Arizona Chickens

[a little chiken]

I have no idea where he came from. The weirdest thing is he just waltzed in and made himself at home. I didn't see him til I was doing a head count because he was nestled in with the rest of the hens and no one was chasing him or anything.

im several posts behind but I was going to say maybe someone threw "it" in your yard?

I have a white Cracker Barrel wooden rocker in front of my pens. I feel like granny from the Beverly Hillbillies.

I love those rockers.. I have a fold up metal chairs in my chicken area that I take into the coops, in my duck run and another in my goat pen. I cannot stand for long periods due to my stenosis so I get to sit and visit my babies in between feeding and watering

Actually (get ready for an essay), I was supposed to be designing a small deck next to my covered patio off the family room. Looking out the back sliding doors, my patio is 9 x 12 and there is a dirt spot to the right about 8 feet wide that extends to the neighbor's wall. I want to build a small raised deck (only 8 inches high) and put a small table, grill and some plants.

This is just a look out my covered back patio with the red dirt spot to the right to the neighboring wall. My back yard is a pretty good size extending to the left of what you can see for about another 20 feet.


It's truly a wasted space serving no purpose, and that would be a perfect place for a grill, etc. I already have a complete set of furniture (still in the box) for the patio, except for my 1970's Magnavox octagon endtable sitting out in the garage.


The wasted space to the right next to the neighboring wall: This is without the flooring installed. I would also like to add some lattice work and grow some type of vines around that area.



Okay, back to chicken projects. I think a few years ago I was looking at some chain link fencing to build sort of a kennel type structure, but it would run way over $1000 for what I wanted and scrapped that Idea along time ago. Too lazy to go on Craigs List or where ever to find some used stuff.

A few days ago, I was re-looking over my deck project, and decided to actually build my own run using 4x4's as posts, 2x8x8 for the base and surrounding planter boxes, and decided to attach these using those joists that you use for the decking. Since the posts are 4 inches wide, I can easily attach those joists and put in whatever 2" wide boards.




Basically, this whole thing is an L-shaped 16x16, with that small 8x8 Chicken TV area on the outside. It's whole structure is gonna be alittle bit larger since I will be using 4-inch blocks (those black squares) and joists to connect all the wood.


I'm thinking about putting a small planter box there near to door and reduce the size to 8x6, and maybe adding another box beside the area. Everything you see in green are the planter boxes, and should be more than enough for one person. This is definitely enough room for six laying hens. This is an open canvas right now, and I need to design they play areas, branches, dust bowls etc. I tend to work my way from the outside inward and then put the final touches.


The top will be in three sections, the whole unit being only 5 feet tall...maybe 2x2x8 with hardware cloth.


I'm saying 5 feet because I live in an HOA (Home Owners Assassination). I'm vertically challenged at barely 5'9" on a good day, so I can bend alittle and get in there for cleaning. The WHOLE RUN will be enclosed in hardware cloth, including the hinged tops. No wild birds will get in...burried, prayed over, blessed, holy water, speaking in tongues, you name it. I may have to leave the Word out there in a glass case, to give thanks for what my Pentecostal Gals will provide me...LOL!

If I can get through these two projects, that just leaves the coop design. I kinda like those CC-Only coops, supposedly coming out with an "improved" design, but for their asking prices, I may have to wing this project myself, too.

I'm a total amateur and like working with wood when I have the time. I don't want the Taj Majal, but I don't wanna look like trailer trash, either, with junk and dead appliances piled all around the camp.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

wow I think I need you to design my Chicken barn!!

I have sweet potatoes in raised beds out in the yard. They are one of the few plants that do really well in our heat. Another that does well (if you give it some shade) is horseradish.

where do you get horseradish? yum

Here are some photos I took yesterday of my sweet potatoes: I will let them grow until frost kills the vines before digging the potatoes. Did you know sweet potatoes are not related to the Irish white potato? Sweet potatoes are members of the Morning Glory family.

man o man I would love to have that bed of sweet potatoes. do you plant pieces of the potato to grow or seeds...I know silly question but I have no idea. I tried regular potato's but did not so well

should be interesting

We are loosing our lemon tree in the front yard, I wonder if it could be from those creepy things?? I will have to look..

ah maybe give it food ? I almost lost my almonds to a spider last year. covered the tree in a wed and a residue that almost killed it

 

[a little chiken]

so we survived the great flood of 2014. actually we were flooded worse a few weeks ago but everyone got very very wet. everyone survived it.

 

[K9Dave]

Some pics of my new domicile and work place.

Chicken Coop & Covered Run
Workshop
Livestock Area (currently housing 13 Roosters)
Dog Barn (fully insulated w/ A/C)

 

[City farm]

Here are my Moringa trees. I had to move them out of my covered garden yesterday because they were hitting the top wire. Hopefully they are big enough now the packrats will not mess with them.

Love your photos girl..

 

[City farm]

I was told not to use olive oil as it congeals but to use KY jelly. I told him to soak her in warm water and apply the KY to her vent. Also to give her calcium and always have layer feed available as well as crushed, baked eggshell and oyster shell. Hopefully, he won't have to resort to extracting the egg but told him how to do that as well. Sounded like she was passing the egg while I was on the phone with him so hopefully, she's on the road to recovery.

I am happy to report that my Americana hen is doing better she was up early this morning letting me know she was hungry. Thx for the help
Mike

Good to hear..

 

[City farm]

Who plans on going? Carpool? Or come here & park

 

[City farm]

Unbelievable! one of the jungle fowl just started laying, she is the pretty one.. Just went BROODY!! This is now as of 2014 the 7th hen that has gone broody.. Got to be kidding me.. She is wild, & freaked out when I went to look under her.. I added today's eggs to her.. Oh boy here we go again!!

 

[chicksurreal]

Unbelievable!

one of the jungle fowl just started laying, she is the pretty one.. Just went BROODY!! This is now as of 2014 the 7th hen that has gone broody.. Got to be kidding me.. She is wild, & freaked out when I went to look under her..

I added today's eggs to her.. Oh boy here we go again!!

Lol! Wow, what are you feeding them? ;-)

 

[Bobby Basham]

I like the idea of grape vines, or any vines, for that matter. Maybe a redundant question answered years ago, but do vines have deep roots? I would like to keep everything in those boxes to keep things tidy. Cyborg, I'm glad you got a clean slate/blank canvas to work with. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

 

[desertmarcy]

@a little chiken sweet potatoes are started from what are called "slips". You cut the top half or 2/3 or so off a potato and put it in water in a warm place. Soon it will sprout multiple sprouts. When they are 6-8" high, you "slip" them off the potato and place in a separate jar of water. Within days they will put out roots. Now the slips are ready to plant in the ground. May-June is the recommended planting time for them in Tucson since they thrive in the heat, but they can also be a bit tricky to start if it is super hot and dry. I recommended starting in early May so they get a bit established before June heat hits. Also, the leaves are edible and will get eaten by squirrels, pack rats and such. If you keep tortoises, the leaves are good tortoise food.

Regular white potatoes are hard to grow in our climate because they do not like the heat but they will also freeze. So the trick is to start them in very late winter, like in mid-late Feb, being prepared to cover if we get a late freeze. The problem is, the companies that sell seed potatoes generally do not have them ready that early in the year. So you either buy organic potatoes from the store and settle for the varieties that you can buy there and plant those, or get your seed potatoes earlier and try to store them until time to plant. I have only grown them once and did get some nice potatoes and let me tell you, they were the best potatoes I've ever had. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference with potatoes, but those super fresh jewels were to die for!