Arizona Chickens

[Demosthine]

Being new to chickening and even newer to composting, the idea has me very interested.
Anybody here work with a "home" or "family" compost pile? I would like to stop wasting and start using my food waste!

I have a family of 4 and foster dogs coming out of my ears, 4 young chickens and two tortoise youngsters who live outside (ones gone missing again!)

What are the DO AND DONT of composting with chickens? The article here is great but it seems to assume you already know the basics. I could read up on it but I'd rather get an Arizona perspective on this topic since we have such a funky climate to deal with.

I have the perfect corner where I'd like to make my compost pile, and the end use would be for my small 5x8 foot garden.

Thanks guys!

Although I started a black soldier fly compost, it was an epic fail. Why, you ask? Because my chickens get all my scraps and I never have any left for the compost!!! It's amazing how much scraps they eat. It just never seems like they let anything last through the night. The commercial organic mash is their least favorite of everything they get. They are tearing up the leftover pork chops and limp vegetables that I just tossed out, since it's grocery day.

Not that any of this really answered your questions, but I just thought you might laugh a little...

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Do you guys put food and water inside you coop and your run? Or will just putting it in the run be good enough? Didn't know if they got up for midnight snacks and would need any inside the coop.

You can keep it either place, but unless it's relatively light in your coop, they won't come down off the roost for midnight snacks.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hi y'all I live a couple miles outside of Tombstone. I have turkeys but I love all birds!! I am planning to get some chickens in the future. So far my turkeys have done okay but we are up above 4,000 feet so we do not get as hot as some places. I put a shade cloth over my turkeys and mist them a couple times a day and they have been doing great so far. I am happy to see so many Arizona people here!!

Greetings! Welcome to BYC and our thread.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Being new to chickening and even newer to composting, the idea has me very interested.
Anybody here work with a "home" or "family" compost pile? I would like to stop wasting and start using my food waste!

I have a family of 4 and foster dogs coming out of my ears, 4 young chickens and two tortoise youngsters who live outside (ones gone missing again!)

What are the DO AND DONT of composting with chickens? The article here is great but it seems to assume you already know the basics. I could read up on it but I'd rather get an Arizona perspective on this topic since we have such a funky climate to deal with.

I have the perfect corner where I'd like to make my compost pile, and the end use would be for my small 5x8 foot garden.

Thanks guys!

I'm a mad composter. I used to drive my family nuts, but now they're just as nutty as I am. We keep a sealable container on the counter to keep every compostable scrap and empty it into one of our three bins outside in the evening. If it's compostable, we compost it (tea bags, receipts, toilet paper rolls, non-glossy paper, pretty much any food product, etc). I usually manipulate mine for the proper greens:browns ratio to get it hot, which kills a lot of the undesirable things and greatly speeds the process. As others have noted though, it's really tough to compost wrongly. It may take longer, but the end results will be just as good. Really, the best suggestions I could offer are to keep it consistently moist (like a damp sponge) and turn it occasionally.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Sheesh I fail to check the thread for a week and I miss so much! That'll teach me!

So awhile back I got a chicken feeder and waterer pretty cheap on eBay. I'd been doing some research but was having issues committing to $75 for a water and feed thing for the chickens. However, the combination of my current feeder along with the wild bird population living in my yard was causing us to go through nearly 50 lb of chicken food in 3 weeks (I have 4 chickens). That seemed like WAY too much... even if it is only around $17 / 50lb bag or whatever. So when I saw the one that was already in the states for sale I snatched it up... then proceeded to take two weeks to put it out.. then took the rains shield off since it doesn't exactly rain much here and I was concerned they weren't eating from it.

http://www.dineachook.com.au/products/Dine%2da%2dChook-'Mini'-Kit-%2d-3-Kg-Feeder-&-Drinker.html Anyway since I finally put out the feeder (have still failed to put out the water unit due to the fact that I don't want to mount it to my house, and we're not so sure the chicken coop itself can handle the load. SO the "plan" is to make a little stand for them. Holey moley I go through a LOT less chicken food this way. Just out of curiosity what type of feeders do you guys use that help prevent feeding the entire wild bird population? I don't mind that they take some of the treats and seeds I give the chickens, but the amount of food I was going through seemed extreme.

How did the council meeting in Chandler go? I think I missed any responses regarding the ban being lifted or remaining.

Chicken Story: So a lot of ppl have talked about giving their chickens scraps and watermelon. So I was cutting up a watermelon yesterday and decided to give a piece to my chickens. Peep came up and looked at me hopefully when I opened hte door and tossed it out. I closed the sliding door and watched her. She hunkered down with her beak maybe an inch away from the watermelon and proceeded to stare at me. I stared at her for awhile, then decided dang you bird, and walked away. So her response. She walked away. They didn't even touch it. I threw it away later that evening.

My chickens actually seem pretty darn picky. They like the barley we give them, though they like the seeds better. They don't eat leftover biscuits or bread if i crumble it up, they completely ignore it. They'll eat the seed mix I give them for treats, but I think my chickens are just downright picky at this point. I mostly don't care since I more or less never find bugs in my back yard, but I'm wondering if because they get whatever they find in the yard (bugs, weeds, etc), plus barley we grow for them, plus as much chick food as they want if it just makes them not care about new stuff.

We have a terrible problem with European house sparrows here. They were eating far more feed than my chickens were and at $38/bag of organic feed, it was just untenable. I made a couple treadle feeders so that the chickens have to step on a treadle in order to open the lid to the feeder. Once the chickens learned how to use it I stopped losing feed to wild birds. You can see it in the link in my signature line. There are other interesting and cheaper options for auto feeders too. Let us know how your feeder works to keep out wild birds.

My chickens love bread products--as long as they are moistened with water first. Spoiled birds.

 

[Demosthine]

So, for those that were interested, the organic co-op orders for the first week of August are now open. Orders and payment is due by July 25th. Go to http://www.phoenixorganicfeed.com/ for more info.

I am stilling willing to do the pickup for this one in the West Valley. As the deadline approaches, let me know by PM if you want me to get your order and where we should meet afterwards.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: This is how I do it, too. I don't even use the pliers unless I can't get a good hold with my fingers. Last night I took off the spurs on one of my boys. They were right at 2.5" long. One was very straight except the tip was turned (like a longhorn steer's), and hte other was curved throughout the length. I needed the pliers for the straight one, but was able to hold the curved one with my fingers. I've never had anyone bother the birds when I've removed spurs, but that may be becuase the leg and foot feathers largely hide them. I will say that as the bird gets older, the remaining portion does continue to get a bit longer each year.

 

[redrocketrooster]

Do you guys put food and water inside you coop and your run?  Or will just putting it in the run be good enough?  Didn't know if they got up for midnight snacks and would need any inside the coop.

I leave water and food in the coop at all times. I prefer to know they will always have it.

Im getting a nice incubator and id like to know what my Arizona peeps want hatched? There are several breeds i will be hatching for me (lavender orphs, ameracaunas, show silkies and marans) butobviously I dont have room for 24+ hens. So what breeds/colors are YOU looking for?

 

[tsuninight]

So, sadly my Polish has ended up a roo, and must go back to his breeder. Very much a bummer since I think Pie is really pretty and funny.

That being said I don't really want to do a small chick again right now. Any chance someone has an about started or started Polish for sale within an hour or two of me? I currently live in Maricopa. If yes can you PM me?

 

[AZKat]

RRR: What you're hatching sounds great! I'd also be interested in some of the cool looking and harder to find white egg layers, like Hamburgs or Exchequer Leghorns.