Arizona Chickens

[BellLisamo]

Quote:
no no, i wasnt asking that! i thought you meant you were moving here and wanted to buy more!

 

[DM]

I decided to put the henhut close to the house at night,but some of that area had been rock. My fear and question is this: will chicks and chickens eat pebbles and is it a danger to them... I could not get all the pebbles out, they are mixed into the dirt. I did put straw down but since chicks scratch i am sure they will get down to them.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Chickens need little pebbles to digest their food. All chickens eat them. It will not harm them and you probably won't even see them eat it. If they don't have access to some sort of pebbles or sand or natural ground then they have to be given something called grit in addition to their food because they have no way to chew. That's what the pebbles in their gizzard does for them.

 

[Recla_Ranch]

Ok, I finally found the Arizona section. Whew! BTW BellLisamo, your Australorp, Americanas, and Welsummers are doing GREAT! The Aussie has the cutest "happy noise" when she's content. And the cockerel is very proud of himself running his own little hen house. He won't go up to roost until all of the ladies are settled in for the night.

So, I guess there are only three of us down in deep South AZ. Is Huny in Tombstone, too? Just to let you two know, I have an order coming from McMurray the first week in June and one in July if you need anything and want to jump in on it. We've already more than made the minimum number!

I'd love to hear from any AZ'ers who've raised and butchered Jumbo Cornish Xs. We're gonna get ours in July and just realized how different they are from layers. Any advice would be GREAT!

 

[BellLisamo]

Quote:
Omg! That sounds so wonderful! So glad he's already taking care of his hunnies!!!! I love it!!! I'll call ya back soon! Got your voicemail, and was out running errands with the kids.

ETA! Huny lives in St.David.

 

[detali]

Hi,
I live in San Manuel, Az. My chicken run is shaded by mesquite trees and I have the watering dish hooked up to my irrigation system. So the dish gets a new supply of water every time the system comes on. Often the dish will overfill and moisten the slope beyond it. The chickens love to scratch deep holes there and wallow in the cool, moist soil but one hen prefers to stand with her feet in the watering dish to keep her cool. I have three hens and a rooster. I just ordered an incubator from Strombergs.com. Hope to have baby chicks before too long.

 

[detali]

Hi,
I live in San Manuel, Az. My chicken run is shaded by mesquite trees and I have the watering dish hooked up to my irrigation system. So the dish gets a new supply of water every time the system comes on. Often the dish will overfill and moisten the slope beyond it. The chickens love to scratch deep holes there and wallow in the cool, moist soil but one hen prefers to stand with her feet in the watering dish to keep her cool. I have three hens and a rooster. I just ordered an incubator from Strombergs.com. Hope to have baby chicks before too long.

 

[Huny]

Quote:
I did Jumbo Cornish Xs last winter. They grow fast, and butcher out nice, but I lost a lot of them. Out of ten, two died from heart attacks before we could get them in the box (flat on their backs, wings out), one died from a cold I think, just got lethargic and was sneezing, then we loaded 7 in a box to take them to my Uncle to help butcher them, and by the time we got there 1 was dead in the box (heart attack) and one we cut open had liquid and I was told that ment it was sick and not to eat it. My uncle said the liver and gall bladder looked good, so he ate it, and he's still alive so it was prob. OK. LOL So I think I am going to do something that is just a bit slower growing and more healthy. We over fed ours I think too, apparently they aren't like other chickens that will stop when they are full (Ducks won't stop either). So we kept throwing the rations out here. It was crazy how big they got in 7 and 8 weeks. I think we had 12 pounders before we butchered.

 

[Recla_Ranch]

Quote:
I did Jumbo Cornish Xs last winter. They grow fast, and butcher out nice, but I lost a lot of them. Out of ten, two died from heart attacks before we could get them in the box (flat on their backs, wings out), one died from a cold I think, just got lethargic and was sneezing, then we loaded 7 in a box to take them to my Uncle to help butcher them, and by the time we got there 1 was dead in the box (heart attack) and one we cut open had liquid and I was told that ment it was sick and not to eat it. My uncle said the liver and gall bladder looked good, so he ate it, and he's still alive so it was prob. OK. LOL So I think I am going to do something that is just a bit slower growing and more healthy. We over fed ours I think too, apparently they aren't like other chickens that will stop when they are full (Ducks won't stop either). So we kept throwing the rations out here. It was crazy how big they got in 7 and 8 weeks. I think we had 12 pounders before we butchered.

Ok, I don't know if I did that whole quote thing right, so if this looks weird, please educate me (I'm trying to indicate a reply to Huny's last post).

Huny, thanks for the feedback on the Jumbos. The more I read the more I wonder if we should wait until we're more seasoned chicken'ers before embarking on that adventure. And maybe get them early in the season instead of in July.

Another question...we have an area of our yard that the weeds have taken over. I understand chickens love that kind of thing. Right now we have some wire back there sectioning off areas. It's about 3 foot tall. Will the chickens fly over it? If so, how high does a boundary have to be to keep them contained?

Thanks, all!

 

[ArizonaNessa]

I have raised meaties in the past to sell and did quite well but now I kinda want to raise some for myself. My problem is I just can't kill them. I can't. I can't even cull. I have to get someone else to do it for me. I know I am a whimp. I was wondering if there was somewhere in or around phoenix that I could take the meaties when it came time to do the deed. Is there somewhere that will do the processing from live to bag for me?

I am fine with them after they are dead. I could probably do the plucking and dressing all myself but the ending of a life I just can't do. I would rather starve to death. My hat goes off to all of you that can do this. I know that is what chickens are meant for but they look at me and I just can't seem to find a nice way to say, " Thanks but now you must die!!!"