Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

I for one want to believe folks are still good at heart and will help someone that is down and out. If I knew someone or a family that was hungry. I would give them eggs or a chicken or two. I did get angry at someone that stole some fig and pomegranate trees
I had in pots next to the house a few years ago. Not that I lost them, but because someone came on my property and took them. I was giving them away, to anyone interested in them. All they had to do was knock on the door and ask about them and I would have given them one or two. I just don't understand the mind set of those that have to steal.

I agree. Asking is one thing, and stealing is another.

 

[cavemanrich]

If your hens don't free-range and you live in the sandy desert where there's not much for them to find to eat just by scratching, what do you feed them?

My hens get plenty of greens from my lawn. I'm not in the desert though. Here is something to look into. I know of reading posts that it is common. Visit a produce market, or the produce manager at your grocery store. Tell them you are willing to take spent produce and fruit for your chickens. Some may, and others may refuse for their own reasons. Don't feed the citrus products to your chickens. You may have to take what they give you. Don't expect them to sort out the bad citrus for you. Take everything, and throw the citrus items into your compost pile. If you don't have a compost pile, maybe you can start one. If not, then just toss in waste.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

I know some of you have had quail.. can i have 5-6 female coturnix quail without a male? Or will they still chop each other's heads off?

I have some raised garden beds i bought a couple years back.. i think im going to finally assemble them and create a hoop house so i can shade them in the summer (im working on creating my own microclimate yard, i don't think things will go back to "normal" until we are extinct)... but i keep coming back to the idea of putting quail in there. But I really don't want to worry about hatching chicks and dealing with separating mating groups.

Here's a cool (hehe) microclimate article I've been perusing https://www.gardeninginthedesert.com/creating-microclimates-for-the-desert-summer/

 

[City farm]

If your hens don't free-range and you live in the sandy desert where there's not much for them to find to eat just by scratching, what do you feed them?

Do commercial feeds assume chickens are also eating insects and things from their environment?

I would supplement with worms, meal worms & I cook them up some eggs every once & a while. They love the weeds too.

 

[Hamburg]

I would supplement with worms, meal worms & I cook them up some eggs every once & a while. They love the weeds too.

Safflower and sunflower seeds are good supplements for chickens. I have found that the black oil sunflower seeds (shell on) work the best for me. For my 25 birds I give them a hand full or so every day.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Here's a cool (hehe) microclimate article I've been perusing https://www.gardeninginthedesert.com/creating-microclimates-for-the-desert-summer/

Good article. I'm subscribed to Weed 'Em and Reap on YouTube, very interesting family and projects. Another informative channel is Edge of Nowhere Farm. They have a 6 acre piece of flat desert that they farm (including chickens) outside of Phoenix, I think in Wittmann. Very nice couple, hard working and efficient, and they answer questions in the comments section.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Good article. I'm subscribed to Weed 'Em and Reap on YouTube, very interesting family and projects. Another informative channel is Edge of Nowhere Farm. They have a 6 acre piece of flat desert that they farm (including chickens) outside of Phoenix, I think in Wittman. Very nice couple, hard working and efficient, and they answer questions in the comments section.

Oh very cool, thank you, i will check them out! I was looking up foot traffic friendly ground cover this morning. I have a large cobblestone area and was considering putting sand in between each step.. but i really want to cool the backyard as much as possible. It looks like carpet thyme or silver carpet would work best here as a filler, can handle the heat, foot traffic, and is drought tolerant.

 

[springvalley123]

Oh very cool, thank you, i will check them out! I was looking up foot traffic friendly ground cover this morning. I have a large cobblestone area and was considering putting sand in between each step.. but i really want to cool the backyard as much as possible. It looks like carpet thyme or silver carpet would work best here as a filler, can handle the heat, foot traffic, and is drought tolerant.

Please let us know how it goes! I had planted a single thyme up here in spring valley years ago and either a bunny or squirrel/pack rat ate it. I'm setting up to start a small gardening effort in my laundry room!

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Please let us know how it goes! I had planted a single thyme up here in spring valley years ago and either a bunny or squirrel/pack rat ate it. I'm setting up to start a small gardening effort in my laundry room!

I have a packet of red carpet thyme seeds... my idea (lets see if it works) is to maybe put the seeds around the edges of the pathway, and maybe the silver carpet in the center. Of course the seeds move around w the wind and rain, but that's ok too. I have last year's livingstone daisy plants sprouting everywhere.. it is an ice plant variety, but same issue, seeds are as small as fine ground pepper, so they move around on their own. I also added some yellow and purple larger ice plant seeds before the last rain around the perimeter of my yard. Im just trying to keep as much green cover going as possible. I'll take before and after pics..

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Has anyone had success with eradicating puncture vine? It's a huge problem in our yard and a constant irritant to our poor dogs.

With all the rain we've been having I'm anticipating it's really going to explode here in a bit.