Arizona Chickens

[icdred]

Thanks for the reply, good info there. I think the chicken wire will be ok as my yard has a block wall around it and I do not have any dogs. I plan to sandwich the chicken wire with 2x4s so it should secure it pretty well. I can always rip it off later, I am trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. My HOA are nazzis and supposedly do not allow raising chickens but do allow pet birds that will be my argument.

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 Arizona Chickens!

Great looking coop you are working on. If I may make a suggestion, I would change out the chicken wire for hardwire. Chicken wire only keeps chickens in. Predators can easily rip into it, be it coyotes dogs, etc. We have Great Horned Owls and Red Tailed Hawks around my neighborhood. I do not "free range" them during the day. They are supervised when I let them run around the backyard. The majority of the time, they are in the run.

 

[pdx2phx]

NOOOO!!! Not you too! I went outside and noticed that White Tip had a slight limp. I looked at her feet...low and behold, she had DOUBLE BUMBLEFOOT! UGH!!!
Quote:
Oooh.....bumblefoot.....I have read a lot on how to treat it, am sure at some point I'll have to deal with it, but happily so far haven't had to.....
Yikes!

Best of luck to you! I just read a thread on treating double bumblefoot this morning in the Emergencies/Cures section......let us know how it goes!!! I will edit and post if I find the link again...

-edit-

Well, I can't find the one that I was thinking of, but found this one which looks good, too....pics and how-to's......
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/236649/bumblefoot-surgery-with-pics-and-how-to

 

[Mikey D]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and since I live in Tempe, I feel that chicken owners in AZ have different issues than elsewhere in the country, especially our heat. for the past week my year old Dominique has been acting listless and sleeping a lot. She isn't eating, drinking or very active at all. She seems a bit out of balance and even steps on her own toes. None of is is her normal behavior. the other three hens are fine. She is the sweetest chick and we would hate to lose her. Anyone ever had experience with these symptoms? I do also have a good avian vet if you need one. He saved my Speckled Sussex after she swallowed a live scorpion which stung her on the esophagus on the way down. She had an immediate reaction...paralysis, liquids running out he rear and mouth. I took her right in to the avian vet who knew immediately what was wrong, as by that time she was twitching. He gave her an intervenious anti-venum, and kept her four hours giving her fluids etc. She lived, and was herself after three days. Usually our hens have no problems with scorpions, but this was unique. Just thought i would pass that along.
My husband wanted me to have something to nurture but said a dog would be to costly with food and vet bills...ha, our girls eat a can of corn per day, orzo pasta mixed with 1/2 can of cat food, collard greens, dried mealworms and we have racked up over $600 in vet bills in less than a year on chicks that cost $3-4 a peice. What do others feed their chicks for treats?

Fifth Chick

Hi 5th.

I have an App spitz with almost exactly the same symptoms. - Vitamin deficiency.

Poly-vi-sol (*Without iron!) available at the drug store fixes her right up. 3 drops a day for a couple of days and she is good as new.

The head honcho (Carla - Allan Wranch) in the App Spitz forum suggested a maintenance dose once a week which I keep telling myself I'm going to do.

BTW I named her Flopsy from her symptoms.

*** Edited cause I didn't get it right the first time ***

As far as treats - pretty much anything you hand feed them is a treat!

Mine get everything from movie theater left over popcorn

(yeah I know - the salt) to veggies from market on the move to table scraps.

They love everything with the exception of some shrimp pellets I had from an old aquarium.

Somewhere on this forum is a list of "Do not feed this stuff to your chickens".

 

[AZBootsie]

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!

Hello and Welcome!!

I am thinking of planting blueberries this fall and doing some research while the chicken poo is composting. What kind of blueberries do you have?? Other than your Chickens stripping them....any problems?? Full sun or part shade?? Any insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[AZBootsie]

Hi, I am new to the forum but have been lurking around here for the past few months and have leared an absolute ton here! Thanks for all the info. I have been pondering getting some chickens, mainly for the hormone free eggs, and also to be pets for my 2 boys. I started building the coop about 2 weeks ago and am getting so excited to bring on the chicks! Can somone direct me to a thread link that may help me decide what kind of chicks to get that will be productive, good pets, and survive in the Gilbert heat? Also, where is a good place to buy organic, non-GMO feed preferably in the east valley? Thanks for any input and I am sure I will have a fewmore questions along the way. Here is a picture of the progress on my coop, Have a happy 4th of July!

-Scott

There is a co-op group that purchases truckloads of organic feed in the East Valley. They purchase every other month, not sure when the next order needs to be in. Feed is great. I did it once, but it is a really really long drive for me. Will see if I can find the info and post a link for you. If you are on Mikey.....you probably have the info close at hand??

 

[icdred]

I would be really interested in participating in the co op. thank, hopefully Mikey will post some info.

 

[Fuzzybird]

We got rain in Wittmann today! Enough to puddle and the wash flowed at one time about a foot deep!

We just got back from the Fireworks in Surprise! The temperature was so nice! It is 71 right now. WE are opening up the windows tonight.

 

[AZBootsie]

Here is a link for more info http://www.facebook.com/BackyardChickenFarmersUnite This permaculture group plans on ordering every other month. It's organic feed that is milled and bagged in Montana. Then loaded in a truck and delivered here. Can't get much fresher feed than that. I sure hope it goes well and my chickens like it. The more they order the lower the price will get. Price is already less than $20 a 50lb bag.

Go to the facebook page in the link above. There is a link there to the order form. I think Scott prefers paypal. You just fill out the order form and then paypal your dollars. The truck drops off in Chandler. On the order form there is an e-mail address for questions.
Looks like they just got a shipment the middle of June, so orders probably go in the begining of August.....something like that.

 

[Mikey D]

I would be really interested in participating in the co op. thank, hopefully Mikey will post some info.

http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/...y&id=2008067:BlogPost:273750&page=33#comments

Scott Brown is the organizers name - great guy - great feed!

August 15th is the next date...

 

[fmk602]

Hey Mikey!

Glad I'm good luck to someone! I Love the little egg, still have mine. I've thought about blowing it out and keeping it as a souvenir.

And thanks to all for the warm welcome!