Arizona Chickens

[kacklinkelly]

Pipemum it's good to see you back. My DH has the same complaint about the patio. Our girls like to wait just outside our arcadia door in case anyone has a scrap of food in their hand that they can wrangle out. We are left "presents" continuously throughout the day. Our girls are out mostly all weekend. He's not bothered enough to work on a fencing solution though. I think he just likes to have something to "balk" about

We are down to 2 chickens now. One has only ever layed 6 greenish eggs and nothing more. The other has slowed down and now is molting so our nest box is empty. We were considering getting more - not sure if raising from chicks again or getting point of lay. That is on hold now since my next adventure is raising rabbits. Have raised them for a year and just had our first litter of 8 last night. I love this journey I'm on and thanks to all of your sharing, feel more confident and that if I do have any problem can come and talk to someone about it who will understand! What a great group of people.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Pipemum it's good to see you back. My DH has the same complaint about the patio. Our girls like to wait just outside our arcadia door in case anyone has a scrap of food in their hand that they can wrangle out. We are left "presents" continuously throughout the day. Our girls are out mostly all weekend. He's not bothered enough to work on a fencing solution though. I think he just likes to have something to "balk" about

The cement part of our patio is huge but the covered part is small. We don't want to fence the whole patio so we just put a couple of x-pens up around the covered portion. It keeps the chickens off the whole patio because they don't want to be out in the open but they can't get to the covered part. (Well, they could if they realized the dogs don't just appear, they go through a "doggie door" that we made by hanging a towel over the opening in the fence. lol.)
This way, if we have a pool party or something the chickens get put up and the fence easily comes down.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Great idea - thanks, I have two x pens- will see what kind of barrier I can create. Our covered patio area is small also. If we could even step out the door without having chickens or their "presents" under foot, that would be a step in the right direction.

 

[City farm]

I have never tried making mayo.  Sounds easy enough that even I won't mess it up. 

So...I have worked 8 years turning my side yard into a garden paradise.  It is really lovely out there. I will now be turning it over to my dogs while I get the rest of my backyard to work on!  I'm a bit devastated as the dogs will take maybe a week to destroy what I've worked so hard on, but heck, I get 5-6x the space to garden in and beautify now!  I'll have a bigger garden, and the rest will be a mix of native plants and such.  I can't wait.   I've not been able to do much with the main backyard--my dogs are crazy plant and landscape destruction machines.  I should have made the trade YEARS ago. 

Oooo, photo's??

 

[City farm]

Great advice.. We FF here.. Fodder would be another job.. We also have wheat grass, and boy do they love that. What breeds do you have?

I currently have one Silkie hen and two other mix hens I picked from my mothers pen she will take any kind of chicken LOL.

Our silkie, Cheryl, has gone broody at least 4x last year.. She tried to sit on egg's last week.. I moved her off the nest 2x.. It worked..

 

[desertmarcy]

Something tried to dig under the pen again, second time since I reinforced the bottom with wire. There were 5 dig attempts along the 40-foot length. All foiled, but I sure wish I knew what it was. I need a game cam. I have been working on a new turkey pen for the last 3-4 weeks and sure will not put any birds in it until I get wire down around the outside and pour cement under the gate! Those two things plus splicing into the water line for an automatic waterer, and putting a roost up, and this pen is ready to go! This will be my 9th turkey pen

I'm gearing up to sell lots of poults this year and have many varieties to choose from.

 

[azpigs]

Hi, I'm in Prescott and wondering what breed people in AZ raise for meat. Has anyone successfully raised Cornish Cross Broilers with the hot summer? Also, does anyone have experience with using electro-net fences to keep out coyotes? Thanks!

 

[DesertChickens1]

Hi, I'm in Prescott and wondering what breed people in AZ raise for meat. Has anyone successfully raised Cornish Cross Broilers with the hot summer? Also, does anyone have experience with using electro-net fences to keep out coyotes? Thanks!

Hello and

I raised a trio of Cornish crosses last summer, they did just fine with lots of shade and water

 

[jackiezim]

One last thing (work avoidance in action here)--I was wondering if my black copper marans (who is all black, no hint of copper, but she does have feathered feet and lays a nice dark egg) would get some copper in her feathers after this crazy molt.  Nope.  She is gorgeous and glossy, and her feathers are so, so soft, but still all black!

I have one black copper maran too. She has black feathers too and have an iridescent green shimmer to them. I do see some copper feathers around her neck but are so slight they are hidden under black ones. I just adore her.

 

[jackiezim]

Our silkie, Cheryl, has gone broody at least 4x last year.. She tried to sit on egg's last week.. I moved her off the nest 2x.. It worked..

My silken goes bloody a lot also. I just move mine off the nest and after a few times she snaps out of it. Lol