Arizona Chickens

[springvalley123]

For those who have built a cinderblock base above the ground and a coop on top of it, do you have drainage issues? During a monsoon does it get water logged? We get brief but very heavy downpours. Would it trap a lot of water sitting right on caliche?

Also, did you use mortar? And how did you connect the HC to the cinder blocks?

We did a 3-course wall staggered, and built our 4x8 foot duck house on top of it. It wasn't cinder blocks all around though, but just at the corners. That was in 2015, I've seen it fairly recently and it's still standing. Because it wasn't continuous it didn't retain water. We didn't use mortar. We used the stiff thick black metal garden panel fencing, and attached that to the wood siding of the duck house (which was framed with 2x4 studs. I think the hardware cloth was just held between the garden panels and the blocks due to the garden panels being attached.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Yeah, ours isn't a trap-and-relocate ground squirrel problem. The house we live in sat empty for a while. We inherited a whole slew of problems from that, not the least of which is an enormous and well-established ground squirrel population.

We've been fighting them for years. My guess is there are 3-4 colonies. At least one is deeply rooted under the house, we're actually worried about what they're doing to the foundation but that's another post.

The squirrels also attract snakes, hawks and other predators that would happily take a hen. That's why we're trying to construct a coop that's as predator-proof as possible.

As ChicksnMore suggested, another option is to create a cinderblock base with HC on the bottom, fill it with dirt/sand/mulch, and construct the coop on top of that.

That sounds simpler than renting a jackhammer from Home Depot to dig down two feet (I actually kind of want to try that because I'm weird, but jackhammering 300 cu ft of caliche is probably a lot more difficult than I think).

For those who have built a cinderblock base above the ground and a coop on top of it, do you have drainage issues? During a monsoon does it get water logged? We get brief but very heavy downpours. Would it trap a lot of water sitting right on caliche?

Also, did you use mortar? And how did you connect the HC to the cinder blocks?

My breeding coops are built like that. I didn't mortar between blocks because my dogs keep the predators away...if I had to worry about coyotes or rock squirrels there, I think I would mortar. For me the weight on top of the blocks keeps them firmly in place and there's no external digging that might collapse them.
I have no drainage issues at all but my coops and runs are fully covered so I don't know. The rain that blows in doesn't cause problems...neither does the dump water from the water bowls. If you have a sandy bottomed wash nearby to get free sand from that might give you great drainage. I used wash sand for my duck coop and it's not too bad. If I let poop build up the drainage gets bad....if I periodically flip the dirt the drainage stays good.
I don't have hc inside those coops...but if I had put some inside, I probably would have made the interior hc extend out past the blocks to create the skirt, then simply set the blocks on top. My skirt isn't attached to the blocks but it does run completely under the blocks, and I poked little tent stakes down through the block holes, through the hc and into the ground.

 

[BlueBaby]

Egg laying is picking up now that the daylight is getting longer. Every egg that I have cracked open have all been fertile. Does anyone want some Bielefelder hatching egg's? I will be cranking up my own incubator here soon.

 

[Rizona11]

Anyone in Az have wheaten Ameraucanas? Looking for eggs, chicks, or adults!

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Why can't a predator-proof desert coop be cheap to build?

 

[cavemanrich]

Why can't a predator-proof desert coop be cheap to build?

Consider looking for deals on Craig's list for used, and Extra materials peeps have left over. Habitat for Humanity, may carry some construction materials as well.
For your hoop coop, cattle panels, consider asking the farm store if they have some that are slightly damaged/bent, and discounted?
All the above, has to take your travel distance into consideration.
I know that a big concern for you is the floor being protected from those squirrel pets, Hardware clothe is close to price of GOLD these days. Evaluate the option of using a double layer of chicken wire. Not cheap these days ether, but less $$$ . And yes,,, do extend the effort tp bury it well, so your chickens do not scratch down to it. My chickens do scratch dust baths in their run.. None are much deeper than 6 inches. I know that digging 6 inches in your soil can be a challenge. Maybe consider doing that when you do see the holes coming thru. This way, you just spot/area protect.
Another possibility, and option. IF you can locate some used paver blocks that are a good deal of free. Those could be buried less than 6 inches, and would not hurt chickens' feet digging.
Ask anything else for ideas on saving. Not all things are as accessible in all areas equally.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Oh, thank you, cavemanrich - don't listen to me, I'm just bellyaching. I go through this every year at this time. I get all excited about all the chicks hatching then fail to get any kind of coop built. It doesn't help that this is my roommate's idea of a chicken coop:

And this is mine:

We compromised and bought this off of Amazon in 2021 but it was stolen out of our yard (along with a bunch of other stuff - we learned the hard way) before we could build it.

So my roommate feels like she's already lost money on this and doesn't want to invest much more. She's the homeowner so she gets the final say. She wants fresh eggs - we eat a lot of eggs - and will put up half for whatever we build but she thinks a chicken coop shouldn't cost more than $100-200.

I keep a close eye on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace but I'm limited to items that will fit in her little Kia (I don't have a car). Sometimes people will deliver for a fee and sometimes they won't. Yesterday there was a listing for a large amount of free wood in Oro Valley. That would have been awesome.

Another issue this year is that I just had heart surgery so I'm not doing much construction work any time soon. I feel strong but the cardiologist says no heavy lifting. I keep telling him that baby chicks weigh almost nothing!

 

[EmmaDonovan]

The rain let up so I hung out in the backyard with one of the dogs for a while. I wanted to see what we still have in terms of coop materials.

The coop we bought off of Amazon came in two boxes: one large and one medium. The large box we still have. Everything that's supposed to be in it is there: the poles, wire mesh that goes over the coop, and tarp. That's the majority of the materials. I guess the other (smaller) box that the thieves took had the connectors, door hardware, and I'm not sure what else.

I'll give the company a call on Monday, maybe we can buy a replacement of the smaller box? Couldn't hurt to ask.

I know a woman in a nearby town who has three hens. She has a plywood hen house that's in disrepair. Her hens sleep in it and free-range during the day. She has a huge large backyard surrounded by a 5' chain link fence. It has a double gate that she sometimes leaves open.

There's very little coverage for the hens in terms of trees or bushes. It's just open dirt, as most peoples' yards are. The hens could easily fly over the fence or walk out of the open gate into the road but they don't. She's had those three hens for a long time.

Maybe we don't need an entire coop that's predator proof? We could build a predator-proof hen house inside an enclosed run. The run would keep the hens in and daytime predators like hawks out. It wouldn't be secure against attacks from coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, etc. and it wouldn't stop mice/rats/squirrels from getting in, but from dusk to dawn the hens would be safe inside the henhouse. If this is a bad idea in the desert, please let me know.

Also, did anyone notice an increase in your mice/rat/ground squirrel populations after you got chickens?

 

[BlueBaby]

The rain let up so I hung out in the backyard with one of the dogs for a while. I wanted to see what we still have in terms of coop materials.

The coop we bought off of Amazon came in two boxes: one large and one medium. The large box we still have. Everything that's supposed to be in it is there: the poles, wire mesh that goes over the coop, and tarp. That's the majority of the materials. I guess the other (smaller) box that the thieves took had the connectors, door hardware, and I'm not sure what else.

I'll give the company a call on Monday, maybe we can buy a replacement of the smaller box? Couldn't hurt to ask.

I know a woman in a nearby town who has three hens. She has a plywood hen house that's in disrepair. Her hens sleep in it and free-range during the day. She has a huge large backyard surrounded by a 5' chain link fence. It has a double gate that she sometimes leaves open.

There's very little coverage for the hens in terms of trees or bushes. It's just open dirt, as most peoples' yards are. The hens could easily fly over the fence or walk out of the open gate into the road but they don't. She's had those three hens for a long time.

Maybe we don't need an entire coop that's predator proof? We could build a predator-proof hen house inside an enclosed run. The run would keep the hens in and daytime predators like hawks out. It wouldn't be secure against attacks from coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, etc. and it wouldn't stop mice/rats/squirrels from getting in, but from dusk to dawn the hens would be safe inside the henhouse. If this is a bad idea in the desert, please let me know.

Also, did anyone notice an increase in your mice/rat/ground squirrel populations after you got chickens?

The mice and ground squirrels have been here for years. The mice loved the big wood pile that the neighbors used to have sitting on the other side of the fence between us. When they moved, they did take out all of that wood, so the mice chose to move over here. The ground squirrels seem to like the seeds off of certain types of trees, so mainly stay near those trees where they eat them at. When the trees are no longer producing the seeds out of season, the ground squirrels look for another source of food, and will not turn down a chicken feeder if they can manage to get to one. Neither will the mice.

If those two critters can manage to get into your coop or run, you will also get snakes that will follow the places that they burrowed. The snakes are after the mice for food, but will be satisfied with an egg or more depending on the size of the snake.

Ants can also be a problem. One year I had ants that ate my chick's alive in the grow out pen. Another year a rat snake got into the grow out brooder and ate a chick. That snake sure had a weird looking skeleton after the buzzards got done with it. Anyways, that snake wasn't coming back to eat more chicks.

 

[cavemanrich]

Also, did anyone notice an increase in your mice/rat/ground squirrel populations after you got chickens?

I do not have a problem with ether. My Avatar pals take take care of mice,,, and no ground squirrels here. I have regular tree squirrels,,, but I do feed them regularly. BOSS. I purchase by 50 pound bags. I do feed that to my songbirds year round. Yes,,,,,,,,,,,,, the chickens do get some also.
Main thing to keep in mind,,,,,, for the night, contain all your chicken feed in metal cans. I use 33 gallon and secure the lids. I don't want night time visitors stopping for late night snacks.