looked under the feathers and there were some tears and punctures, but no blood. It didn't look like the wounds went into the muscle so I was hopeful. My roommate said that she was trying to get in the pen while the bantam was flipping. He didn't see Mr. Darcy actually grab her, but I think he saw the commotion and it was irrestiable. He's a lab; I think he just wanted to carry her around. He's a duck dog after all. We had to put the little EEer down. I put Polly in the isolation pen, but she passed away sometime tonight. I feel horrible. I feel like a horrible guardian of my chickens. I want them to have the opportunity to free range in the compost, etc., but I've had too many accidents. On the upside, I got my incubator from eBay today. I can't even think about hatching chickens now. I'm so traumatized.

 

[FeatherPugs]

Bad day in Chickenville. <Sigh> Polly, the chicken I've had the longest, passed away tonight from shock I think. I'm so sad. I dealt with the other deaths better, but this one has hit me harder. Mostly I feel guilty for messing up with the dogs. I told my boyfriend and roommate that the chickens were freeranging and not to let the dogs out, but somehow Mr. Darcy got out. A series of unfortunate events began. I wasn't outside, but my roommate was. He was making a roof for my side pen for the little bantam Easter Egger and Stan the Silkie cockerel. The EEer got caught in the fencing ... she freaked out because Stan was roaming around outside the isolation pen (and she wasn't). She basically scalped herself from the base of the neck to her pea comb. All the neck anatomy was showing and the skin was hanging down like a great big apron. Then I saw Polly. She was lying on the ground panting. I picked her up and tried to replace her on her feet. She was good on one but was a little weak on the other. I didn't see any blood but looked under the feathers and there were some tears and punctures, but no blood. It didn't look like the wounds went into the muscle so I was hopeful. My roommate said that she was trying to get in the pen while the bantam was flipping. He didn't see Mr. Darcy actually grab her, but I think he saw the commotion and it was irrestiable. He's a lab; I think he just wanted to carry her around. He's a duck dog after all. We had to put the little EEer down. I put Polly in the isolation pen, but she passed away sometime tonight. I feel horrible. I feel like a horrible guardian of my chickens. I want them to have the opportunity to free range in the compost, etc., but I've had too many accidents. On the upside, I got my incubator from eBay today. I can't even think about hatching chickens now. I'm so traumatized.

 

[moms3cuties]

@MrsFitzDarcy
I'm sorry for your baby's lost. .....I was traumatized When my turkey died recently and I had no idea why!

Unbelievable! one of the jungle fowl just started laying, she is the pretty one.. Just went BROODY!! This is now as of 2014 the 7th hen that has gone broody.. Got to be kidding me.. She is wild, & freaked out when I went to look under her.. I added today's eggs to her.. Oh boy here we go again!!

..ohh no!

Lol!  Wow, what are you feeding them? ;-)

...Yes,what are you feeding them?..lol

@a little chiken
 sweet potatoes are started from what are called "slips". You cut the top half or 2/3 or so off a potato and put it in water in a warm place. Soon it will sprout multiple sprouts. When they are 6-8" high, you "slip" them off the potato and place in a separate jar of water. Within days they will put out roots. Now the slips are ready to plant in the ground. May-June is the recommended planting time for them in Tucson since they thrive in the heat, but they can also be a bit tricky to start if it is super hot and dry. I recommended starting in early May so they get a bit established before June heat hits. Also, the leaves are edible and will get eaten by squirrels, pack rats and such. If you keep tortoises, the leaves are good tortoise food.

Regular white potatoes are hard to grow in our climate because they do not like the heat but they will also freeze. So the trick is to start them in very late winter, like in mid-late Feb, being prepared to cover if we get a late freeze. The problem is, the companies that sell seed potatoes generally do not have them ready that early in the year. So you either buy organic potatoes from the store and settle for the varieties that you can buy there and plant those, or get your seed potatoes earlier and try to store them until time to plant. I have only grown them once and did get some nice potatoes and let me tell you, they were the best potatoes I've ever had. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference with potatoes, but those super fresh jewels were to die for!

Yummy! I sure miss the Okinawa or Japanese purple sweet potatoes so used to buy on Oahu. They were sure tasty!...but so was Breadfruit to me and many other exotic fruit &tropical veggies. Lychee is One I wish we had the climate to grow the tree in! =(

Thank you so much @mom-to-5 for the seeds!! We have never planted the fordhook giant..
The Swiss chard that we have from ths summer is so pretty I could not take it out. Plus I figured the jungle fowl would eat it.. They come & go as they see fit..now that one is broody, I have noticed "tiny" the other girl has not been out as much.

@mom-to-5...thank you for the Swiss chard seed,,my mother and my other friends and neighbor will all enjoy them
@City farm...THANK YOU for the rooster velcro! is it for one or two roosters?yes I'm in for the processing class! is it at K9Dave's??

@Sill Territorial Seed Company in Oregon has the purple sweet potatoes, but they sell them as part of a sweet potato collection, 2 plants each of purple, Beauregard (my fave), and O'Henry, a white fleshed variety. They ship live plants in mid-April or mid-May.

Edited to add: they also have Georgia Jets. Never tried any, but supposed to reach maturity in about 90 days.

....thank you I will check that out!!! =D ♡

The variety I really want is the Okinawan or Japanese purple sweet potato.  Its pale tan outside, purple streaked to solid purple inside.  They are my favorite. I can only find them at Lee Lee, but they are sprayed and will not sprout.  Mekong never has them.

..... I sure miss them too!

 

[cyborg]

The variety I really want is the Okinawan or Japanese purple sweet potato.  Its pale tan outside, purple streaked to solid purple inside.  They are my favorite. I can only find them at Lee Lee, but they are sprayed and will not sprout.  Mekong never has them.

I have no idea how many purple varieties are out there. The description in their catalog says it is bright purple outside, with bright amethyst, tie dye streaked flesh. The picture shows a medium dark brown skin (one looks purplish brown), and the flesh of a cut one looks like a pretty solid purple.
Never tried any purple ones, might have to order some this spring and give them a try.

 

[mom-to-5]

@City farm and @moms3cuties, you are very welcome

 

[Stynch]

Bad day in Chickenville. <Sigh> Polly, the chicken I've had the longest, passed away tonight from shock I think. I'm so sad. I dealt with the other deaths better, but this one has hit me harder. Mostly I feel guilty for messing up with the dogs. I told my boyfriend and roommate that the chickens were freeranging and not to let the dogs out, but somehow Mr. Darcy got out. A series of unfortunate events began. I wasn't outside, but my roommate was. He was making a roof for my side pen for the little bantam Easter Egger and Stan the Silkie cockerel. The EEer got caught in the fencing ... she freaked out because Stan was roaming around outside the isolation pen (and she wasn't). She basically scalped herself from the base of the neck to her pea comb. All the neck anatomy was showing and the skin was hanging down like a great big apron. Then I saw Polly. She was lying on the ground panting. I picked her up and tried to replace her on her feet. She was good on one but was a little weak on the other. I didn't see any blood but looked under the feathers and there were some tears and punctures, but no blood. It didn't look like the wounds went into the muscle so I was hopeful. My roommate said that she was trying to get in the pen while the bantam was flipping. He didn't see Mr. Darcy actually grab her, but I think he saw the commotion and it was irrestiable. He's a lab; I think he just wanted to carry her around. He's a duck dog after all. We had to put the little EEer down. I put Polly in the isolation pen, but she passed away sometime tonight. I feel horrible. I feel like a horrible guardian of my chickens. I want them to have the opportunity to free range in the compost, etc., but I've had too many accidents. On the upside, I got my incubator from eBay today. I can't even think about hatching chickens now. I'm so traumatized.

Condolences on your losses. It's never easy to lose them.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

The bugs will always bring a demise to a sicker tree and will prefer to spend their time there. A healthy tree has ways to combat the subtle attack like oozing sap to drown the pest. For underground pests you could look into nemetodes. They are microscopic, and kill all sorts of bad bugs while leaving the good ones like earth worms alone. I'm going to get some here in a week, I have a certain place in my yard that the trees seem to live for almost a year and then die within a week. No signs of any damage so i'm figuring its from something underground.

 

[chicksurreal]

Bad day in Chickenville. <Sigh> Polly, the chicken I've had the longest, passed away tonight from shock I think. I'm so sad. I dealt with the other deaths better, but this one has hit me harder. Mostly I feel guilty for messing up with the dogs. I told my boyfriend and roommate that the chickens were freeranging and not to let the dogs out, but somehow Mr. Darcy got out. A series of unfortunate events began. I wasn't outside, but my roommate was. He was making a roof for my side pen for the little bantam Easter Egger and Stan the Silkie cockerel. The EEer got caught in the fencing ... she freaked out because Stan was roaming around outside the isolation pen (and she wasn't). She basically scalped herself from the base of the neck to her pea comb. All the neck anatomy was showing and the skin was hanging down like a great big apron. Then I saw Polly. She was lying on the ground panting. I picked her up and tried to replace her on her feet. She was good on one but was a little weak on the other. I didn't see any blood but looked under the feathers and there were some tears and punctures, but no blood. It didn't look like the wounds went into the muscle so I was hopeful. My roommate said that she was trying to get in the pen while the bantam was flipping. He didn't see Mr. Darcy actually grab her, but I think he saw the commotion and it was irrestiable. He's a lab; I think he just wanted to carry her around. He's a duck dog after all. We had to put the little EEer down. I put Polly in the isolation pen, but she passed away sometime tonight. I feel horrible. I feel like a horrible guardian of my chickens. I want them to have the opportunity to free range in the compost, etc., but I've had too many accidents. On the upside, I got my incubator from eBay today. I can't even think about hatching chickens now. I'm so traumatized.

So sorry.

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

The variety I really want is the Okinawan or Japanese purple sweet potato.  Its pale tan outside, purple streaked to solid purple inside.  They are my favorite. I can only find them at Lee Lee, but they are sprayed and will not sprout.  Mekong never has them.

There is someone on Tucson craigslist that sells purple sweet potato plants in the spring and fall. Not sure what the variety is but they are white and purple mixed together inside.