Arizona Chickens

[Tanichca]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to introduce myself finally. I've been lurking for about 6 months learning a tremendous amount! So thank you everyone.

I live in what I guess I guess is NW Phx , near DV ( going to check out that feed store). I am a native and this place has grown way too fast for me. I am an urban gardener ( I like to think farmer) and thought chickens would enhance that. Their pooh does, but thought better of the unsupervised free range when they started to defoliate my blueberry bushes, lol! Lucky girls still get garden bugs tossed to them and quite a bit of veggies! My sweetheart constantly complains that I keep giving them his portion of our garden. And you should of seen the look on his face when I fed them his Greek yogurt ;-). Actually he is totally on board with my gang of thugs! I am the idea person and he runs around trying to build them, poor guy. We live in a neighborhood with no HOA and one of my back door neighbors already has chickens. The others said they don't mind which is good considering my Wyandotte ( Dot) cleared a 5 foot block fence into their yard when she stared to lay! The other home is a rental, with transient renters. I realize the best we can do is we are always be at the mercy of our neighbors goodwill. The reality is, at any time they can withdraw their verbal agreement. So we do our best at being clean. Unfortunately hens can be very noisy! I do hope that as they get into the laying groove, they will settle down a bit.

We got chicks in beginning and end of Jan. With one death and one roo we have ended up with 6 pullets. All are laying now. They started mid May and the last one started 2 weeks ago. I love it! We raised them in the house until they got their feathers ( actually longer because The Builder needed more time with the coop). I really enjoyed that, and was able to have more physical interaction. And then I had to clean the room after we put them in the coop. OMG! Horrible. I had to break down the room to remove all the dust! Everywhere!

We have already experienced problems with bullying and separating birds. Lived with that bird in the house ( in a dog kennel). It was a fairly successful venture. Still have the bird. Great layer, but not a favorite. They formed a gang and went after the poor cat, and pecked the h**l out of my dogs ( pitbull) nose through the fencing. Trying to get someone to care for them when you go on vacation is a challenge. We have wormed, and watched those beautiful eggs pile up Luckily no illnesses so far! I am knocking on wood right now!

This IS work, but it is enjoyable work! Chickens are dirty! But like any animal they are as dirty as you allow their surrounding to be. There is a slight odor, but nothing like cats or dogs ( or people, trust me I work in a " service" industry). Any living thing can be filthy and dirty, but it is our responsibility to keep them clean, which is work.

This forum has been a great place of information. Again, thanks to everyone!

from down in stormy Vail!

Sounds like you really know what you're doing, good for you! I look forward to seeing you around the forum!

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: I knew this was gonna get good!

Oh I am so happy you guys are getting a kick out of this!LOL
I had ducks or I wouldn't say anything. The thing I meant was you have to clean them a lot more often then chickens or they smell a lot worst expecially the water! Which a duck would dirty so fast that you have to clean it 3 times a day to keep it clean. I like ducks and would have then again if I was near a pond. But than maybe muscovy ducks are different?
For a person that thinks chickens are dirty, ducks would not be a good substitute.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Adorable FuzzyBird!!! What does Bluebell think of the new Turkeys??

Well the two I lost to the dogs were her buddies that she would let ride on her back when they were babies. These being older to begin with she had to make sure she gave them all a peck but not to hard to tell them who was queen. All is peaceful this morning.

 

[Mikey D]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to introduce myself finally. I've been lurking for about 6 months learning a tremendous amount! So thank you everyone.

I live in what I guess I guess is NW Phx , near DV ( going to check out that feed store). I am a native and this place has grown way too fast for me. I am an urban gardener ( I like to think farmer) and thought chickens would enhance that. Their pooh does, but thought better of the unsupervised free range when they started to defoliate my blueberry bushes, lol! Lucky girls still get garden bugs tossed to them and quite a bit of veggies! My sweetheart constantly complains that I keep giving them his portion of our garden. And you should of seen the look on his face when I fed them his Greek yogurt ;-). Actually he is totally on board with my gang of thugs! I am the idea person and he runs around trying to build them, poor guy. We live in a neighborhood with no HOA and one of my back door neighbors already has chickens. The others said they don't mind which is good considering my Wyandotte ( Dot) cleared a 5 foot block fence into their yard when she stared to lay! The other home is a rental, with transient renters. I realize the best we can do is we are always be at the mercy of our neighbors goodwill. The reality is, at any time they can withdraw their verbal agreement. So we do our best at being clean. Unfortunately hens can be very noisy! I do hope that as they get into the laying groove, they will settle down a bit.

We got chicks in beginning and end of Jan. With one death and one roo we have ended up with 6 pullets. All are laying now. They started mid May and the last one started 2 weeks ago. I love it! We raised them in the house until they got their feathers ( actually longer because The Builder needed more time with the coop). I really enjoyed that, and was able to have more physical interaction. And then I had to clean the room after we put them in the coop. OMG! Horrible. I had to break down the room to remove all the dust! Everywhere!

We have already experienced problems with bullying and separating birds. Lived with that bird in the house ( in a dog kennel). It was a fairly successful venture. Still have the bird. Great layer, but not a favorite. They formed a gang and went after the poor cat, and pecked the h**l out of my dogs ( pitbull) nose through the fencing. Trying to get someone to care for them when you go on vacation is a challenge. We have wormed, and watched those beautiful eggs pile up Luckily no illnesses so far! I am knocking on wood right now!

This IS work, but it is enjoyable work! Chickens are dirty! But like any animal they are as dirty as you allow their surrounding to be. There is a slight odor, but nothing like cats or dogs ( or people, trust me I work in a " service" industry). Any living thing can be filthy and dirty, but it is our responsibility to keep them clean, which is work.

This forum has been a great place of information. Again, thanks to everyone!

Welcome FMK!

Maybe you can talk to my Jan chicks & get them to stop freeloading on me!

 

[Puffycheeks]

Got my turklets today!

Got them from Feed Barn in DeerValley area. She had an ad in Craigslist for turkeys. I like the feed store. I know that others in the forum, talked about them. I like them for most of their chickens they raise or get from breeders locally.Here are some pictures I took when we got home. I was so excited for I got three colors of Royal palms. The biggest turklet is the most colored right now and think it is a tom. named him Royal. Then a normal black RP thinking hen or is it Jenny to be correct, is the next size down. Her name is Sparkler. Then two blue RPs One is named Banner, keeps his tail fanned so wonder if its a tom and than the other smallest one is Glory. You can't really see the blue markings in the pictures but will be showing more and more as she gets older. The names I used was for the 4th of July.

Royal and Sparkler


Royal, Banner and Glory


Roayal and Glory

Sparkler

CONGRATS on your new babies!!!

I think they will be real beauties!

 

[Puffycheeks]

I just wanted to put it out there that I have a few fertile MUSCOVY eggs if anyone is interested, please let me know ASAP. I dont want any more hens sitting in this heat but if someone wants to incubate them that would be great! Also, if everything goes well I should have a small batch of Muscovy babies hatching anyday now, so let me know about that as well. THANKS!!

 

[Puffycheeks]

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL !!! HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!

 

[Puffycheeks]

I HAD A GREAT SURPRISE AFTER ALL THE HEAT MURDERS. I WENT OUT ONE MORNING A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO AND HEARD A SMALL PEEPING. I FOUND A BABY CHICK AND IT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER.

MY MOTTLED COCHIN IS THE DAD SINCE HE IS THE ONLY ROO, AND THE MOM WAS MY TURKEN HEN! THE RESULTING CHICK LOOKS JUST LIKE A BUFF NAKED NECK INCLUDING THE LITTLE NECK PUFF AND IT HAS THE MOST ADORABLE FEATHERED FEET!!!

IT IS SOOOO VERY CUTE AND I TRIED TO GET PICS BUT MY CAMERA WAS DONIG WEIRD THINGS AND IT DIDNT HAPPEN BUT I AM STILL TRYING! I KNOW NOT EVERYBODY LIKES THE NAKED NECK BREED OF CHIX BUT I DO, AND THIS LITTLE ONE IS JUST TOO CUTE FOR WORDS. NOT SURRE HOW IT WILL LOOK AS AN ADULT BUT TIME WILL TELL ! LOL

 

[Eselpee]

Hi fmk602

I am even more of a newby than you are (a wannabe to be precise) so I have no useful advise, but I will send you a welcome to BYC from NW AZ.

 

[Puffycheeks]

i HAVE AN IDEA ! DOES ANYONE HERE THINK MAYBE WE COULD START UP AN ( ARIZONA ONLY, BUY-SELL-TRADE-FREE, ETC. FORUM/THREAD) ? JUST WONDERING AS I DONT HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO START UP SOMETHING LIKE THAT. IS IT A GOOD IDEA? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT AND ALSO PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF SOMETING LIKE THAT ALREADY EXISTS. THANKS! I KNOW THERE IS THE SITE FOR EVERYWHWERE, BUT IT SEEMS SO HARD TO FIND ANYTHING LOCAL. ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME!!!