Arizona Chickens

[Sill]

Quote:

I can identify with the construction aspect of it all. I tend to spend many hours on drawing/sketching ideas, doing many revisions. Then, before I get cold feet, I buy a bunch of lumber, throw it out in the backyard and have at it...LOL! Touch-And-Go all the way, adapting as I go. My idea started off with a single 4x4 post and branched out like spokes of a wheel. All the inner 2x6 base boards are for structural support only and will disappear when I go the deep litter route.

Enough about my run improvisations, but really like to know how many vines would you plant along one wall to get a decent coverage to eventually creep over the top of the run for partial coverage? --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

That depends on what type of vine, and it can vary by cultivar too. Plant more than you think you will need in case you loose some. You can always hack the vines back if they get too unruly, but you want a lot for shade. What exposure does the wall you are planting against get? Full sun?

Here is a photo of my new chicks that arrived from Georgia today. They are tie fly genetic hackle and Phoenix bantam long taiil

Can't wait to see the tie fly chicks grow up!

 

[Sill]

Ooooo, yes on a couple!! And I will see who would like to go?? Anyone??

I'm up for a road trip!

 

[Sill]

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:

What super cool vines, even better in person! How many do you have planted on that structure? Aren't your winters colder than ours in the valley? I wonder how they will fare with milder winters and hotter summers. I hope you get to taste some ripe fruit this year with the head start.

 

[Bobby Basham]

Quote:
That depends on what type of vine, and it can vary by cultivar too. Plant more than you think you will need in case you loose some. You can always hack the vines back if they get too unruly, but you want a lot for shade. What exposure does the wall you are planting against get? Full sun?


My lot is a NW/SE orientation with my yard at the SE end. The main shade doesn't happen until about 2:00 in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day. The earlier part of the day seems pretty mild (well, I don't have feathers so I can't speak for any feathered creatures.).

This is a shot during the mid-morning hours way before noon...


This is what it starts to look like in the afternoon....


Eventually, the shade from my house and neighbor's house
extends all the way to the back wall.

I would like the morning shade to extend over those two 8x8
back portions during the day and let the afternoon shade take
do its thing for the rest of the day.

The furthest 8x8 square, from where I'm standing, is reserved for my 6x6 coop,
and would like that and the adjacent 8x8 square, to the right, covered for some
protection during the earlier hours. They can freely run out in the uncovered areas
and absorb some Vitamin D, if chickens do that...LOL!

I should probably run some vines along the left side of the run to extend southward
over the [future] coop toward the morning sun and another set on the opposite
side, hoping the two groups shall meet and live happily everafter. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

 

[lacymorgan]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoodEggsBadEggsPoultryReviews/

thank you joined the group

 

[DesertChic]

Remember I did not say those turkeys were toms for sure! It was just a guess.

What breed(s) of turkeys do you raise? I'm thinking very seriously of adding turkeys to my growing poultry obsessions perhaps as early as this fall/winter.

 

[DesertChic]

Hi there - I'm pretty new to chicken ownership. Loving it so far and we're getting ready to build a run for our girls. We have quarter minus down in that area of the back yard but was wondering if that's the best thing to leave down or not. I was reading about sand but think it would get too hot here in the summer. I would love any suggestions from you guys for the best thing to keep flies away and to keep clean. I've read so much that I am overwhelmed with info and wanted to get a little more specific to our area! THANK YOU for any help!

And also we're in SE Chandler, anyone else down this way? I'm excited to meet other chicken owners around me!

Welcome!!! This is a really good forum to be part of....lots of incredibly nice, knowledgeable, fun, friendly and helpful people here. What breed(s) do you have? Did you start with eggs, chicks, full grown chickens...???

I use deep litter in the form of pine chips in my coops, and often given my chickens straw bales to scratch at in their runs, which also creates some deep litter there. I've found few things that seem to give my birds as much pleasure as scratching apart a straw bale.

I let my nose dictate when it's time to clean out the coop, which is pretty easy with deep litter. I keep a composter nearby to add the old pine shavings to, which results in rich compost for my garden in just a few weeks. And I use a product called Oxine, which I buy online, for scrubbing down the coop, water containers and my incubator.

As far as flies are concerned, I'm still tackling that issue myself. I haven't had much luck keeping them away.

 

[desertmarcy]

What breed(s) of turkeys do you raise? I'm thinking very seriously of adding turkeys to my growing poultry obsessions perhaps as early as this fall/winter.

I raise Bourbon Red, Royal Palm, Penciled Palm, Slate and Self Blue, Lilac, Blue Red Bronze and Red Slate. The last 3 are all genetically similar and can be bred to each other and produce more of the same. I am also getting hatching eggs this week of Black and Bronze. The Black is to cross with my Self Blue; that cross will produce all Slates. They are just like in chickens: Slate to Slate (blue to blue) produces blue, black and self blue (splash). Black to Self Blue produces all Slate (blue). The Bronze will be to improve on my Lilacs. I hope I get a good hatch on these. Being shipped eggs, you never know. They are coming from Kevin Porter, he has pure Blacks and the Bronze are the Good Shepard line (Frank Reese) that he is sending me.

Spring is the best time to start turkeys. Turkeys are more seasonal than chickens and generally don't lay in the fall or winter, laying only spring to early fall. So poults (baby turkeys) are generally not available later in the year. You can find started turkeys but they are expensive, at least mine are, since they are raised organically. And by fall, it is getting close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, so any birds not sold I will keep and butcher for the holidays and sell them processed. I get a lot more for them that way actually.

There are also a lot of mixed breed turkeys out there. Sometimes people don't even know their turkeys aren't pure genetically. So if you want pure breeds, be careful who you buy from. Recently, someone was advertising Chocolate turkey hatching eggs on ebay. But what was pictured was Bronze and Red Bronze! They didn't even know what variety of turkey they had!

 

[DesertChic]

I raise Bourbon Red, Royal Palm, Penciled Palm, Slate and Self Blue, Lilac, Blue Red Bronze and Red Slate. The last 3 are all genetically similar and can be bred to each other and produce more of the same. I am also getting hatching eggs this week of Black and Bronze. The Black is to cross with my Self Blue; that cross will produce all Slates. They are just like in chickens: Slate to Slate (blue to blue) produces blue, black and self blue (splash). Black to Self Blue produces all Slate (blue). The Bronze will be to improve on my Lilacs. I hope I get a good hatch on these. Being shipped eggs, you never know. They are coming from Kevin Porter, he has pure Blacks and the Bronze are the Good Shepard line (Frank Reese) that he is sending me.

Spring is the best time to start turkeys. Turkeys are more seasonal than chickens and generally don't lay in the fall or winter, laying only spring to early fall. So poults (baby turkeys) are generally not available later in the year. You can find started turkeys but they are expensive, at least mine are, since they are raised organically. And by fall, it is getting close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, so any birds not sold I will keep and butcher for the holidays and sell them processed. I get a lot more for them that way actually.

There are also a lot of mixed breed turkeys out there. Sometimes people don't even know their turkeys aren't pure genetically. So if you want pure breeds, be careful who you buy from. Recently, someone was advertising Chocolate turkey hatching eggs on ebay. But what was pictured was Bronze and Red Bronze! They didn't even know what variety of turkey they had!

Wow! I'm just blown away! You never cease to amaze me with your wealth of knowledge and how much you tackle. You're like the Superwoman of the poultry world.

I literally only started thinking seriously about turkeys because 1) of the avian flu that's wiping out so much of the country's commercial flocks, and 2) because I have an employee/friend who makes the most delicious smoked turkey on the face of the planet. I've never actually been a fan of turkey but he made one for us last year for our company Thanksgiving meal that rocked my world. It was like crack and I couldn't stop eating it! I'm looking for a breed that's fairly docile since I'll probably keep at least a breeding pair as "pets" while I process the others to give to my employees, and I really like the idea of pure bred heritage turkeys. Any suggestions? I've read up a bit on the Slate Blue, the Black Spanish and the White Midget, but as I said, I've only started to research this.

 

[desertmarcy]

Wow! I'm just blown away! You never cease to amaze me with your wealth of knowledge and how much you tackle. You're like the Superwoman of the poultry world.

I literally only started thinking seriously about turkeys because 1) of the avian flu that's wiping out so much of the country's commercial flocks, and 2) because I have an employee/friend who makes the most delicious smoked turkey on the face of the planet. I've never actually been a fan of turkey but he made one for us last year for our company Thanksgiving meal that rocked my world. It was like crack and I couldn't stop eating it! I'm looking for a breed that's fairly docile since I'll probably keep at least a breeding pair as "pets" while I process the others to give to my employees, and I really like the idea of pure bred heritage turkeys. Any suggestions? I've read up a bit on the Slate Blue, the Black Spanish and the White Midget, but as I said, I've only started to research this.

Ah, shucks

thanks, but sometimes I tackle too much for my own good. I really like my Slates, they have good weight and seem to have a more mellow disposition, but that can vary from line to line. It also depends a lot on how much they are handled as poults. They will all bond to you and become pets if handled a lot, especially the first few days of life, just like chicks. It just depends on what appeals to you. There are some varieties that are more in need of dedicated breeders than others. Some are hard to find pure. The real deal can be hard to locate in Midget White and Beltsville Small White. Darker breeds, like the Black, don't dress out as nice because the pinfeathers will stain the skin and leave dark spots. Just cosmetic, so if only butchering for yourself, it doesn't matter. Also if you want to show them, not all are in the SOP. If I get any new turkeys, like I just ordered these hatching eggs, I buy from Kevin Porter because he knows his turkey genetics, he is the turkey color genetics guru and runs a FB group on it, and I know I will get purity from him. Like the Black: I could have found Black turkey eggs cheaper on ebay but you get what you pay for. Kevin told me it is darn near impossible to find Black turkeys that don't carry bronze or narragansett genes. That would mess up my Slates if I had unwanted genes mixed in there. Some people deliberately mix turkey varieties just because they like all the different colors and that can be fun, too, if you just want some pretty birds.