Arizona Chickens

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Which city are you in? Have you actually checked the code? An anonymous complaint is far from an official complaint.

I am in Phoeinx, the complaint is from "the city of Phx". . . sounds "official" enough for me. . . .

According to the Chicken LORE stuff, you are allowed up to 20 chickens in Phoenix. There is a noise ordinance for male fowl. This is the same criteria I have read on another website (not just BYC). None of what I have read states that permission from adjacent or nearby neighbors is necessary (although I have not looked up the code, myself).

Did you verify that the complaint was official? What was the justification for the order to remove your birds?

 

[SchizoSkittles]

I've finally located the ordinances for Queen Creek ( www.queencreek.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=513 )
On page 8 it says this, "B. AGRICULTURAL ANIMALS. No agricultural animal/livestock shall be kept, maintained or stabled on any lot less than 35,000 square feet, except for those developments previously approved by the council. On parcels of 35,000 square feet or more, livestock shall be permitted in the A-1and R1-35 and larger Zoning Districts and shall be subject to the following provisions."
So I guess if I have anything less than 35,000 sqft, I have to get approval to have chickens or goats. It probably wouldn't be difficult to do, but I'd hate to buy a home out there with a lot under 35,000 sqft and then find out that I can't. So I'll just play it safe and keep looking for something 35,000 and up. It's so strange, I expected Queen Creek laws to be more laid back than Gilbert!

 

[rufus]

Kiddhouse, these bugs are introduced by wild birds.

We used to put the dead ashes from the cook stove in the chicken yard for the hens to dust bathe in. It was supposed to control the bugs. We never had a problem with them, but at that time, my mother was on a mission from God to kill every last house fly in this world. DDT was cheap.

So, I am not sure if it was the ashes or the DDT that did the job, but it got done.

Rufus

 

[Mahonri]

In Phoenix, you can have up to 20 birds. Anything within 80ft of another residence, you need written permission from those neighbors.

No roos are allowed... unless you have nice neighbors. The neighbor that lives kitty-cornered across the street who works at the school told my daughter she just loves the crowing of our roos in the morning. The neighbors in back just hate the flies. Wish I knew how to get rid of them... (the flies)

 

[gckiddhouse]

Quote:
Well, I hate the flies, too! But they have nothing to do with the chickens. You will have a hard time convincing her of that, but flies are not breeding in your chicken pen. The flies this summer are just everywhere, chickens or not! We tried to have dinner on the patio of a local restaurant and the flies were so bad we had to go inside. It's like the Pharoh has made God mad again and He sent flies! Eek!

Any advice on my bugs??? Freaking out, here.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Well, now, I have friends and family who swear by the hanging of clear plastic bags of water around the patio! Has anyone tried that? I haven't, but those who have are convinced. It sounds crazy to me, but I read that something about their eyes and the reflection of the water keeps them away.

 

[squeakyballs]

They are bad here, too. I made a fly trap this morning like this one:
http://insected.arizona.edu/flyrear.htm

Into the bottom of it I put beer (so they'd drown in a drunken stupor and hopefully not mind dying), orange juice, and chicken poop since they seem to love that so much.

 

[squeakyballs]

I made cactus fruit JAM. I kept the seeds and pulp and everything else in it this time!

Prickly pear cactus fruit (also called Tunas, who knew!)
3.5 cups of sugar
.25 cup of lemon juice
1 package of liquid pectin

Poke them with a chopstick and stick over the burner on the stove. Burn those evil stickers!
Peel off the skin. It peels off more easily than you'd expect. Cut off the icky end.
Put them into the blender, seeds and all. Blend blend blend. The seeds won't blend and they are kind of hard and crunchy, but I read somewhere that they are good for you. You can strain them out or leave them in. I left them in.

I ended up with a little over 2.5 cups of puree.

Add the sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a full rolling boil.
Add liquid pectin. I used Certo. Boil for exactly 1 minute.
Pour into sterilized jars. Put on sterilized lids. Resterilize in boiling water.

Remove stickers from fingers (I only had 6)

Confession: before I added the pectin, I took out 1/4 cup of the boiling puree and added water, ice, a little more sugar, and lemon juice. Mmm cold prickly pear lemonade. I doubt 1/4 of a cup changed the recipe.

The luke warm stuff I tried was great, and it seems to be setting up. I had to share

Edited to add: Waaaah. It is delicious cactus fruit syrup. It didn't want to set up

 

[Mahonri]

I made an offer to Noskiveez... If she doesn't take it then....

My marans have started laying... I want someone to do a test hatch for me...

They won't be free, but they won't be expensive either

PM me for details.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Quote:
That's interesting. Never heard of it. We have flies, and had them before the chickens. When we lived out here 8 years ago we had flies and I would have never dreamed of having a chicken back then. I've used those hanging baits that smelll like a dead body but they fill up so fast and dry up in 2 days. $5 is a lot to spend every two days. I'm thinking of making my own bait with the stinky stuff they sell as a replacement, 5 gallon bucket and some funnels and see how that works. But first I have to talk hubby into painting the living room so they paint in the bucket get used.

I've been using prozap poultry powder, DE, and a spray on natural pesticides and I'm not seeing signs of mites, I keep treating just incase.