Arizona Chickens

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: The shock of that could kill her.

Now if she is truly having a heat stroke, you do need to rapidly cool her down, and the risk is greater that the heat stroke will kill her than the shock, but it does not sound like the bird had a heat stoke, just is not handling the heat (or something else) very well. Keeping her inside in a more reasonable environment is much preferable.

 

[Demosthine]

On the subject of grass, I do not approve of the waste of so much water on something completely unnecessary. I'm offended at how much water goes to golf courses and fake lakes and grass around office buildings.
The first thing I did when I bought my house was shave off the grass in the front yard and plant cactus and rocks. My backyard is dirt and some low water use desert plants.
Not trying to start an argument, it's just my opinion that maintaining green grass has no place in this environment. 

Now, there's a fine line between excessive and necessary. I think we are truly doing our state a disservice by xeroscaping. Yes, most grass areas like you mentioned are entirely improperly maintained, but they can be improved upon with better holistic management. It would be very much of a culture shock to Arizona, though, to see a herd of sheep (is it a herd?) or goats grazing through the parks every six months.

Watch this video from Ted Talks, featuring Alan Savory. He is talking about this very subject and how we need to expand are holistic management in order to save the planet from becoming an arid desert. It's not increasing our water consumption, but is in fact saving it, all while turning desert to grasslands. While you're watching it, think back to ancient times and the traditional shepherds. I think it makes perfect sense. It also falls in line with the ideals of Polyface Farms and Joel Salatin.

 

[UrbanPHXChicks]

Thanks! I do know they hate the electrolytes, the others are drinking it, but they were drinking out of the foot bath most of the day to avoid the flout. I'll give her Gatorade (wonder if they they a flavor preference!? ha!). I poured a bit of the water in her food along with some yogurt and she ate a bit of it. Had some normal looking bowel movements and seemed to perk up a bit for a little while. I was going to put her back out tonight but when I went to get her she was still out of it. I decided to keep her in the bathroom through tomorrow night at the earliest. I'll move the others in too if they look bad. I do plan on putting more ice out and making a swamp cooler out of a box fan and wet towels for tomorrow.

She didn't have any issues prior to this morning. She seemed just fine and as active as the others the past couple weeks in the heat. I am worried something else could be wrong with her, but she has no other symptoms other than lethargy and not drinking. Her crop feels normal, her breathing sounds good and her eyes look clear and alert. She perked up for a little while this afternoon after she had eaten and groomed herself and sat and cuddled on my lap.

Thanks to you all for your advice. I'm happy to have found this thread!

 

[MagicChicken]

Since we're discussing weeds/grass, etc. I'm wondering if anyone can ID this weed/bush thing. Not the tumbleweed (darker green) on the left center, but the grayish green one. They grow to be a couple feet tall and diameter. When we had blister beetles blow through the blister beetles really liked them. The chickens will give them a taste but for the most part leave them alone. They don't die from RoundUp. Any ideas on what they are and what will get rid of them? Are they toxic to chickens?

This looks like Wheelscale Saltbush (Atriplex elegans) to me. It's an annual. I've never seen my chickens touch it. I don't think it is poisonous. Best way to get rid of them is manually pull them up and dispose of them before they go to seed. I kind of like that they will actually grow in my scorched-earth yard so I usually leave mine alone unless they're in the garden or close to where I walk a lot. The seeds can be kind of annoying, getting stuck in clothing. http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Atriplex+elegans

 

[parentwarrior]

Hey AZ chicken keepers!

I had no idea this thread was on BYC. I live in downtown PHX. My 4 chicks are just now 3 months old. They've been outside for about 6 weeks. I'm worried sick about this heat.
I've been putting out frozen milk bottles for them for several weeks, every day. We put a box fan out for them a couple days ago as well. Their run is well shaded and only gets sun for about an hour. There are oleanders they have access to, but I haven't noticed them eating it. When they first moved outside they tried to eat some dropped flowers, but they spit them back out quickly. This kinda gave me some re-assurance.
Today my white leghorn has been VERY lethargic. She could hardly keep her eyes open and wasn't active like the other girls. I moved her inside around 11 AM. I went to Western Ranchman to get some advise/meds. I came home with only a couple packets of electrolytes and a book on chicken health. I finally got her to eat some mash with yogurt. She won't touch a slice of water mellon or drink water. I put some electrolytes in the water for everyone. The girls outside seem to be doing OK. The lady at the feed store cautioned me about moving her inside. She said that going back and forth between temperatures isn't good. I just had a strong feeling that she wasn't going to make it out there all day. Should I move her back tonight? keep her in the house tomorrow (118 degrees has me very concerned).

Any advise?

This is what I do to keep my gals cool. I have misters set up with fans blowing through the mist. That works amazingly well! One set of 4 overhead misters is tied to my irrigation system and goes off on a schedule daily. The other is a portable one with 4 misters on it hooked to a hose. I hook the hose one up for the temps over 110 to add extra large area of coolness. It drops the temps over 20 degrees. My guys usually do not struggle in this high heat.They do well under 114. I am worried about tomorrow at 119. I will add some frozen blocks of ice they can peck at and sit next to. I will put them in front of the fan so it blows over them. That is my plan.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

Worried Chicken Momma!!

Last night our deep freeze took a dump on us and all the ice I've stocked up on for the chickens is now being used in coolers to keep some items that didn't fit in the refrigerator freezer. This leaves me NO ICE for my girls and the temps are getting higher and higher. Of course DH is less than concerned (go figure) or maybe just preoccupied by the freezer crashing. We are not in a financial position to buy anything hence why I was stock piling the ice. We were hoping that by morning the freezer would be working but that hope was crushed early this morning. I was able to get 5-6 20oz bottles of water in our refrigerator freezer but I fear that's not enough. I already have a water bath for the girls and can use what ice our ice maker makes but not having the ice stash I had is worrying me. I can spray the coop and run with a hose but does that really help when the heat hits 110+? Should that be done in the morning or afternoon? Do I need to add more bath dishes? I do offer them watermelon and green leafy lettuce but worry the heat will make them not eat. What would you do in my position? Please, any info would be greatly appreciated.

Ugghhh!! Turning into crazy chicken momma.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

Copper actually doesn't rust depending on what your definition of rust is. Copper will break down and dissolve if it comes in contact with water and any other metal other than brass. Meanwhile companies are making serious $$$ selling these sharkbite/gatorbite things that will only fail in a couple of years. I suspect that your bar was only copper plated. Copper is to expensive to use on anything it doesn't have to be so it's often plated etc. I think you will be pretty happy with your cooler waterer.

Thanks kevs-chickadees!! Then I have no answers to why our galvanized watering can has rust in the water. Most likely than it's just and old can.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

Hey all,
Remember the person who had her chickens "rescued" while she was on vacation? Well, she's still on vacation so I thought I should update you for her.
The landlady had her chickens. She had stolen them! Unbelievable!
She finally turned them over after threats of media and law enforcement involvement. The chickens are with a friend until she returns.

Good Lord!!! Are you serious?? I can not believe what people think they can get away with. Absolutely disgusting.

 

[Sheof3Angels]

On a different note than the others, there are numerous things you can do to decrease your expenses, too. I don't know how much you've read or know already, so here goes...

- Check with your local grocery stores for produce that is not fresh enough to be sold on their shelves, but is still plenty fresh for your chickens. Virtually all of this at most stores go in the dumpster, so they may be willing to give it away for free. I've heard of several stores in my old neighborhood that had designated nights that they would "put cases out for disposal" in a convenient place for the homeless to take it.

- Remember to feed any food scraps to your flock after your family meals. My one-year-old daughter always leaves a mess on the floor and her highchair tray, so I just gather up all the scraps and toss them outside. They will darn near lick the corn on the cob clean, too. There is never an ounce of scraps going to waste in our house. Just remember to try to keep it semi-balanced. Avoid large amounts of bread products, for instance. They don't need empty carbs any more than humans do.

- The same goes for any local butcher shop. On all meat scraps, there is a certain amount of meat that is left over. You can take a little extra time to trim off this meat and feed it to your flock for extra protein content. You can feed them a certain amount of the fat as well, but don't use it heavily. If you can get enough protein, free-ranging and produce to eliminate commercial feed, you will need to supplement some fat content in to their diet, so it's good to have that available. Not knowing your situation, you can also use all of that and any roadkill you may find to create a maggot bucket or black soldier fly composter for additional live feed. Both are quite easy to do and require little to no work. You can find ample items you can reuse on Craig's List for a soldier fly composter and a simple used bucket works for the maggot bucket. ** Some claim you can have problems with limberneck caused by infested maggots, but others are claiming that the symptoms and indicators they are describing are due to wet, spoiled commercial feed and are that the situation is not possibly caused by the maggot bucket. Take that with a grain of salt and do what you want with the idea. My philosophy is that the chickens are eating anything and everything they can find in the wild, so no reason to be overprotective in my backyard. **

- You can easily start a mealworm colony. Again, used items work great for a container to keep it all in, it doesn't smell at all, it's self-sustaining with the exception of a few potato halves every week, and it's practically free protein. I picked up a new tub of mealworms every few weeks for about two months so that I could offset the lifecycles and keep a continuous supply. I slacked on replacing the potatoes (their water source), and they have recently gone dormant, but adding more this week, I should have a nice explosion of them. It can be an interesting project for school, too.

- Keep your used egg shells, let them dry out in a bucket for about a week and crush them thoroughly. You can feed this back to them free-choice instead of purchasing crushed oyster or crushed limestone. I've been doing this with my flock and I have excellent quality egg shells.

- If your situation will allow it, use natural bedding that most people can find for free. Dead leaves work absolutely great in my coop for the bedding and I just rake up a pile once in awhile to throw in there. If you get in with the lawn work for your neighbors, for money hopefully, you can bring the various types of leaves back for your bedding. You can also add in grass clippings for extra bedding. You can utilize the deep litter method in conjunction with this and end with a great compost by the end of the year. I haven't gotten to the point of being able to get a bunch of compost out for the garden, but I'm not quite at the one-year mark for getting chickens. I think I'm at about 9 months and most of that was in a smaller coop. My new one is designed around this method and it's working fabulous!

- Contact your local restaraunts that offer "fire roasted" items. Many cook them using seasoned woods like mesquite and such. You can often request their wood ash occasionally and you can use it for their dust baths. It works great for this and has been recommended as a complete replacement for diatomaceous earth on several occasions. In addition to the dust bath, they will supposedly eat it periodically and it helps balance the acidity of their gastrointestinal tract. In general, it appears burning wood is more environmentally friendly than composting it and definitely better than sending it to the landfill, so you can also burn any dead and dry branches that you acquire through the landscaping work everyone has mentioned.


Just a few ideas... I might use this for the article writing contest that is going on right now... Hmm, interesting thoughts...

Those are all GREAT ideas Demosthine!! Thanks for sharing them.

 

[MaddBaggins]

LOL! Can't legally shoot in city limits, though.

BB gun! I keep one on the back patio.