Arizona Chickens

[desertmarcy]

ok garden loppers. do you have a picture? I am preparing to process and really don't want the ax and a stump option that the DF wants to use. So I am going to get a cone and something to cut their heads off.

I would not recommend cutting heads off to kill. As soon as you would lop the head off, body and neck are going to be twitching all over the place, blood is going to be spraying and it will be a mess. Because you can't hold onto the head and lop, need two hands to use loppers. This is what I do:

Put bird upside down in cone.
DP holds feet, but if he is not available, I tie the feet together using something quick and easy, like heavy long twist tie
Position 5-gal bucket with a couple of inches of water in it, below where the blood will drain. I also put a large piece of plastic down to catch any blood sprays, but I'm doing this in my garage, not outside. Don't want flies bothering me! The water in bucket will help with clean up.
Use VERY sharp knife. Key is the knife needs to be VERY SHARP! Grasp head, tilt it to the side for correct angle to access jugular, one quick slice through jugular, right under the head. No sawing motion. Blood should immediately gush out if cut was good. Don't cut too deep, you don't want to cut the esophagus and get material coming up from the crop which is yucky. Did I mention you need a good, sharp knife?

Continue to hold head while blood drains and until bird stops twitching, otherwise you will have blood everywhere. Wear old clothes and old shoes that you don't mind being blood stained because accidents happen!

Plan ahead and withhold feed and water the day or at least the night before you butcher. You want the crop and intestines empty so you don't contaminate the meat when gutting them. Also plan ahead and have ice ready. We freeze 1 gal jugs of water and put those in a bigger container of water for chilling the birds after plucking so we don't have to buy ice.

 

[Sill]

On some sad news, we just lost our original Easter egger, a girl/hen named butter who was a cream color, found this morning. She just died on the ground underneath the tree that she perched from, so the kids are a bit sad.
she is the cream hen in the middle with the little bit of brown on her stomach.

One question regarding a Broody with baby chicks. Should you let her raise them or at three weeks or so should you take the chicks from her so they can be handled and more tame? Does anybody know the answer to this question? Suggestions?

So sorry you lost Butter. Never easy to loose one suddenly. She had a great life at your house getting to roost in fruit trees and free ranging all day.

Do you ever have problems with ants making off with the pupae? I've had problems for sure with birds especially, your screen/shade cloth is a good idea. I usually use wire that I have made into squares to put around and protect new plants, with a wire top. Then I just put the pupae on the ground with the wire around them.

So far no, maybe because I don't have them on the ground?. I have more of a problem with lizards during the day and geckos at night. We have lots of the tiny reptiles here. I saw some camp out near the pupae and eat the predators as they emerged with my first shippent! I had to move them. The reptiles don't seem to bother them if they are covered enough, at least I don't see them at the fly predator buffet. On the ground is worse for me, more things to eat them. I put them on window sills, patio table, large pots, over-turned buckets etc. so they are elevated a bit and in their bowls with the shavings covering them then something over that that they can escape through. And of course in the shade. They are so tiny they can fit through the looser weave shade cloth. I divided the shippment up so I have them in a dozen locations in case some do get eaten. My yard is small so I don't have to worry so much about them being released too far from their egg laying sites.

 

[Sill]

Speaking of reptiles, look who my sister found in her goat pen! She is carrying the Gila on a pitch fork she uses for mucking out the pens, just to give you an idea of size.



She is in excellent condition and the largest my sister has seen so far. We think she is gravid. She was relocated to the wash behind the pens. Their home territory can be very large so she is probably still "home". My sister is hoping to eventually have baby gilas to eat the mice on her property, and is planning to reinforce the goat pen with 1/2x1/2 wire to keep the mom and any babies out.

 

[DesertChic]

Speaking of reptiles, look who my sister found in her goat pen! She is carrying the Gila on a pitch fork she uses for mucking out the pens, just to give you an idea of size.



She is in excellent condition and the largest my sister has seen so far. We think she is gravid. She was relocated to the wash behind the pens. Their home territory can be very large so she is probably still "home". My sister is hoping to eventually have baby gilas to eat the mice on her property, and is planning to reinforce the goat pen with 1/2x1/2 wire to keep the mom and any babies out.

Wow! That's an impressive find!

 

[houdiniduck]

Honey is a mommy! She has three chicks with two more to hatch. The other two are internally pipped. I snuck a quick candle when I made sure she had her babies for the night. She is doing a great job. We tried to move her out of the coop and she refused, so we gave up and let her stay and she is doing good protecting the chicks from the others!

 

[girlchick]

they are a few days old and I told the people who sent me the wrong eggs they would most likely not make the trip but they said send them anyway if I want my 100.00 back. I can't afford not to send them that is too much money to lose over a barnyard mix of three chicks

Did you get the chicks mailed out okay?
Did any actual cemani hatch from the other eggs you bought?
How did the blue copper marans hatch turn out?

Inquiring minds want to know. LOL

 

[Anastasia23]

Hi everyone! I just recently joined BYC after getting three baby chicks about a week ago. I live in Phoenix, and am really excited and hoping for the best with my chickens!

 

[mcbmaz]

Welcome, and good luck with your new chicks! What breed did you choose to start off with?

 

[Sill]

Honey is a mommy! She has three chicks with two more to hatch. The other two are internally pipped. I snuck a quick candle when I made sure she had her babies for the night. She is doing a great job. We tried to move her out of the coop and she refused, so we gave up and let her stay and she is doing good protecting the chicks from the others!

I just love seeing broodies with their chicks! She looks so proud. Congrats!

Hi everyone! I just recently joined BYC after getting three baby chicks about a week ago. I live in Phoenix, and am really excited and hoping for the best with my chickens!

Do you have a coop for them yet?

 

[Twinklin]

Went and got all the materials to build the run extension. I'll probably get some done on it tomorrow and then will work on it throughout the next week. We also got some new security things to help ease my mind about another predator attack. We got some new motion activated lights which will help me see what's going on out there. I also got some brackets so I'll be able to drop a 2x4 across the main shed doors to prevent anything from prying them open in addition to the normal door latch. I'm scared to death something will happen again, even though I keep trying to tell myself all my old security worked just fine and nothing would have happened if I hadn't left the door wide open.