Arizona Chickens

[bennyboy333]

This may not be the place to ask but does anyone know how big of a brooder I would need for 12 chicks until they are four weeks old ,If possible measurements in cm and or mm

 

[lmckeiver2236]

Anybody here in Az got silkie chicks/hens and Cuckoo Maran chicks/hens for sale?

Thanks

Lisa
Buckeye, AZ

 

[Demosthine]

Anybody here in Az got silkie chicks/hens and Cuckoo Maran chicks/hens for sale?

Thanks

Lisa
Buckeye, AZ

I know Steven Vega and ShawnAndHolli Klein are both selling some Silkies on the Arizona Backyard Farmers FaceBook page. Otherwise, I believe the three regulars here that sell them were running low, but don't quote me on it. I am very sleep deprived this morning, so I couldn't tell you there names for sure, though.

You might check with Mahonri as well. I know he had some Black Copper Marans when I was recently there, if those are acceptable. He's having to sell his whole flock because he's moving.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

I lost my Silver Phoenix Girl yesterday cause of the heat any tips on how to avoid more deaths I have my Silver Phoenix Rooster in a place where he will get a lot of shade and also I put Ice in his waterer so the water always stays fresh but anything else?

Sorry to hear about your girl. Several people on here have had losses already this summer. So there was a big discussion a couple weeks back about things to do to abate the heat. A lot of mister discussions as well. If you go back to this page below, Gallo de Cielo has a very nice, thorough post about different options for dealing with the heat. The main thing I do is I use misters. They require maintenance (cleaning the spray nozzles, clamping/tightening the hos connections, etc.), but it lowers the temperature in the run 10-15 degrees. The chickens like it (though they didn't like it the first day or two, but now they won't even stand in the run in this heat unless the misters are on). And when it's the heat of the day, they are panting but otherwise seem comfortable.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/31227/arizona-chickens/37100

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

This is very good advise, especially for our new members who have not yet experienced an AZ summer with chickens. This is especially true for coops that have insufficient shade and ventilation, which many recently posted coops suffer to some degree. While I agree that it would be best to raise chickens here without the use of extra-ordinary means (fans, misters, ice, evaporative and AC cooling) because of their potential for failure, we have to do what we have to do to keep them alive in the situation in which we've placed them. We here in the low desert are really at the edge of what is possible to survive in terms of heat. The native animals that live here even struggle at times and they've have had countless generations over vast amounts of time to adapt to our climate. Our chickens have not had that opportunity.

I would also note that a number of our well respected and long-time AZ BYCers use AC or evaporative cooling with no ill effects. Just because you're cooling a space, it doesn't mean it needs to be cool by our standards. I assure you, when it's 110+ outside, being able to escape to 95 degrees would be greatly appreciated by your birds. Moving from cold to warm places does not cause the sniffles in chickens.

Moisture on soil, misted, on bricks, etc. always helps. However, you should be mindful that chronically wet soil/surfaces promote the development of many chicken pathogens, including fungal lung infections and coccidiosis. If possible, it's best to allow wet places to dry out between moistening events. The drying out kills the worst things. I rotate irrigation under my fruit trees and they're quick to figure out which trees have recently been watered. If you're using the moist bricks in a pan method, have two sets that you can rotate and allow to dry out between uses, otherwise, they will quickly become sponges for all sorts of bad things.

A mister system can be inexpensive and easy to set up. Here are two types from Home depot, a free-standing single outlet or a hose-type with several outlets:




You can hook them up to a relatively ($32) inexpensive hose timer like this:







I also have a 5-gallon nipple waterer that is covered with Reflectix radiant barrier insulation. When it gets over 105 or so I put in a frozen milk-jug full water. I have two jugs so that I can rotate them out from day to day. The chickens really like the cool water. Even when I don't put ice inside, the water stays much cooler than it would without the insulation since it doesn't heat up as much during the day. The covering also eliminates algae and the water stays sparkling clean.

I can't emphasize enough how important ventilation is. When designing your coop make sure that there is nothing impeding the heat from escaping at the high-point in the coop. In my coop, the roof is directly connected to only one wall of my coop, air can completely flow around the three other sides. Check the temperature of your coop during one of our hot nights. If the temp inside is higher than that directly outside, you definitely have inadequate ventilation. My birds spend all but a few nights a year on the roost at the open end of the coop where the air can move all around them. If your coop has four walls, I'd highly encourage you to remove one.

Here is a chicken enclosure I helped build for a friend. It's very similar to her previous arrangement (but now more secure) and she's raised birds for years here in AZ without losses to heat. Note that there really isn't even a coop, just an old awning off of her house with the roost underneath. The entire pen is covered by the shade of an old mesquite tree, but even so, she has shade cloth on the back (south) and right (west) side and over the top. I think layers of shade are superior to one single layer even if they both obscure the same amount of light.





Because of where I had to place my coop, it gets blasted by the full force of the sun for about 3 hours during the worst part of the day. I used the same Reflectix radiant barrier insulation in the roof of the coop, which greatly helps reduce the temperature inside. I also have two layers of 70% shade cloth over the open wire parts of the coop that face westward towards the sun. I have grape vines that cover the run and the coop and they are probably the best protection the chickens have. In the worst part of summer it is their favorite place to be in the middle of the day, even when allowed to free-range. The sun doesn't penetrate into the run and it's up to 15 degrees cooler inside. If you wonder about the shade and ventilation in your coop, measure the temperature in the hottest part of the day just inside and outside the coop. If it's hotter inside, you likely need more shade and/or ventilation.









Those are my thoughts on chickens and our heat. FWIW, I haven't lost a bird to heat and this will be my fourth summer raising chickens in Arizona.

I thought I'd just bump the post here for ease of finding it...

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

This may not be the place to ask but does anyone know how big of a brooder I would need for 12 chicks until they are four weeks old ,If possible measurements in cm and or mm

I use a 1.2192 sq m box {4'X4'} for about 2-3 months for 6. At .305 sq m per pep to 1 month (4 weeks) would be suffice. I have a portable kennels that I covered with chicken wire. I used electrical ties. As some as they get flight feathers they will start getting out. I used old window screens to cover the top.

I like roomy coops, so I set 6 sq m per chicken.

 

[countrygirl74]

They are around 18-20 weeks old, I can't remember exactly when I got them, I think it was near the end of January? I thought about grape vines, but couldn't find any at Home Depot or Lowes, gonna have to hit the nursery's near by to see what they have. I'm gonna get the nasturtium planted this week and try the grass seed as well. So do you do deep litter in the run as well? What do you use pine or sand or something else? Mine is just dirt, the girls don't seem to mind because they can dig anywhere for a dust bath, they do have two spots that are favs though. I peeked in on them the other night after dark and is it weird for the older girls to let the younger ones roost higher than them? I thought with the pecking order and what not the older ones would be at the top.....

Yep - you could get an egg any day! My first was right around 20 weeks. Yes, I do deep litter in the run for both my ducks and chickens. I used to use straw and pine shavings - now just pine shavings. The straw could get stinky and heavy when it got wet, the pine shavings dry out well and are light - easy to stir up, etc. I would still provide a bin or an area for dust bathing that you could put wood ash, etc. into, but most of the run is all deep litter. When I clean out the coop, I just dump it right on the ground in the run to add to the deep litter. You can clean it out a couple times a year to use for compost if desired. Because it's so dry here in AZ, and it's been super hot, I will even spray down the shavings and they like to dig down and lay in the cool, damp earth beneath.

I lost my Silver Phoenix Girl yesterday cause of the heat any tips on how to avoid more deaths I have my Silver Phoenix Rooster in a place where he will get a lot of shade and also I put Ice in his waterer so the water always stays fresh but anything else?

p.s. here is a picture of my hen that died yesterday

I will post this again as I think it's a great idea with low maintenance!

So sorry for your loss...been a few on here this year. It's unusually hot even here in Northern AZ - been running close to 100 or more every day!!

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I lost my Silver Phoenix Girl yesterday cause of the heat any tips on how to avoid more deaths I have my Silver Phoenix Rooster in a place where he will get a lot of shade and also I put Ice in his waterer so the water always stays fresh but anything else? p.s. here is a picture of my hen that died yesterday

I am so sorry. It is really tough to try and keep your birds from sucumbing to the extremely high temps right now. I hope you find lots of great ideas from readingback through the comments. Hope your other chicken survives too.

 

[pastrymama]

someone was looking for silkie chicks? I have a few that are almost 2 weeks old, I think white and splash. very nice chicks, from Sleepy Hollow Farm in VA.

also have some sulmtalers from Widget Creek Ranch right here in AZ! super cute and hardy little chicks, about 4 weeks or so.

Mama Hen, do you have Selina's #? she wanted a few sulmtalers but I lost her number.

 

[lmckeiver2236]

I was looking for the silkies, where are you at?