Maya Toccata

Hi Michael,
I'm in Joshua Tree too. Have we met? How's your green house now? Anything you would do differently?

I've been planning to upgrade our chicken run to a Justin Rhodes style "chickshaw" with movable electro-net fencing, and was about to order everything I need to build the new system, when I read something about dry rocky soils making electric fences ineffective. I live in the high desert (2-4inches of rain a year) on dry, sandy, rocky soil. Anyone have experience with drylands mobile chicken systems? Any advice/ cautionary tales appreciated!

linda, the breed i meant is "old english game." I'm not familiar with them either, but harvey ussery (my new guru) says they are top notch mothers- guaranteed to go broody and protect their young. he also said silkies are an excellent choice for mothers. i like your idea of pulling the smaller eggs to make sure the giants are what hatch.

I've been reading harvey ussery's chicken pages ( http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/poultry.html) and he had tons of very relevant info on breeding, feeding, and managing poultry flocks. it's got me thinking maybe instead of all buff orphingtons i should have a "sub flock" of old englis just for their mothering skills. if i didn't need the meat birds to be broody i could go with a meatier bird like white jersey giant. hmmm.

Linda, we are at 2700ft elevation too! we get only about 10cm annual rainfall - hyper arid. we've had our hens in a fenced run (hawks, dogs, and bobcats are all threats) but are building a chicken tractor set up for the new flock. I think I've settled back on buff orphington. only they and black giants are very likely to hatch their own eggs (of the breeds I can choose from here) and I worry that a giant black bird would suffer under our hot desert sun.
now to research chicken tractor designs!

Linda, yes, lets keep in touch. I'm in the high desert of California, USA. It gets very hot here so that is a concern when choosing a breed. we've had about 15 laying hens and one rooster for 7 years. auracanas, buff orphington, Delaware, and wyandotte. all of them have done fine in our harsh climate, and are still laying well. the buff orphingtons are the only ones who wanted to sit on eggs (go broody) and the auracanas have been the best layers in both cold and hot weather. I was thinking buff orphington would be our dual purpose choice, but was a bit disappointed at how little meat there was. I guess I'm just used to the cornish cross...

we just butchered a 7-year-old hen (buff orphington) i cooked the whole thing in water in the pressure cooker for broth and then chopped the meat up very small for chicken salad. the taste was good, the meat was still pretty tough (as you might expect of a 7-year-old hen!) but edible. the broth tasted pretty strong but we enjoyed it with miso.
it was the butchering and eating of this hen that made me want to start a cycle of weekly butchering and annual breeding so our meat is not so tough.

Linda, Do you have a breed picked out for good egg production and meat?