Arizona Chickens

[BY Chicken Lady]

Attention Chicken keepers (or those who hope to be in the future) in Chandler, just a reminder.. Upcoming Vote July 11


Chandler's City Council is voting July 11th at 7pm whether to permit or continue their ban on keeping chickens. This is a close vote and each voice will make a difference!

For more information email:

Sarah Cummings at [email protected]
Or Renu Kaur Sidhu at [email protected]

 

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Does anyone overseed their lawns for winter? If so, how do you work that with the chickens? Do they eat all the seeds or are the grass seeds small enough that they miss most of them? I know it's too early in the season to worry about it, but it's something my wife and I were discussing the other day.

The other thing to worry about is a lot of grass seeds out there now days have some type of anti-fungal coating and also a coating that is supposed to help retain moisture. Right on the bag it says do not use the seeds as feed. I'm successfully growing grass around my coop right now!! I just wish I would have planned it better to grow a Pasteur blend in my run prior to construction....maybe I will grow that adjacent to the coop so when I let them free range they will have some choice areas to graze!!

 

[bcluff]

I am getting so confused........ my chickens that are a mix between a white silkie and a black tip white japanese have come out brown and silver with black dots. I think maybe my hen was being a little promiscuous with the neighbors rooster!! But hes a very large guy from somewhere down in mexico! I thought i raised her to be a good, wholesome hen! Where did I go wrong with her? First she tries to hid the eggs and the babies and know i find out she's been with some random rooster off the street!! Shame on her. Whats next?? A beak piercing?!?!

 

[Demosthine]

Lmao! Now thay's funny!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I am getting so confused........ my chickens that are a mix between a white silkie and a black tip white japanese have come out brown and silver with black dots. I think maybe my hen was being a little promiscuous with the neighbors rooster!! But hes a very large guy from somewhere down in mexico! I thought i raised her to be a good, wholesome hen! Where did I go wrong with her? First she tries to hid the eggs and the babies and know i find out she's been with some random rooster off the street!! Shame on her. Whats next?? A beak piercing?!?!

what can I say, we hall have that child, niece or nephew that is just can't help themselves, they just love that bad boy or girl that will only lead them astray. That hot blooded latin lovers with that come heather look, and sweet talk. You may have to lay the law down. Or just except that she is in love with with the boy next door.

 

[kacklinkelly]

You are the funniest!

 

[kacklinkelly]

Does anyone overseed their lawns for winter? If so, how do you work that with the chickens? Do they eat all the seeds or are the grass seeds small enough that they miss most of them? I know it's too early in the season to worry about it, but it's something my wife and I were discussing the other day.

I was just wondering about putting fertilizer down on our lawn. It is so patchy and dry in some areas. I have had to adjust our drip system since we have a tractor that gets moved around.
hand watering just isn't cutting it. I would like to fertilize the lawn with granules and soak it but am concerned about the hens eating it, etc. I thought between chicken poop and water, we would have a lush lawn this summer. Not so much. Any ideas are welcome.

 

[maryhysong]

I was just wondering about putting fertilizer down on our lawn. It is so patchy and dry in some areas. I have had to adjust our drip system since we have a tractor that gets moved around.
hand watering just isn't cutting it. I would like to fertilize the lawn with granules and soak it but am concerned about the hens eating it, etc. I thought between chicken poop and water, we would have a lush lawn this summer. Not so much. Any ideas are welcome.

Personally I would think it's too hot to put any kind of fertilizer on anything right now. Personally I use no chemicals at all anywhere on my place. IF I was somewhere that I could grow grass I would just use composted manure, about half an inch thick in the fall, with some winter rye (NOT rye grass!) and after it was up and going pretty good let the birds and bunnies graze it. Add some more compost every couple months during the winter and spring when the weather is above freezing and things are growing reasonably well.

If you do opt for synthetic fertilizer be sure it's not one of those ' weed & feed " products that contain pesticides; those might very well kill your birds along with many other things.

 

[Demosthine]

I was just wondering about putting fertilizer down on our lawn. It is so patchy and dry in some areas. I have had to adjust our drip system since we have a tractor that gets moved around.
hand watering just isn't cutting it. I would like to fertilize the lawn with granules and soak it but am concerned about the hens eating it, etc. I thought between chicken poop and water, we would have a lush lawn this summer. Not so much. Any ideas are welcome.

Personally I would think it's too hot to put any kind of fertilizer on anything right now. Personally I use no chemicals at all anywhere on my place. IF I was somewhere that I could grow grass I would just use composted manure, about half an inch thick in the fall, with some winter rye (NOT rye grass!) and after it was up and going pretty good let the birds and bunnies graze it. Add some more compost every couple months during the winter and spring when the weather is above freezing and things are growing reasonably well.

If you do opt for synthetic fertilizer be sure it's not one of those ' weed & feed " products that contain pesticides; those might very well kill your birds along with many other things.

I'm with Mary on this one. I've completely stopped using chemicals at my house and it's worked wonderfully. We still have some bare spots and about two feet around three of the four edges hasn't grown in yet, but in about nine months of having chickens, our lawn has gotten significantly more lush. The bare spots have been filling in nicely, but it does take time. After seeing what the chicken poop does, I will never use commercial stuff again. Most of my lawn is extremely lush, green and soft.

I can tell you that "adding" manure has drastically helped also. It was not planned at all, but when I was mixing it into the garden beds, I got a little sloppy and dumped manure along the edges of the raised beds. Those spots have grown the absolute best of anything in my backyard. It wasn't even properly composted manure, either. I went to a lady's house on Craig's List and I mucked out two of her horse stalls for her. I mixed that in to the flower beds in about a one-to-one ratio with the dirt. But like I said, the stall muck spilled and has given me phenomenal grass there. I would have absolutely no qualms about spreading all of that around the yard like Mary mentioned.

Based on what I've seen so far, allow at least one full summer for the patchy spots to come in. Spread a thin layer of the manure over those spots and let it work it's magic. The other thing I've changed so far is that I am doing more of a flood irrigation, rather than a sprinkler irrigation. I leave my sprinkler's on for about 8 hours every other week. The yard gets nice and flooded, spending the next two days soaking in really well. Otherwise, I found that it only properly watered the top inch or two if I was lucky. By the end of the week, the dirt on the top was dry and cracking, just like you see in the movies. Now, it doesn't do that.

One last note on the watering... About once a month, when the chemicals are low or completely gone from my pool, I will back wash the filter in to the yard. I added some salt to the pool this year to make it more of a soft water, too. I've used that to flood irrigate the yard, rather than dumping it down the sewer system or into the streets. I believe both of those methods are illegal in most cities, so I'm not entirely sure what they expect you to do. Regardless, it hasn't damaged the yard at all. In general, my pool has a lower chlorine concentration that most cities' tap water anyway.

I don't know if any of that will help, but that's my experience so far this year.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thank you both so much for taking the time. I was hesitant to add anything without checking. Will continue doing what we are doing and
let mother nature handle it in her own time. I will also use the composted chicken manure when it's ready. Maybe next
summer I'll have a nice lawn. We don't plant winter grass. Thanks again.