Arizona Chickens

[Fuzzybird]

Hi Arizona! I'm in Southeast Michigan and will most likely be moving to Phoenix for my husbands job. We currently have 16 chickens. We would love to keep a few hens when we move. Friends have recommended Surprise as a good place. I see their ordinance allows chickens but they have to be 80 feet from where people live, eat or sleep. Looking around online it doesn't seem like there are any yards big enough to accommodate that. Also, looks like most neighborhoods have HOAs and I'm guessing they frown upon poultry keeping? I'm glad to see there is a lively and friendly chicken community out there. Any suggestions or information on both family and chicken friendly neighborhoods would be greatly appreciated.

If you want to stay on the west side then look at Wittmann. 16 miles or less north west of Surprise with lots of nice houses for sell. Lots of chicken folks.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Hi Arizona! I'm in Southeast Michigan and will most likely be moving to Phoenix for my husbands job. We currently have 16 chickens. We would love to keep a few hens when we move. Friends have recommended Surprise as a good place. I see their ordinance allows chickens but they have to be 80 feet from where people live, eat or sleep. Looking around online it doesn't seem like there are any yards big enough to accommodate that. Also, looks like most neighborhoods have HOAs and I'm guessing they frown upon poultry keeping? I'm glad to see there is a lively and friendly chicken community out there. Any suggestions or information on both family and chicken friendly neighborhoods would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you want to stay on the west side then look at Wittmann. 16 miles or less north west of Surprise with lots of nice houses for sell. Lots of chicken folks.

It is a very nice area, more people are moving there, it seems with the same mind set, chickens, horses, goats, may be other farm animals. I hope to move someday were I can have a couple of Roos, there is a 80% chance I will stay in Arizona, if I do stay there is a 75% chance I will be moving to Wittman. You are 15-16 miles from a state of the art hospital, Dell Web, and a good nomber if very fine doctors.

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I have sunflowers out front seeded from a scratch that had sunflower seeds. It appears there are different types of flowers, large and small.

I have been giving my girls the whole flower and letting them work on it. The seeds are still soft, but taste pretty good. Dose anyone one know if it as as good for chickens as the dried hard seeds? I know with most food plants there are subtotal chemical changes that take place. Example, sugars in onions. Will the seed still help in deworming if that fresh? They love it, I know that.

My new little ones I got from Desertmarcy are doing great. The Red Sex Link, seems to be the big sister, all the Barred Rocks huddle under her in a nesting box, and try to stay close to her. I have noticed that 2 of them have more wing feathers, they are all the same shade of black. I am watching as close as I can trying to sex them as early as I can. It will beak my heart to part with any of them, a roo will make the decision for me.

I just put them out side in their 3'x3'x2' wooden box I made for them. I have a heat lamp and a cover for them at night. The day is easy, I turn off the light when it hits 95 deg. I will see just how long I need to keep warmth on them at night. In coming weeks it will be getting warmer at night, as the peps require less warmth. From what I read and been told B Rocks feather more slowly, how long dose it usually take? And just how old for B Rocks on average before the roo personality type starts developing? These are my first quality chicks. I'm so excited, can't wait for Nov. - Dec. for their first egg.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

My daughter and Pepper

So cute!! She's a beauty!

And love those BR's too!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I just learned something new, you better tell your chickens, they need 14 hrs of day light to lay an egg. They can only lay eggs in AZ between May 19th and July 21. My chickens are not doing their reading before bed time. We are only getting 13 hrs and 10 min. Or so of day light.

A lot is written, reading and lessoning is a good thing, so is evaluating what you read and hear. Two words; Common sense.

 

[cosmoskitty]

Thank you Arizona Chickens for all the great info on the Phoenix area! I will definitely check out Wittman and Chandler. The hubbie's office is in the northwest corner of where 10 and 17 meet. So he may just have to put up with a horrible commute! Anybody from Buckeye? Or know that area?

 

[MaddBaggins]

Madd B

Those pictures of your daughter and her chickens are adorable! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! She's a great kid and loves her chickens.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

My new little ones I got from Desertmarcy are doing great. The Red Sex Link, seems to be the big sister, all the Barred Rocks huddle under her in a nesting box, and try to stay close to her. I have noticed that 2 of them have more wing feathers, they are all the same shade of black. I am watching as close as I can trying to sex them as early as I can. It will beak my heart to part with any of them, a roo will make the decision for me.

I just put them out side in their 3'x3'x2' wooden box I made for them. I have a heat lamp and a cover for them at night. The day is easy, I turn off the light when it hits 95 deg. I will see just how long I need to keep warmth on them at night. In coming weeks it will be getting warmer at night, as the peps require less warmth. From what I read and been told B Rocks feather more slowly, how long dose it usually take? And just how old for B Rocks on average before the roo personality type starts developing?

These are my first quality chicks. I'm so excited, can't wait for Nov. - Dec. for their first egg.

You can sex BR's at around 4-5 weeks. Basically, the difference between them is the females will look darker, almost black, with white speckles. And the ladies will also have a darker wash on the front of their legs by this point. The boys will look lighter, sort of a gray color. And the white barring is more distinct/prominent with the boys. Also, their comb turns red around 5 weeks. The other breeds I wouldn't know about, just the BR's. Please post pics! They sound super cute!

 

[Demosthine]

Alright folks, I sadly claim the title for "Earliest Loss of Summer." The other night, we had some horrible winds and a slight touch of rain, so I moved the broilers under the porch and in to a different coop. They were in the yard in a large dog kennel so I could do controlled free-ranging. You know, like the Salatin Method? Under the great advise of my wife, I had been keeping a sheet over it for shade. When I moved it out Friday morning in rush to leave for work, I forgot the sheet. The poor things baked to death! It was a horrible, horrible mistake that I won't make again. Once Sommer's Speckled Sussex are back in her capable hands, I'll try again and keep the broilers under the porch in the brooder. They'll be much happier there anyway, I think. Oh, and I was about half-way to slaughter, too, so they were getting pretty hefty.


On other notes, the rest of my clan are doing well. It has been so nice with the nine older ones cooping themselves in the new coop. I still have to move my wife's Silkies and the four new Americaunas, but we've only had those last four for a week. I don't think her Silkies are ever going to learn, though. We're back to a constant three eggs from our three layers, too. And with four more ready to lay any time in the next two to six weeks, we should be sitting very nicely by summers end.

Today's goal? Getting the garden walls sewn and installed for my wife. It's been a month since I started the first half of that project and the chickens ate every last leaf off of the four plants we have in there. We forgot to put the milk crates back over them after watering one night. Oops!!!

 

[CrazyChixLady]

Alright folks, I sadly claim the title for "Earliest Loss of Summer."  The other night, we had some horrible winds and a slight touch of rain, so I moved the broilers under the porch and in to a different coop.  They were in the yard in a large dog kennel so I could do controlled free-ranging.  You know, like the Salatin Method?  Under the great advise of my wife, I had been keeping a sheet over it for shade.  When I moved it out Friday morning in rush to leave for work, I forgot the sheet.  The poor things baked to death!  It was a horrible, horrible mistake that I won't make again.  Once Sommer's Speckled Sussex are back in her capable hands, I'll try again and keep the broilers under the porch in the brooder.  They'll be much happier there anyway, I think.  Oh, and I was about half-way to slaughter, too, so they were getting pretty hefty.


On other notes, the rest of my clan are doing well.  It has been so nice with the nine older ones cooping themselves in the new coop.  I still have to move my wife's Silkies and the four new Americaunas, but we've only had those last four for a week.  I don't think her Silkies are ever going to learn, though.  We're back to a constant three eggs from our three layers, too.  And with four more ready to lay any time in the next two to six weeks, we should be sitting very nicely by summers end.

Today's goal?  Getting the garden walls sewn and installed for my wife.  It's been a month since I started the first half of that project and the chickens ate every last leaf off of the four plants we have in there.  We forgot to put the milk crates back over them after watering one night.  Oops!!!

Did y'all see that? He said great wife! I think he might be trainable yet! LoL.

 

[MagicChicken]

Alright folks, I sadly claim the title for "Earliest Loss of Summer." The other night, we had some horrible winds and a slight touch of rain, so I moved the broilers under the porch and in to a different coop. They were in the yard in a large dog kennel so I could do controlled free-ranging. You know, like the Salatin Method? Under the great advise of my wife, I had been keeping a sheet over it for shade. When I moved it out Friday morning in rush to leave for work, I forgot the sheet. The poor things baked to death! It was a horrible, horrible mistake that I won't make again. Once Sommer's Speckled Sussex are back in her capable hands, I'll try again and keep the broilers under the porch in the brooder. They'll be much happier there anyway, I think. Oh, and I was about half-way to slaughter, too, so they were getting pretty hefty.


On other notes, the rest of my clan are doing well. It has been so nice with the nine older ones cooping themselves in the new coop. I still have to move my wife's Silkies and the four new Americaunas, but we've only had those last four for a week. I don't think her Silkies are ever going to learn, though. We're back to a constant three eggs from our three layers, too. And with four more ready to lay any time in the next two to six weeks, we should be sitting very nicely by summers end.

Today's goal? Getting the garden walls sewn and installed for my wife. It's been a month since I started the first half of that project and the chickens ate every last leaf off of the four plants we have in there. We forgot to put the milk crates back over them after watering one night. Oops!!!

Oh, how sad!

Shade in the summer is a tricky thing. If the birds are confined in a smallish space and the only shade is overhead, they'll only have shade for a couple of hours and will bake the rest of the time. In the summer confined birds need shade overhead and also on the west, north, and east sides. Watch the sun angles as the year progresses and you will get an idea for where the shade needs to be. It makes it hard to keep birds in small tractors here.

The hardest part in summertime is keeping the shade cloth on the structure - and keeping the structure on the ground - and keeping the enclosure from flooding - during the monsoons.