Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Hi everyone, we are outside of Tucson and looking to build our first run and coop. How have you guys done your coops and runs that are effective out here? I was planning on building a run and then a coop inside of it.

Welcome to BYC and our Az. thread! The way that you are planning on building yours is ok. Just make sure that the run will be completely secure from any predator (coyote, hawks, snakes, cats, and dogs) top, sides, and bottom. I would build the coop itself on the end that is the direction that the sun will be in from the hotest part of the day, as the coop can help to provide that shade from the sun for them.

 

[meetthebubus]

@FeatherPugs congrats on the new babies enjoy their sweet chirping!

@rmafritz welcome you can see my 360 run on YouTube search meet the bubus
Also shade is huge and harware cloth fencing buried around , lots of shade from late morning to evening sun, misters, puddles and a cool place for the coop bc that's where they go to roost and you don't want it to feel like an oven bc it got a lot of sun

 

[FeatherPugs]

@BlueBaby Me either - never had a bantam - but pass up GIVEN - not often! So now I'm learning. Interesting about the color possibility. I was wondering if maybe the were bantam wyandottes - I truly don't know!

 

[Bobby Basham]

Hey everyone, did you realize that today is both Easter and April Fool's Day?

This is the day when clueless idiots go out and buy those cute little fluffy chicks, then get fooled when they realize that those little puffs actually grow into....

 

[SonoranChick]

This is the day when clueless idiots go out and buy those cute little fluffy chicks, then get fooled when they realize that those little puffs actually grow into....

Last year when I was teaching, a student's mother randomly brought in one lone baby chick for the kids to check out. I was so excited, because I had just ordered my little flock from MyPetChicken, and asked, "Do you raise chickens?" The mother laughed and said NO, it's just something fun we got for him for Easter I was so appalled. I wonder what ever happened to that little chick, but part of me doesn't even want to know.

 

[FeatherPugs]

Hummmm............maybe those littles are bantam Ameraucanas? I know the dark colored darling has small muff under her eyes. Sound a little obsessed - yep sorry to say. Sometimes the learning curve isn't that easy to work with!!

 

[BlueBaby]

@BlueBaby Me either - never had a bantam - but pass up GIVEN - not often! So now I'm learning. Interesting about the color possibility. I was wondering if maybe the were bantam wyandottes - I truly don't know!

I guess that you might just have to wait and see how they feather in.

 

[BlueBaby]

This is the day when clueless idiots go out and buy those cute little fluffy chicks, then get fooled when they realize that those little puffs actually grow into....

....grow into a crowing rooster, you mean?

 

[rmafritz]

I'm looking at building a 16x10 run using wood and hardware cloth mostly. We are from Illinois originally, do you guys use pressure treated wood on the ground or just regular softwood? We will Digging down 2 inches or so and bury the first board horizontal, having hardware cloth running 1.5-2ft out from there, then having a 2x6 on top of the first board making an L shape because we want to do deep litter. We were planning on having most of the coop on the side where the sun is in the afternoon that will help shade a little over half the length. We don't have much shade in our yard at all so we were thinking of running a roof over half of the run also, the rest would just be hardware cloth. I will be installing as much ventilation in the coop as I can especially in the roof area. I'll do a couple "windows" off of the hot wall too.
We will start looking into water, I have a leg of my irrigation about 2 ft away from where I plan on building the coop. I'll make sure I trench a line into the run for that then.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it makes sense what we are trying to do.

 

[SonoranChick]

I'm looking at building a 16x10 run using wood and hardware cloth mostly. We are from Illinois originally, do you guys use pressure treated wood on the ground or just regular softwood? We will Digging down 2 inches or so and bury the first board horizontal, having hardware cloth running 1.5-2ft out from there, then having a 2x6 on top of the first board making an L shape because we want to do deep litter. We were planning on having most of the coop on the side where the sun is in the afternoon that will help shade a little over half the length. We don't have much shade in our yard at all so we were thinking of running a roof over half of the run also, the rest would just be hardware cloth. I will be installing as much ventilation in the coop as I can especially in the roof area. I'll do a couple "windows" off of the hot wall too.
We will start looking into water, I have a leg of my irrigation about 2 ft away from where I plan on building the coop. I'll make sure I trench a line into the run for that then.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it makes sense what we are trying to do.

Welcome to the AZ thread, and to BYC!
We just used some regular wood from Home Depot and lots of wood and metal scraps from refurbishing our house. Like others have noted, shade and ventilation are of upmost importance here. Be sure to keep in mind that chicken wire is just for keeping chickens IN, but it doesn't keep predators out. Some predators, like coyote and kit fox, will dig to get a meal f possible. Your use of hardware cloth is a good idea. In the hottest months, shallow pools of water or mud puddles are good. We have a roof over the run because there wasn't enough shade. Here are some photos of our coop and run, just for an idea. We are working on upgrading the roof over the coop this month, and I'll post more pictures when that is complete! Good luck and feel free to keep the questions coming!