Arizona Chickens - Page 3

You would think they would moult in the summer here. It's hot lets take off some of these feathers. I was at Pratts the other day and some lady was there buying broiler chicks and was like oh they lay eggs too. I think she was getting them because they were cheap. Her BF seemed confused about getting them. I was joking that she could choose what to get by how tasty they looked. I would love to find more chicken people nearby.

Hi.  I am in Glendale also.  My first chicks I got from Pratts but theirs were sick so eventually I ended up getting them from the Stockmans on T-bird.

I live in an area where I am not supposed to have so I could only get 2.

They are maybe 3 weeks old and their daytime run is an upside down playpen for now.  They get loose too but they do like the safety of the playpen and so do I.

I would love to have alot of chickens someday and sell the eggs. . . . .

Oh, I forgot to mention to the OP topic - I had a huge shade tree and just a huge water bowl that I put rocks in and mine did just fine in the summer heat.

Welcome Sparker.  I'm in Camp Verde.
  My roo is moulting right now, big time!  So yes they do molt in AZ.  But he also moulted some in the fall.

You will find a lot of super people here to help with questions.

Jacie

Hello everyone from Arizona. We are located west of Tucson and just got started working with our "girls" last week. We have a Co-op Coop (neighbor project) and have decided to start with just laying hens since we are all new at this. This site has given us a lot of good information and we look forward to working with you all.  Thanks ahead of time for all your useful insight.

June-MotherHen@Co-op Coop

Hi all...I am in Tucson and new to the idea of chickens.  I live in town (central) and I am just wanting to get 3 hens to give us some eggs. We are thinking of Ameracaunas because blue/green eggs would be fun.  I am just wondering if anyone around here knows how the breed does in the heat?  Also, are there certain breeds that are louder or quieter?  We obviously want quieter as we don't want to bother the neighbors. Oh and another question is where is the best place to get hens?  The feedstores have tons of chicks but I am scared of getting a rooster because we can't have them in town and I tend to get attached to my critters :-).  Is it just bad timing?  In a few months will the feedstores have tons of older birds?  Oh and one more thing...we would also like to have a silkie hen, but again, we are afraid of getting a rooster...does anyone around here breed Silkies that we could get a hen from?

Thanks :-)

Deb

Welcome Co-op Coop and DebinAz-

The amount of information on this forum can sometimes be overwhelming.  You will learn stuff about chickens you never even thought of!

I would like to get a couple more chickens to add to my flock.  I did get 3 2mos olds from OK Feed store in February, but when I went back to get some more, they were all gone.  So hopefully, they will get some more in.

I know I saw someone on Craig's list a few months ago who had Silkies for sale.  So, you might want to check in the Farm & Garden ads. 

I'm not sure about the Ameracaunas, though.  If I hear of any, I'll PM you.

Good luck and have fun with your chickies!!

DebinAZ-  I'm in the Verde Valley and have 2 Americanas/Easter Eggers.  I've found that they do well in the heat.  They all suffer to some degree, though.  My hen house/run are poorly shaded due to OLD trees.  I take extra precautions for my flock, including keeping frozen gallon milk and water jugs in the hen house.  I also put frozen 1/2 liter water bottles in their waterers daily (or even twice if it's really hot).  If you have a well shaded area, I would imagine yours would do well.

As for getting chicks vs hens right now, if you watch cragislist, freecycle, the feed stores, etc, you can sometimes find older chicks/pullets or even laying hens.  I 'think' in the coming months, there may be more freecycled or craigslist'd chicks because people will buy them for the "cute Easter chick" factor, then get bored with them. 

Most of the feed stores around here will specify 'straight run' (not sexed) or sexed chicks.  I got started with laying hens and am glad I did.  But, many people will tell you to start with chicks.  It's really more a matter of your comfort level.

And, finally, welcome to BYC!  You'll find a wealth of valuable information and wonderful, helpful folks here!

Hello BYC lovers!  I'm in central Phx in an older neighborhood.  Not sure what breed to get.  I want good layers, but I'm not sure how the neighbors will react to a noisy breed.  Also, is Pratts not great for chicks??  Are there breeders who do better with sexing?  I'm starting with an old rabbit hutch my sister donated to the cause.  Love the tractor idea. Thanks everyone for all the great info.

Hi mscory-

I have 1 RIR bantam rooster who can be pretty loud, starts crowing early morning and before bedtime, sometimes in between.  The RIR bantam hens talk a lot, but I wouldn't say they are loud.  The RIR's are just a little over a year old.

I also have 3 4month olds, 1 BO, 1 BR and 1 red sexlink.  So far, they are pretty quiet unless the rooster tries to get too friendly.  Then they sound like ducks!
I'm not sure if they get louder the older they get.  These 3 breeds are good egg layers.  These 3 are from a feed store, but I got them when they were 2 mos old, so it was easier to tell the pullets from the cockerels.

I also have 8 show chickens, and when the RIR gets all of them crowing and bok-boking, it can be pretty loud. 

I would only get hens if you don't want a lot of noise.  Maybe it is different if you only have 1 rooster.  We have 5.

Good luck!!

Thanks for that a2ms4chickens!  So your rir's aren't very loud, huh?  Getting 2 month olds for sexing sounds like a great idea.  I like the idea of chicks but what to do if I end up w/ a rooster in the city?  My neighbors are nice, but not that nice!