Arizona Chickens

[kpgoldstar]

I'm new to this site also & have chosen to compost in my coop. When I have time...about once a week, I go and 'stir' the ground with my cultivator (garden claw), and once a month I put down some shavings, & we regularly throw in yard trimmings. I throw out scraps of produce for them to shred up & eat at also! I got my 1st egg today!

YAY!! You got an egg! Did you buy chicks or get adult layers? I am not going to have eggs until about March or April just buying chicks this week. My first egg and of course every single one after that will be a victory!

 

[Trixy318]

We picked up 4 chickens and rooster last weekend craigs list ( they happened to live right around the corner from us ) . they are the only pets we have we haven't raised since babies . But these gals are very sweet .. Small eggs though. : ) We are after some larger layers for sure .... and another turkey .... Best to get as chick that's why ours is so darn tame anyone can pet or hold him pick him up hes sweety HANk the duck's and goose make you chase them and they are spoilt never been hurt they are great once you catch them LOL and they do come right up to me and swim with me in pool, but dont like being held much. I'm thinking or rehoming ducks and goose and getting more chickens . I prefer chickens personally better personalities .

 

[AZKat]

Trixy318: A few people have posted here recently about birds they are selling, I'm not selling any right now, although I'll probably have some year old layers in the spring/summer. My advice would be to check out craigslist.

 

[Trixy318]

Thats what we are doing : ) thanks AZ Kat ..

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

TWINKIN: wonderful. I'm an Artiest, I sculpt, pottery, bead, and other things. I love trees.

this is from a very old sketch book of a Banyan Tree near were I worked.

I am a better painter then a sketcher, but sketching is a foundation to everything. I once painted my living room using a natural sponge, it looked like leather when I was done. That was 45+/- years ago. I got a lot of flax about it, friends an neighbors a like. They thought it was strange and bizarre. Now, it is a different story, they sell kits for it. How fun, after 28 years living in AZ, I am finding like hearted people.

Chickens, bees, organics, cooking, canning, creative stuff, animals, efficiency and interdependent living, and who knows what. Maybe camping, spelunking, fishing, hunting, cars, sailboats, fishing boats, houseboats, horses.........?

 

[Bobby Basham]

Thank you, City Farm.

I gotta run out to ACE hardware tomorrow after church (I play organ/piano/direct...my extra income), and maybe take some pics on my phone. That wooden brooder is neat and kept clean and has some type of pine/wood shavings. It looks like a curio cabinet with doors and hardware cloth. They have a screen divider to separate the two varieties. It gave me some ideas to build my own brooder, about 3-ft by 6-ft...plenty of room for about 6 girls.

I got to pay off a few things before I jump into this endeavor and look at my finances to see how much it will cost to feed six hungry mouths when/if I retire. I will get a coop and run (dog run) way before I get the chicks and have that paid for. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

 

[maryhysong]

Thank you, City Farm.

I gotta run out to ACE hardware tomorrow after church (I play organ/piano/direct...my extra income), and maybe take some pics on my phone. That wooden brooder is neat and kept clean and has some type of pine/wood shavings. It looks like a curio cabinet with doors and hardware cloth. They have a screen divider to separate the two varieties. It gave me some ideas to build my own brooder, about 3-ft by 6-ft...plenty of room for about 6 girls.

I got to pay off a few things before I jump into this endeavor and look at my finances to see how much it will cost to feed six hungry mouths when/if I retire. I will get a coop and run (dog run) way before I get the chicks and have that paid for. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Five to six birds will eat about 50 pounds of layer feed a month, with all the weeds, bugs and plate scrapings you can muster. So not very much really.

 

[heidisue]

That"

Hey everyone, thank you so much for all the tips on my bedding. I have a nice pile of clean construction sand in my back lot that I used for a patio project that should last me quite some time and after that, it is easily accessible to me so that is what I am going with. I will also bed my brooder with the sand to raise my chicks. Today I figured out my brooder box, found a great feed/tack store here in town that carries everything I will need to feed and water my flock. The owner actually has her own chickens, twelve of them! So excited to find practically everything I need and can support a local business to boot. WIN/WIN!! She was so helpful too about keeping the hens cool, things they like to eat. I garden and grow lots of greens that need to be thinned throughout the season. She said her chickens LOVE kale and I grow kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, beets and bok choy. My girls are going to be so spoiled!

I also got my heat lamp but realize now it has a plastic housing so I will be taking it back tomorrow to get the ceramic one. We went to the other feed store in town and didn't find any starter mash, grit, scratch or anything else, but they did have a big tub of dried mealworms that I got for treats. I've never been to my local petsmart but we did go there and obviously they don't consider chickens as pets since there was nothing pertaining to poultry there at all.

I do have a question about a roost in the brooder box. Should I provide that right when I get the chicks or add it later? We will be getting chicks from Pratts (hopefully) on Monday the 7th. By the time we get them they will be about a week old. Should we have the roost installed right away or add it later? Another question I haven't read about. We will have a coop with nesting boxes, and the roost with bedding underneath. We will more than likely enclose them in the coop during the night for safety until we are assured of no predators. There will be an attached run that they will have access to all day when we are at work. We'll probably let them free-range in the yard every evening when we are home from work and during the day on weekends. Should I have food/water both in the run and in the coop? I know they won't eat at night, but I worry about water just because it's so dry here. I just don't want a total mess in the coop with the added water and food containers.

Twinklin, loving all your pictures of the transformation of your backyard and house! I also have oleanders along the entire one side of my property. They are not on irrigation but they get plenty of water from one of my gardens. I trim them regularly and keep them to about 10 ft. I had a Chihuahua for 12 years in my backyard and never had a problem with poison. The dried leaf bed will surely provide bug hunting!

City Farm, Wow! what a small world we live in! I own a business in the main part of town and know that photography shop extremely well. In fact, several years ago we met up with them at the old store and purchased a display cabinet from them then never made arrangements to pick it up! Tell them we are the ones who own the engraving store that was just up the side street from their location. We have since moved down the street a bit. I am, however, the president of our Main Street Assoc. and we would love nothing more than to see that prime space rented out!! I would love to come for a spot of tea and see your chickens!
Kristine

That's awesome having the sand already will help. I put the roost in immediately, but they didn't use it for a while. I don't put food in the coop, but I do have one side of the coop open, it seemed to work really well with our temps. I have nipples for water fed into the coop just in case, but they have never used those ones

 

[flower]

"Five to six birds will eat about 50 pounds of layer feed a month, with all the weeds, bugs and plate scrapings you can muster. So not very much really." Maryhysong

If you can be satisfied with smaller eggs, I have read that bantams eat less and are still as productive as the standard size birds. Large eggs are nice but when you consider the feed the bigger birds eat maybe the bantams are not such a bad idea ? I have both in my flock and have not decided to make any big changes yet.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

"Five to six birds will eat about 50 pounds of layer feed a month, with all the weeds, bugs and plate scrapings you can muster. So not very much really." Maryhysong

If you can be satisfied with smaller eggs, I have read that bantams eat less and are still as productive as the standard size birds. Large eggs are nice but when you consider the feed the bigger birds eat maybe the bantams are not such a bad idea ? I have both in my flock and have not decided to make any big changes yet.

Leghorns also eat less and lay lots of big eggs. They are also great foragers and are the first to come running to "chick, chick". A lot of people don't like them because they are flighty and not very personable but my Ideal 236 leghorns are some of my friendliest chickens and lay the biggest eggs.