Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

I have been watching your posts

I will probably grow a few out next year, but I don't want to do as many as this year. I want to raise a few more hens of some of the breeds I have, and of course there will be extra toms along the way. Not being able to grow them in big fields of forage, like other parts of the country has, makes growing turkeys here very expensive.

Do you mind posting up your web site again..possibly we could or if someone is taking a trip that way, do a carpool ??

 

[City farm]

I'm a newbie who just joined, so I thought I would introduce myself!  I live in an un-incorporated part of Buckeye with my husband and 4 chickens.  One started laying last weekend, another is starting to make alot of noise and spending time in the nesting boxes, and the other two are probably still a couple weeks out.  We are newbies at little birds, but a few years ago, we raised ostriches!  After trolling BYC for the past few months, I figured it was about time I joined!              --Cindy

Yeeehaaa girl, glad to have you join in..

 

[City farm]

 


Equivalent to 24  chicken eggs!    Wow!  That would feed a whole lot of people.  Guess I don't need an ostrich around, there's usually only 3 of us to feed.  I used 9 eggs last night for dinner/today's lunch--and I thought that was a ton of eggs!  Granted, most of them are still small pullet eggs....

We only ate ostrich eggs a couple of times, because too much went to waste.  We had to eat at least one, because when we started selling them to restaurants, we had to be able to answer their questions!!  But the meat was awesome - very low fat, deep red meat that made great burgers, steaks, and one of our favorites, stew using the neck (about 4 pounds of meat from a single neck).

Love this kind of infor.. How often did one lay? Did they taste the same?

 

[Stynch]

Love this kind of infor.. How often did one lay? Did they taste the same?

They laid every other day, as long as we didn't let them keep any eggs! Their eggs are a bit blander than chicken eggs, so a little extra s&p helped. One year, we decided to let them try to hatch their own, and we were surprised that it was the male who sat on the nest 24/7! He lost so much weight that after a couple weeks, we took the eggs away and used the incubator. I know - nature designed them that way, but we just couldn't let him get sick and dehydrated! Most of our breeders were kept in trios, where the two females were full-blooded sisters (eliminating the need to keep track of who laid which eggs) and we always had males that were not related at all to their hens, although some growers had "brothers & sisters" in the same breeding pen. Eww - LOL!!

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes!! I do have a newbie question, though. How do you put your family, etc below the gray line?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes!! I do have a newbie question, though. How do you put your family, etc below the gray line?

Greetings and

. Go to your profile page and at the bottom is a box for your signature line.

 

[aglutenfreemom]

Has anyone used San tan valley coops?

 

[MandyFitch]

Has anyone used San tan valley coops?

Yes and I can't say enough good things about Marco. We communicated over the few weeks before it arrived and he accepted all the various changes I wanted without any problem. He's very nice and easy to work with and I love my coop!

Btw, I don't think it usually takes weeks to get a coop. When I called he was delivering coops in Tennessee and had a backorder.

Also - I believe he uses regular chicken wire as a standard so if you want hardware cloth be sure to mention it.

Which coop do you like?

 

[aglutenfreemom]

I like a couple of them! I talked to Marco the other day about tailor making something perfect for the Las Vegas area

 

[MandyFitch]

I like a couple of them! I talked to Marco the other day about tailor making something perfect for the Las Vegas area

Post a photo when you get it! Here's my chicks!

 

[katmotley]

Hi! I am new here and new to raising chickens. I know this is a super long thread, but I have some questions about chickens in Arizona and am hoping you guys with experience can help me out. (and some might be stupid questions) I have 12 chickens right now, 9 in one coop and 3 in another. The 3 that are separate are smaller and were getting pecked like crazy by the others, so we separated them for now. The big coop we made with a 10x10 dog kennel. We have a cover on it and extra chicken wire around it with roosting poles inside and adding nesting boxes this weekend. None are laying yet, though we hope some will start soon as we have some that are about 23 weeks. Do we need some kind of hen house in the open coop for winter here? Or will they keep warm enough on their own? Also, will they start laying soon with the cooler weather coming in now, or will that delay them? I have read about adding a light to simulate extra hours, but since they aren't laying yet, I haven't tried that. Thanks for any help you can give this newbie!