Arizona Chickens

[Rezia]

Hello everyone!
We got a lot of work on the coop done this past weekend. We now have the base and the two shorter walls finished! Tonight we will start on the longer walls. The coop is modeled after John Hartman's wonderful coop. Minus the charred wood. It is 10'x6'. Nearly done!

Does anyone know how long chicks need to stay in the brooder before release into the coop? I need to know when to buy chicks.
Rezia

 

[maryhysong]

Hello everyone!
We got a lot of work on the coop done this past weekend. We now have the base and the two shorter walls finished! Tonight we will start on the longer walls. The coop is modeled after John Hartman's wonderful coop. Minus the charred wood. It is 10'x6'. Nearly done!

Does anyone know how long chicks need to stay in the brooder before release into the coop? I need to know when to buy chicks.
Rezia

When they are fully feathered and outdoor temps and brooder temps are similar. For example usually they tell you to keep the brooder at 90-95 the first week and lower it 5 degrees each week. I'm up in the hills so we are cooler than the valley, I don't put my chicks outside without heat before the end of May

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: Call it a pet and you are probably good--unless it is loud like the goats in the house behind me--we're Ag District, so here it's okay even if they are noisy. (Seems crazy to me that three dairy goats are louder than my many roosters!)

Technically you can have 2 goats for every 6000 sq ft more than 1/2 acre. Not sure how that would count with pypgy or dwarf goats...4? It's 1 large animal (cow, horse, etc.) per 6000 or 2 small (sheep, goat, etc) But that is supposed to be Ag district only. http://tempe.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=1915#Chapter 1-Permitted Uses In Residential Districts shows in text and table what is permitted. Best bet is to look under "I. Small Animals." Nothing listed about needing a vet's note for pot-bellied pigs..just a max of 2.
Mini Pigs and Nigerian dwarf goat and Pygmy goats plus MAYBE the mini horse is considered exotic pets and mostly allowed but I would ask all the neighbors first if it is OK with them if you are in the suburbs. I was told when I lived in Glendale. If there is a complaint then you may have to give them up.

 

[Phottoman]

Does anyone know how long chicks need to stay in the brooder before release into the coop? I need to know when to buy chicks.
Rezia

I bought my VERY first chicks during the last week of March last year, and two months later they were fully feathered, so I tossed them outside (actually didn't "toss" them, but carried them out to their new home in the first coop). That same day I went and bought my second batch, that was in late May, and they also went outside when they were fully feathered, in July. The first chicks were a mix of Brahma's and two Easter Egger's that we thought were RIR's. The second was pretty even, five black Austrolops and five Leg Horns, and these ten started producing eggs WAY before the first group did.

As long as they are fully feathered out, I think you can put them out even earlier that I did, in my humble opinion.

Skip

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Call it a pet and you are probably good--unless it is loud like the goats in the house behind me--we're Ag District, so here it's okay even if they are noisy. (Seems crazy to me that three dairy goats are louder than my many roosters!)

Technically you can have 2 goats for every 6000 sq ft more than 1/2 acre. Not sure how that would count with pypgy or dwarf goats...4? It's 1 large animal (cow, horse, etc.) per 6000 or 2 small (sheep, goat, etc) But that is supposed to be Ag district only. http://tempe.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=1915#Chapter 1-Permitted Uses In Residential Districts shows in text and table what is permitted. Best bet is to look under "I. Small Animals." Nothing listed about needing a vet's note for pot-bellied pigs..just a max of 2.
Mini Pigs and Nigerian dwarf goat and Pygmy goats plus MAYBE the mini horse is considered exotic pets and mostly allowed but I would ask all the neighbors first if it is OK with them if you are in the suburbs. I was told when I lived in Glendale. If there is a complaint then you may have to give them up.
The link I posted is zoning ordinance for Tempe, where CityFarm lives. We are much more progressive/lenient than most places, including Glendale. Neighbor approval is not required, and neighbor complaint will not trump your right to have them. (HOA covenants, however, may.) However all animals must be kept in a manner that is not a nuisance. How you do that is your business; here are no setbacks or any of that nonsense. "Small animals" is not specifically defined, but since that section does mention potbellied pigs, which can get quite large, I cannot imagine that a dwarf or pygmy goat would not be considered a reasonable interpretation of a small animal. One could easily make the case for one of the smaller mini horses, too.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Scottsdale is pretty lenient, too. Just don't make a nuisance of your animals and don't breed flies or mosquitos and its ok. They're more specific on pigs.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Does anyone sell raw honey?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Lmao! That is too funny! Reminds of a friend of ours who was much more "comical" than that, for lack of a better term. My parents were standing out on the sidewalk chatting with a few friends and a huge bird ran by. Rod hollers out "Wow, that's the biggest roadrunner I've ever seen!" Everyone quickly looks down the road, but there's nothing there, so he starts describing it. Our neighbor pipes up with "That wasn't a roadrunner! That was a turkey!" About that time, an EMU goes running down the street. We have an emu farm about a half mile away, through the open desert. Apparently, the fence broke and there were about fifty of them running around the area. It took them a good while to round them back up. but I'll never forgot that conversation...

Now that's funny!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
I think I might make a trip out to Desert Survivors tomorrow just to check it out. I attended a talk by the guy who runs the place and I just love the whole idea of what they're doing out there. How did your quince hold up with the cold weather? What the heck is a quince anyway?

What do you do with it?

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

What terrible luck you are having today.  Hope the pick-up driver buys a new car for you !

Whenever I call USAA for roadside assistance, the very first thing they ask me is if I am in a safe place.  On the couple of occasions over the years when I have answered "no," they have had someone there within a very, very few minutes.  Even when there is no safety issue, the longest I have ever waited was about 45 minutes; usually 30 or less.  

My parents have had issues with AAA.  Took hours for the tow truck to come, and they charged them a bunch of $$. AAA costs a pretty steep amount IMO.  We pay about $4 per year per car for USAA roadside assistance.

I like to travel, and I was going back and forth from here to San Deigo, so I have a Gold AAA membership, 100 miles free towing. I tild both woman at AAA that I was in a very dangerous location. When my cell phone dropped the call they did not return my call, figured I changed my mind..... I guess. I am not a very happy camper with AAA.


Chickens! It is like this, there is a picking order established in the first weeks. Vony & Clare (EE), Lucy (RIR), then Picker (Black sex link), Bon (BO), and last the air head Blondy (BO).
Lucy has always bossed Blondy around. Yesterday I heard a commotion as I. As working out side. Blondy had hold of one of Lucy's feathers and wasn't letting go. When she finally let go Lucy kept her distance. When I gave their evening treat, Blondy went after Lucy, Lucy kept her distance. This evening they were roosting next to each other, the eat their evening snacks right next to each other (most of the time), I watched as they retired to their coop. Goldy went in the same time Lucy did.

Dose this mean there is a new picking order? Will Goldy (Blondy) next challenge the awesome dual? Will she next claim the best of the treats? This is so interesting. Aaaawww the adventure continues in AS THE COOP TURNS.