Arizona Chickens

Cooper is adorable!

Sonoran Silkies, they make me think of velociraptors, too!
My kids gave them that nickname
big_smile.png
(the velociraptor pack)
 
Hi all--hope everyone is doing well today.

Have a question specific to the southern AZ folks. Do the poultry nipples work well here? The chickens get enough water using them? The nipples don't get constantly clogged with calcium and whatever else is in our hard water?

I'll be heading to the Pima County Fair on Sunday, checking out the chickens! I'm going to attend the auction...I really want a frizzle chick, but I have no idea what kind of chickens are auctioned. Full grown birds? Chicks? I'll find out!

My coop isn't quite ready yet...still need to add roosts, latches, and a little 3x4' extension and then I'm ready for chicks! I might even finish tonight after work, if I don't have to do the mundane making dinner nonsense, lol.
 
My last silkie rooster, Elvis... he's free to a home that doesn't include him being in a bowl of soup or living in a wire cage. Thought I'd see if anyone here can take him before I put him on Craigslist or give him to a feed store. He's 7 months old, hand raised, very healthy and has a great personality.




Contact me at [email protected]

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Have a question specific to the southern AZ folks. Do the poultry nipples work well here? The chickens get enough water using them? The nipples don't get constantly clogged with calcium and whatever else is in our hard water?

I've used poultry nipples here in AZ for the past three years or so. I haven't yet had any problems with calcium, but if I did I'd give 'em a soak in vinegar and it would clear it right up. As for them getting enough water, here's a post I made a couple years ago about the subject:


Quote: I still occasionally give them a bowl of water, just because I like to watch them drink.
 
Last edited:
Okay-AZ geography~ the Peacock mountains are near the junction of the 40 & 93. All the chickens out here are in coops. Just lots of predators. I used to keep 12--20 hens & 1 rooster. Have never used an incubator, as I had plenty of hens that wanted to populate the earth w/chickens. I had about a 90% or better hatch rate & the roo seemed to be quite proud of his peeps. He often found places for the hens to lay a clutch. Their interactions were very entertaining.
 
Okay-AZ geography~ the Peacock mountains are near the junction of the 40 & 93. All the chickens out here are in coops. Just lots of predators. I used to keep 12--20 hens & 1 rooster. Have never used an incubator, as I had plenty of hens that wanted to populate the earth w/chickens. I had about a 90% or better hatch rate & the roo seemed to be quite proud of his peeps. He often found places for the hens to lay a clutch. Their interactions were very entertaining.

I had to look that up, I didn't remember 93, but when I saw it on the map I remembered traveling down it on a return trip from the Great Basin NP in NV. That road slices through a great cross-section of AZ landscape. Are you thinking of getting chickens again?
 
Quote: I still occasionally give them a bowl of water, just because I like to watch them drink.

My experience with nipple waterers was mixed.
They seemed to work great in the winter and all the chickens used them but then in the summer they only drank out of their wading water and forgot about the nipples. When they only had the nipple waterer I lost 4 chickens (they were un-attended for a couple of days, their other water dried up, and apparently they forgot how to use the nipples, (long story)). I'm pretty sure they would rather drink out of a dish or puddle, but the nipples will work with no other water source. Just make sure every chicken knows how!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom