Arizona Chickens

[MrsFitzDarcy]

hmm I have chickens in my house. he would freak out here. lol

Awwww. Steve would freak. He is allergic to feathers. (Wishing there was an "achoo" emoticon.)

I wish I could have Pepito Feo as a house duck. He was the sweetest ever. You will have fun with him. Maybe he can be your house duck.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Hey everyone!
I still have the seed box and will be coming down to the Valley Oct. 1-3 or thereabouts. My granddaughter was finally born! She was due on the 9th and made her appearance on the 21st. I can officially say I am old now that I'm a Grandma!

Congratulations and Happy Hatchings to the Happy Couple!

 

[Sill]

Are Black Soldier Flies common in Arizona? I want to raise some for my chickens does anyone here do that? If so what do you use to attract them and not house flys? I dont want to buy a starter set if I dont need to.

Yes, they are attracted to anything rotting like compost. Females usually are out in the afternoons laying eggs and look like a black wasp.

All the same reasons why I want them. I've never fly fished but want to do that too. When I was working at the APS plant in Farmington, NM I crossed this beautiful river everyday and was told that it was a tourist attraction because of how great the fishing was. I ended up working 90 hrs, 70, 70 and 62 hours those weeks and never found time. Looking back, I wish I'd quit and just went fishing.

I've put an ad on CL for Mealworms, BSF and Red Wigglers but no response. I was hoping someone had a surplus and could help start my colony off. I may just have to break down and buy some.
Out of sight, out of mind. That's the only way to explain it I think. People do it to their own children so it doesn't shock me that they're doing it to animals. I hate it when I hear someone wants to get a male and breed their dog. Why? Oh because it's a nice dog. Gotcha. We kill so many noce dogs everyday. Many healthier than Pure Bred dogs that come with more health problems due to bad breeders.
Someone mentioned the other day on here that they had a live trap that they'd be willing to loan. I'd trap it, fix it, tag it and let it go. There are lots of events for spay/neuter around if you look.


X2
Cracking me up. Sounds like my Delaware.
It's hard when giving a rooster away to say what someone uses them for after they leave. I'd take em but they'll be used for dog food within the week. Good luck

I have some BSFs if you want some to start with.

Okay, this is a first for me - this little guy was the first to crow, has hackle feathers and saddle feathers but Romeo the barred Naked Neck cockerel has been protecting this little Polish cross. Earlier today when I was out collecting eggs from the big girls I saw Romeo chase the other Polish cockerel away from this cross cockerel and then Romeo grabbed this little guy at the back of the neck, little guy submitted and Romeo mounted him! In all the years I've had chickens and my family as I was growing up had chickens, I've never observed this behavior - ever. Romeo has never tried this with any of the young pullets running around and I've got a few of them in the same area as him.

Quail roos have gay sex all the time when they are young. Once they get past their hormonal youth they quit and try to kill each other instead.

 

[MagicChicken]

@MagicChicken ; what time is the show on the 18th? You know I can't hear too well!

I don't know. I wasn't at the September meeting. If I remember correctly, last year coop in started around 8 and the judging started an hour later. Maybe @Desertmarcy will know what this year's schedule is.

 

[K9Dave]

Hey everyone! I still have the seed box and will be coming down to the Valley Oct. 1-3 or thereabouts. My granddaughter was finally born! She was due on the 9th and made her appearance on the 21st. I can officially say I am old now that I'm a Grandma! Congrats. Beautiful baby. I should be in Chandler area on the afternoon of the 1st then at Mayo Clinic North Phoenix on the 2nd and hope to head home either that afternoon or the following morning of the 3rd. Whoever wants it PM me or quote me here and we can meet up somewhere or I can get it back to @CityFarm since I think she is hosting a party mid-October. I got some great seeds and added some of my own to the box. Weather is finally cooling down. I got 4 eggs a couple days in a row, then back to only 2 today. My Leticia has had no feathers on her neck all summer. I though maybe she was getting pecked or someone was pulling them out. I keep expecting them to grow back. I check them all the time for mites or lice and nothing. Other than that, no signs of molting over here.

hmm I have chickens in my house. he would freak out here. lol

Someone compared having a chicken in the house to keeping a big expensive Macaw. Those things are loud. I'd gladly have one of my hens as a house pet, if I were interested in cleaning chicken crap all the time or changing diapers.

Yes, they are attracted to anything rotting like compost. Females usually are out in the afternoons laying eggs and look like a black wasp. I set up everything perfect at the other house but never saw any. I never got around to purchasing some to start a colony. I have some BSFs if you want some to start with. I'd love some. Thank you. Quail roos have gay sex all the time when they are young. Once they get past their hormonal youth they quit and try to kill each other instead.

I'd love some BSF. Thanks. I have a few extra lbs of a chicken forage blend I'll trade for them?

 

[Sill]

I have had a crazy day. I set 13 eggs in the hatcher and 7 chicks hatched on their own. My first pipper was glued into the shell and I had to break it off of it. There are still chunks of dried membrane on it. I hope it makes it. 1 egg pipped but has not zipped yet. 4 eggs are just sitting there, and we just began day 21. Then I made a stupid mistake and left some eggs in the incubator so two hatched on the turner! Good lesson to remember to write the set date on top. So I have 2 bonus white Silkies.

I keep a calendar next to my incubator and write down when I set a batch of eggs, when to put them on lock down and when to expect hatching. It helps my scatter brain!

Quote:

YAY ARIZONA CHICKENNNSSSSS!!! ooppps, sorry, got a little excited about finding this thread. I am in far east Mesa. I have two buff hens, one buff Roo, one white Americana(SP?) hen, one rescue Americana?? and a drake and hen Muscovy duck pair! The chickens are 22 weeks aprox and the ducks are 20 weeks aprox. I am eagerly awaiting first eggs.

I went out and "prepared" the nesting area with shavings and hay, made little nests and placed golf balls in last night. tonight I found that someone or more than one someone got up in there and kicked all the hay out, moved all the golf balls around and generally made a big ol mess. HAHAHAH

here are some pictures of my feather kids
Pita and Houdini (DS8 in the background)

Houdini

BBQ the "white americana"

Nugget or Bemo (they are twins)

Fearless

Our little rescue, who i got because i was dying waiting for eggs (she doesn't lay either)

The ducks again.

Sorry to bombard with pictures, I LOVE my kids. HAHAHAHAH Now they just need to GIVE ME EGGGGGSSSSS!!!

Also, did I see that someone is having a party in October? I want in!

Love those Muscovies!

Wondering if anyone would like to park here, then take the light rail for the city chikens screening?
Parking coul be a issue..

How far is the light rail from you? I'm almost tempted to park at ASU since the parking structure is right across the street from Wrigley Hall and they are so close to my house.

 

[Sill]

Sill, I'm still flip-flopping my plans.

It's still basically three 8x8 modules, actually four with that lower corner being reserved for the Chicken-TV, and I downsized it to 6x6. I don't need a huge space to sit out there and drink a few cold ones and watch their antics.

My little Chicken-TV area will snug right into that lower right-hand corner, and I would like a lattice work/railing with a row hedges behind that for a little privacy. Not much, being only 5-ft tall. I also want to add some pavers to lead to the back patio. Sometimes, it gets alittle muddy out there.

I went out again today and measured my back yard (HOA neighborhood), and I have plenty of space to do what I want. It's not drawn to scale, but more than enough room for my 16x16 ft structure. I knew the space was a pretty good size, but, Umm, 50x20x42x34x49 will leave plenty of room for any additional planter boxes for veggies, compost etc., so you can see my Four Projects:

Looking out my back sliding doors, patio 9x12, side deck 8x12 to the right in lower corner to the neighboring wall...



This is the overall view of my back yard...good size for my needs.
All the hot mess in one pic...LOL!



The Run.....


Chicken TV (two pics drawn on same page) with brace for Lattice work,
and some hedges in the empty planter box behind the little chair you can barely see in the pic....


The Patio off the family room....


And the side deck to the right of the patio bordering the neighbor wall.


Yeah, I got my hands full. I may need to call on the One from Bethlehem for this project. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

You are lucky to live with an HOA that will allow chickens, I think most do not. I can't wait to see your project up and running.

Someone compared having a chicken in the house to keeping a big expensive Macaw. Those things are loud. I'd gladly have one of my hens as a house pet, if I were interested in cleaning chicken crap all the time or changing diapers.
I'd love some BSF. Thanks. I have a few extra lbs of a chicken forage blend I'll trade for them?

I'm thinking that will work!

 

[Sill]

Welcome to our new peeps!

So glad you are here!

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Bobby, you are going to put a roof on that L-shaped chicken run, aren't you? If you don't put a roof on it your chickens are going to fry. They need deep shade in the heat of summer. And you don't want the area to turn to total soup when it rains. It will smell. Assuming you do plan to roof the run, how is the roof going to slope and what will you do with the runoff? There will be a lot of runoff from that area in a typical summer storm. I'm seeing wall supports but I'm not seeing any rafters or roof support in these drawings.

 

[Timskins]

Hi Everyone,

My pen faces west and I thought it might be a cool idea to grow some vines up the fences to give the chickens some extra shade from the low western sun. But I have two questions:

1. What vines are safe for chickens? Morning glories? Jasmine? My mom has had really good luck growing these up her pergola this monsoon season.
2. Will the chickens just eat them before they can really take hold?

Also, I got some milk crates for free and had a good idea to make a lip. I bought a pop-up mesh laundry basket on clearance at Target. It has covered, flexible wire for a skeleton. So, I'm cutting out squares with two sides of wire (covered). I'm folding it in half and inserting into the crate (on its side) with half on the floor of the crate then folding up to make the lip. I'm just zip tying the top edges in place. I put hay inside, which weights down the mesh. Can you imagine it? I'll take a pic tomorrow. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Yes they will probably eat the vine if it's not protected. Why not do a grape vine?