Arizona Chickens

Our backyard is just un-landscaped dirt but there are lot of weeds growing like crazy right now because of all the rain. When we put the chicks into a pen on the ground they peck at all of them and haven't had any problems.

Inside the brooder they have boxes of dirt to dig in and dust bathe in. We refill those daily with fresh dirt and a few handfuls of whatever green is growing in the yard.

Is there anything we should keep an eye out for that they shouldn't eat?

EmmaDonovan said:

Our backyard is just un-landscaped dirt but there are lot of weeds growing like crazy right now because of all the rain. When we put the chicks into a pen on the ground they peck at all of them and haven't had any problems.

Inside the brooder they have boxes of dirt to dig in and dust bathe in. We refill those daily with fresh dirt and a few handfuls of whatever green is growing in the yard.

Is there anything we should keep an eye out for that they shouldn't eat?

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There's definitely some bad to eat weeds that grow here like desert tobacco. If you're worried, I'd recommend googling poisonous plants for here. You really need to see good pictures to help you identify them.

For landscape plants too. I know there's a lot of oleander in my part of AZ and that ones deadly toxic.

Thank you, I haven't seen any of that yet but I'll keep an eye out for it. I think the ones I've identified so far are crab grass, fountain grass, dandelions, London rocket, thistle, and the much-hated puncture vine.

We have oleander in the opposite corner of the yard and I really wish we didn't.

EmmaDonovan said:

Thank you, I haven't seen any of that yet but I'll keep an eye out for it. I think the ones I've identified so far are crab grass, fountain grass, dandelions, London rocket, thistle, and the much-hated puncture vine.

We have oleander in the opposite corner of the yard and I really wish we didn't.

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Chickens are smarter than people often give them credit for. My crew doesn’t eat oleander or chaste tree and I don’t keep them from it. I keep the mess cleaned up under it is all.

We're in the North Phoenix area and working with someone who is building a coop for us. Given weather here in Phoenix, what do you recommend we do for floor?

Should we remove gravel, down to dirt, and put a base of sand?

Would it be best to line the bottom with concrete bricks/pavers then put dirt/sand?

We'd like to set it up right the first time and set it up so cleaning is on the easier side.

Player Two said:

We're in the North Phoenix area and working with someone who is building a coop for us. Given weather here in Phoenix, what do you recommend we do for floor?

Should we remove gravel, down to dirt, and put a base of sand?

Would it be best to line the bottom with concrete bricks/pavers then put dirt/sand?

We'd like to set it up right the first time and set it up so cleaning is on the easier side.

Click to expand...

Welcome!
There are many open air coops. I used to use a dirt floor. The birds could dig dust baths, if your coop is large, a coop-run hybrid.

Here's a design I love by igorsmistress:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-desert-oasis-updated-03-2024.75224/

EmmaDonovan said:

Thank you, I haven't seen any of that yet but I'll keep an eye out for it. I think the ones I've identified so far are crab grass, fountain grass, dandelions, London rocket, thistle, and the much-hated puncture vine.

We have oleander in the opposite corner of the yard and I really wish we didn't.

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We also have some oleander in our yard. The chickens ignore them.

EmmaDonovan said:

Thank you, I haven't seen any of that yet but I'll keep an eye out for it. I think the ones I've identified so far are crab grass, fountain grass, dandelions, London rocket, thistle, and the much-hated puncture vine.

We have oleander in the opposite corner of the yard and I really wish we didn't.

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On the plus side... almost all chickens seem to very good at not eating what's bad for them.

On my grounds I have quite an assortment of toxic plants. Day Lilies, Tiger lilies, Yew tree, Deadly nightshade, as well as tomato plants that I container grow during summer.
The chickens will eat the fallen tomato fruit. They scratch among the lilies for insects, Hang out under the Yew tree, and do see the red berries of the nightshade. They never ate the bad things . They are smarter than given credit.
Yes,,,, There are instances where chickens ate toxic plants in chicken runs. (not mine) I wrote about this in a few posts before. The environment is usually a barren run with some green foliage that is toxic growing thru the fence. If you were that chicken,,, anything GREEN would be worth a try.

Player Two said:

We're in the North Phoenix area and working with someone who is building a coop for us. Given weather here in Phoenix, what do you recommend we do for floor?

Should we remove gravel, down to dirt, and put a base of sand?

Would it be best to line the bottom with concrete bricks/pavers then put dirt/sand?

We'd like to set it up right the first time and set it up so cleaning is on the easier side.

Click to expand...

I like deep litter on bare ground. Pebbles will get dirty fast, sand blows around and quite frankly I think it stink after a while. Deep litter you get it wet once in a while and toss some scratch in there so the chickens stir it.