Tucson Poultry, Pigeon and Fancy Fowl Show

Buff Orpington pullet #93 Reserve English

I went to the Tucson Poultry show last week end put on by the Tucson Poultry, Pigeon and Fancy Fowl club in Tucson AZ

Pretty much every kind of fowl was represented with over 1100 birds present.  My Buff Orpington pullet #93 was Reserve English.

Blue Ameraucana Hen Best of Variety

My 2 year old Blue Ameraucana hen was Best of Variety

Black Ameraucana pullet Reserve AOSB

My black Ameraucana pullet was Reserve Any Other Standard Breed (ASOB)

My Black Copper Marans pullet of which I have no good picture was Best of Breed and my old trio was Reserve Continental Trio. My Black Silkie pullet was Best of Variety. All in all not too bad for a beginner to the show circuit.  This is my 3rd year showing in Tucson and I always have a great time.

just part of the show hall

There is a costume contest for the kids to dress up their chickens

Lots of poultry of all kinds!

Well as you can see it has been a long time since I've posted. Mom fell and hit her head shortly after my last post and the summer was one long nightmare, 9 weeks between two hospitals and a nursing home. And I had to move in with her. Physically she's doing ok except for her arthritis. But she's forgetful and needs help.

So, I spent the summer putting up new pens and moving birds into her big tin barn, originally built to house their motor home.

Even as big as the barn is tho I still have fewer pens than I did at my house, so  lot of birds had to go.  But less space just means culling harder and more meat in the freezer.

I am trying to hang onto some of my breeding projects if I can. It just means hatching fewer chicks at a time and spreading things out more.

Mom has a lot of space that I am slowly trying to rejuvenate and get ready for planting. Mostly flowers and herbs in the front yard. I seem to be missing the pictures I took of the front yard.

We do have a great view from up here on the hill of a mountain called Sleeping Beauty.

WHAT'S UP?

Stage One. 

I swear if I had neighbors they would be calling the men in white suites. "What is that crazy chicken lady doing now?!"

Some friends gifted me a lot of 3" PVC drain pipe. I didn't need it for drains and it's been laying around with the intention of cutting it half long ways to make feed troughs out of. Then I got an idea.

Stage one, cut the pipes in half. Now this is a good lesson in never assuming anything. I assumed these pipes were 20 feet long and never measured them. Since I assumed that length I just measured 10 feet and cut them. Then I realized that they weren't all 10 feet long. Apparently they were really only 19 feet, not 20.

Now wire them up to the pens every few feet.

Stage 2

Stage two; drill holes in them and run wires out to the fence line.

Stage 3

Stage 3. Clip some shade cloth to the wires. I was lucky enough to have most of a roll left from last year.It covered the whole stretch.

I wasn't so lucky in the process that my ladder twisted out from under me. It happened in kind of slow motion and all I could think of was "Don't hit your head!"  I'm OK, just stiff, sore and bruised up. And I didn't hit my head.

Now all the chickens and Giotto have some afternoon shade to help them stay cooler.

So maybe I'm not so crazy after all!

Part of My Mornings

chicks in the house

Well this is a little bit of my morning around here; after a bit of tea and getting dressed, feed and water the newest babies in the house, these were hatched about a week ago.

Silkie babies from August hatch

Then outside to feed birds, A couple of pens of Silkies including  these babies that hatched in January. I still can't tell for sure which are boys or girls.

2-3 week olds

Then out to the small hoop coop by the house, feed the 2-4 week olds, mostly easter eggers and olive eggs, a couple of Buff Orpingtons in there.

4 week olds, OE/ EE and Buff Orpingtons

feed wagon

Then I load the buckets of feed and Giotto's breakfast on the wagon and head for the main coops

6-8 weeks

My bigger hoop coops are divided into 3 sections; first up the 6-8 week olds; some sexlinked crosses (you can tell males from color at hatch), along with more easter eggers and olive eggers and a few pure bred Ameraucana.

Silkie with foster chicks

The next section is a pair of Silkies with easter egger foster chicks. As soon as I finish a coop for the Silkies to go into, I'll open the door and integrate these chicks in with the others.There are a couple of Buff Orpington pullets in the last section but I didn't get a pic of them this morning.

Black Copper Marans and Buff Orpington

After feeding a pair of Ameracauna, feed the babies next door These hatched in January

Buff Orpington pullets

These two Buff Orpingtons are in one of the breeding pens, I'll be hatching just a few from these girls for myself. ;-)

Next the Plymouth Rocks, Buff and White

Muscovy Duck eggs

Next up the Muscovy ducks, building a nest; 7 eggs now.

The layers, looking for breakfast!

Then open the door to the layer house and be charged, everyone is hungry! I found a roll of fabric set out for the trash awhile back and used it to make nest box curtains and to cover the windows  where the afternoon sun is too strong.

Curtains in the hen house!

cat & bunny

After hauling the empty buckets back to the house, I go feed some ducks in the front yard. Here also is my last remaining rabbit, a doe over 5 who hasn't been bred in a couple of years. She escaped her cage and just hangs around with the ducks. None of my cats bother her or any of my grown chickens because they were raised with them since they were little kittens. I don't, however, trust them with baby chicks.

So that is part of my morning. Inside the layer house there are several pens with individual birds, mostly breeding males that have to be separate so the don't fight, and there are a few more chicks and Silkies around.

SHEEP SHEARING

I know it's been ages since I've posted, just not enough hours in a day to accomplish everything I want to do! Had a really fun day at my friend Karen's place (in the green shirt). She raises Shetland sheep and had Aimee Leon of Flying Ewe Shearing over to shear them.

I have raised goats but not sheep and learned a lot about sheep and shearing from Aimee today! Some things made me laugh, really you had to be there for the conversations about cysts, pizzles and wether sacks. ;-)

A couple of other families brought their sheep to be shorn and there were a lot of helpers and observers.

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how to trim hooves

trimming a horn

Sometimes a sheep's horns do not grow into the correct spiral but instead grow into their heads. In that case they have to be trimmed every couple of years to prevent them from actually growing into their skulls. A block of wood helps protect their eye and face while cutting.

shearing on the stand

If the sheep are pregnant it's easier on them to sheer them standing up, rather than on their backs on the ground.

Aimee shearing

Aimee shows Isaac how to adjust the clippers

Aimee showed Karen's son Issac how to shear with both the electric clippers and with hand shears.

Aimee demonstrates the handshears

Issac tries the electric shears

Issac shearing while Aimee coaches

Issac tries out the hand shears.

Karen has a lot of other animals besides sheep, different breeds of chickens, some dairy goats, Angora goats, rabbits, a goose and some reptiles. I'll have to post some more pictures for you tomorrow!