Arizona Chickens

[lacymorgan]

Update the tie fly genetic hackle chicks are on their way here. As for the Blue copper I only had 5 hatch of which two came out at the skinny end and passed away. The eggs were kept big end up so not sure how that happened

 

[cyborg]

Update on the Ayam Cemani eggs, I did finally receive 6 eggs, even though the seller has been suspended by eBay. They have been in transit since last Wednesday, so I don't have high hopes. I have them settling right now, and will set them tonight, along with an assortment of Jersey Giant, Cochin, and Ameraucana eggs. Wish me luck!

 

[MagicChicken]

Update on the Ayam Cemani eggs, I did finally receive 6 eggs, even though the seller has been suspended by eBay. They have been in transit since last Wednesday, so I don't have high hopes. I have them settling right now, and will set them tonight, along with an assortment of Jersey Giant, Cochin, and Ameraucana eggs. Wish me luck!

Good luck! I hope they turn out to be real Ayam Cemani eggs. Would like to see one of those birds in real life.

 

[moms3cuties]

 
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.

Excellent article on butchering / processing a bird or two or three or more!
Extremely helpful and we'll written! Thanks @desertmarcy!!
...I know you shared this with me before, but it's sure helpful to have it in writing!

 

[moms3cuties]

Well, @moms3cuties just left here, and we had a nice visit, we talked of many things, of chickens, and bows, and sealing wax, of politics, and kings. The seed box is on its way back to the Phoenix area.

King's what kind of King?? Huh
Oooo, more plant's.. ..
Thanks moms3cuties for being the handler!! Did you get more chickens???
We just planted more roses. Fresh cut flower's in the house is one of my favorite ..

@Cyborg
Yes! my daughter and I had a great time and got to sample some delicious water, I'll tell you it was really good!
my son conked out in the minivan, lol as it was a little late after we left desertmarcy's for back home.
I am ready for you @City farm to grab the BYC seed box if you would like it today!

@Gallo del Cielo
my kids and I may head down to Tucson again this month or in June. I'd be happy to bring some up to those that are in the Phoenix area / East Valley. I'm going to help volunteer @City farm to house a few for a few of BCY'ers!

 

[moms3cuties]

Update on the Ayam Cemani eggs, I did finally receive 6 eggs, even though the seller has been suspended by eBay. They have been in transit since last Wednesday, so I don't have high hopes. I have them settling right now, and will set them tonight, along with an assortment of Jersey Giant, Cochin, and Ameraucana eggs. Wish me luck!

Update on the Ayam Cemani eggs, I did finally receive 6 eggs, even though the seller has been suspended by eBay. They have been in transit since last Wednesday, so I don't have high hopes. I have them settling right now, and will set them tonight, along with an assortment of Jersey Giant, Cochin, and Ameraucana eggs. Wish me luck!

Good luck!  I hope they turn out to be real Ayam Cemani eggs.  Would like to see one of those birds in real life.

Good luck x2 and a few fast prayers!

 

[pipemum]

@pipemum Tangerine Crossvine?

Yes, that's it!

Wow, the passionflower vine is gorgeous. I tried one and it was eaten so severely by caterpillars that it never came back. Looks like I need to try another plant!

Ugh, so did I mention that I found a rattlesnake in my meatie coop a few weeks ago? Well, my dog was bitten by another rattlesnake last week! He's amazingly fine now but it was rough for him on Friday. I've been looking up snake proofing the yard, and it looks to be fairly impossible with how I'm set up.

 

[moms3cuties]

Guess who at my door! ?!

the infamous leghorn named chickles by my kids, lol!

 

[DesertChic]

Update on the Ayam Cemani eggs, I did finally receive 6 eggs, even though the seller has been suspended by eBay. They have been in transit since last Wednesday, so I don't have high hopes. I have them settling right now, and will set them tonight, along with an assortment of Jersey Giant, Cochin, and Ameraucana eggs. Wish me luck!

The best of luck! You deserve some good luck.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Update on the passion fruit vines. My vines grew like crazy last year and I ended up with hundreds of fruits, none of which matured in time before the first frost.

The cold weather seemed to keep them from ripening properly. I'm hopeful that I will get fruit in time this year because they are so much further ahead right now than they were last year (they started flowering last week). I found that I had to hand pollinate the flowers until the bees returned, but the explosion of flowers was stunning! This vine is highly aggressive under daily drip irrigation and full sun (less so with afternoon shade). They fared well over the winter. The parts that were exposed to full frost lost their leaves, but with moderate protection from surrounding trees, most leaves survived. My chickens do not eat the leaves while free ranging, but I'm not sure whether regularly enclosed chickens would eat them or not. It might be an excellent candidate for providing shade for chicken enclosures, but take caution on where you plant it because of its aggressive nature. I'm super psyched that it's already moving over the top of the chicken coop and should reach the other side well before the grapevines do.

A fair number of you requested cuttings last fall, so I put a bunch into the aquaponics grow beds and most survived. Yesterday I transplanted those into pots and they are ready for pick-up. I can't remember who all wanted one, but I recall that a lot of you were from the Phoenix area. If anyone can transport and distribute them up to the valley, that would be great. There are 20+ available. For those of you from Tucson that wanted one, PM me and we'll make arrangements.


Pics from last year:

Cool!
I'll be in Tucson the 14th-17th. My daughter is graduating!
We'll be pretty busy, but maybe we can meet up so I can return your trap and bring some passion fruit vines up this way.