Arizona Chickens

[pipemum]

Thanks! The greenhouse is made from scratch with galvanized top-rail fencing I got from Home Depot. I bent the rails into hoops with a hoop-bender and connected the parts with bolts and materials used in making galvanized fencing (so it was relatively inexpensive). The covering is polyethylene. The plants in pvc are grown aquaponically, using tilapia waste as the nitrogen source.

Before I had all of that, I was a big fan of concrete re-mesh, bent into 4' wide hoops that I covered with plastic in winter. I had rows of those things and they were easily moved. It kept the climate so much more controlled inside that the plants flourished. I would have to open an end during the day if the temps got high. Here are some old pics I posted on this thread, taken a couple of years ago at about this time of year.

Nice job on the hoophouse, it really looks great! You're doing aquaponics as well? I really need to learn more about that--are the fish easy care for? Can you go out of town without a caretaker for 2-4 days?

I have 4-4x4' garden boxes, most of which have concrete re-mesh arched over as a trellis. I could so easily cover with plastic. Like, I'm shaking my head over how I've missed that all of these years. I'm working today but have the next 6 days off. Guess I know what I'll be doing. I have one other long bed that I can probably rig up something as well. All my beds are growing something, but slowly, and now it's hell to keep the chickens out. Covering would help with both issues.

Where do I buy the plastic? Home Depot, Lowe's? Polyethylene?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I had my breeding program all planned out for this year but the best laid plans have a way of going awry. The first batch of eggs were due to hatch two days ago. There isn't even a pip. Humidity in the incubator had gotten way too high for an extended period and the air sacs were very small when I transferred the eggs to the hatcher. I knew it wasn't good but I was still hoping for some chicks. Nope. Looks like a zero percent hatch rate. Poor little guys.

The good thing is the humidity problem in the incubator has been fixed. Crossing my fingers it got fixed in time. The next set of eggs have been in the incubator for a couple of weeks and are due to go into the hatcher in a few days. It will be interesting to see if the high humidity during early incubation causes problems with the hatch.

Oh, I hope it was the humidity and you have it solved now.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Me too. Probably was the humidity. These eggs had the same father and some of the same mothers as the broody-raised hatch from last fall. The broody got a 100% hatch from the fertile eggs. So I'm pretty sure there aren't viability issues due to genetics.

Broody mom is now laying again - an egg a day - and I am madly collecting eggs from her for hatching. She was a great mom and she isn't bad in terms of Standard of Perfection type either. She didn't get to go to the poultry show last month because she was busy raising chicks. I'm looking forward to seeing what her own chicks look like. I don't think any of the chicks she raised were hers - she had been broody for three weeks when I finally gave her some eggs to sit on

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Nice job on the hoophouse, it really looks great! You're doing aquaponics as well? I really need to learn more about that--are the fish easy care for? Can you go out of town without a caretaker for 2-4 days?

I have 4-4x4' garden boxes, most of which have concrete re-mesh arched over as a trellis. I could so easily cover with plastic. Like, I'm shaking my head over how I've missed that all of these years. I'm working today but have the next 6 days off. Guess I know what I'll be doing. I have one other long bed that I can probably rig up something as well. All my beds are growing something, but slowly, and now it's hell to keep the chickens out. Covering would help with both issues.

Where do I buy the plastic? Home Depot, Lowe's? Polyethylene?

Thanks! Yeah, half of the greenhouse is dedicated to aquaponics. I have a 700 gallon in-ground tank with a large gravel grow bed above it and a 500 gallon above ground tank next to that. The large water mass helps keep it warm inside on cold nights. It's very easy to care for and can be left for a long weekend untended.

Yeah, the hoops covered with plastic solved my chicken problem too! I always used the 6 mil plastic in the painting prep aisle at HD or Lowes. It degrades quickly in the sun and only lasts about one year (two at most), but it's also cheap. The re-mesh tends to put holes in it over time anyway. I think I would get either the 8' or 10' widths and cut it to length. You'll be so happy with the results. You'll use less water too!

 

[pipemum]

Thanks. I seriously can't believe I haven't thought of creating little greenhouses over the bins. It's all right there! I even have painting plastic in my shed.

okay, wow, your aquaponics system seems impressive. Obviously, you eat the tilapia as well?

 

[pipemum]

Me too. Probably was the humidity. These eggs had the same father and some of the same mothers as the broody-raised hatch from last fall. The broody got a 100% hatch from the fertile eggs. So I'm pretty sure there aren't viability issues due to genetics.

Broody mom is now laying again - an egg a day - and I am madly collecting eggs from her for hatching. She was a great mom and she isn't bad in terms of Standard of Perfection type either. She didn't get to go to the poultry show last month because she was busy raising chicks. I'm looking forward to seeing what her own chicks look like. I don't think any of the chicks she raised were hers - she had been broody for three weeks when I finally gave her some eggs to sit on

Bummer about the eggs, but sounds like you got the incubator issues cleared up. I missed it, what breed are you raising?

 

[Demosthine]

My wife's romaine lettuce went to seed this week. I was wondering why it had shot up so tall all of a sudden, nearly doubling in size. She informed me today it's almost ready to harvest the seeds. We can replant a lot more next season for free! Woohoo! We've been saving the seeds from our other fruit and vegetables, too. Who knows how much is heirloom versus hybrids, but we can find out next time. I've killed nearly all the vegetables I've ever planted, so I'm completely useless there. I can't even get my aquaponics garden to grow, or the cilantro in the pot in the window, or... It's all died. I apparently have my Mom's black thumb when it comes to that stuff.

Gallo, I still drool over that aquaponics setup you have going. If I had enough land to do it, I would have built that last year. It was such an amazing setup. I really want to do a big ol' hoop house, too, but that hasn't worked out either. Time, I need more time in every single day. Oh, and land. Lots more land!


On the good side of life, I canned four pints of pineapple chunks and then made a pineapple habanero salsa that I canned this morning. It smells so good! I can't wait to poor some of a cube of cream cheese and dig in with a cracker... Yumm... I'm making some sour cream and onion dip today, too. We have friends coming over Thursday for both their birthdays and my wife's birthday. Sounds like a couple of great appetizers to me. Oh, the pineapple came out to about 50c per pint, while the salsa was 67c per pint. Compare that at $1.33 for the quart, to the retail price of over $9.00 at Costco and it came out ridiculously cheep, even if you add buying the brand new jars! Just a couple hours of my life to do.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Thanks. I seriously can't believe I haven't thought of creating little greenhouses over the bins. It's all right there! I even have painting plastic in my shed.

okay, wow, your aquaponics system seems impressive. Obviously, you eat the tilapia as well?

Yes!

My wife's romaine lettuce went to seed this week. I was wondering why it had shot up so tall all of a sudden, nearly doubling in size. She informed me today it's almost ready to harvest the seeds. We can replant a lot more next season for free! Woohoo! We've been saving the seeds from our other fruit and vegetables, too. Who knows how much is heirloom versus hybrids, but we can find out next time. I've killed nearly all the vegetables I've ever planted, so I'm completely useless there. I can't even get my aquaponics garden to grow, or the cilantro in the pot in the window, or... It's all died. I apparently have my Mom's black thumb when it comes to that stuff.

Gallo, I still drool over that aquaponics setup you have going. If I had enough land to do it, I would have built that last year. It was such an amazing setup. I really want to do a big ol' hoop house, too, but that hasn't worked out either. Time, I need more time in every single day. Oh, and land. Lots more land!

Thanks! You just have to keep trying, keep talking to others and keep reading. Sometimes you have to kill a lot of plants before you figure it out. It doesn't take too much space either. I live in the middle of Tucson on 1/3rd of an acre. I have to say though, the greenhouse does figure prominently in the tiny back yard. Oh, and your seed saving reminded me of something!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Nice job on the hoophouse, it really looks great!  You're doing aquaponics as well?  I really need to learn more about that--are the fish easy care for?  Can you go out of town without a caretaker for 2-4 days? 

I have 4-4x4' garden boxes, most of which have concrete re-mesh arched over as a trellis.  I could so easily cover with plastic.  Like, I'm shaking my head over how I've missed that all of these years.  I'm working today but have the next 6 days off.  Guess I know what I'll be doing.  I have one other long bed that I can probably rig up something as well.  All my beds are growing something, but slowly, and now it's hell to keep the chickens out.  Covering would help with both issues.  

Where do I buy the plastic?  Home Depot, Lowe's?  Polyethylene? 

I found that Home Depot is convenient and comparatively easy. But you will need to replace quite soon. The UV rays eats it up. I went on line to a green house supplier. There is a great variety of clarity, thickness, and sizes. It is according to your expectations. The green house stuff is not as brittal from day one and seems to have greater elasticity. I have used both. H D when I plan on a one time use for max of a years, it does work. Again your expectations on how long you want it to last. Green house will tell you the life span

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Announcing, the return of the BYC Arizona thread seed box!




I started this along with BYC member, constance about two years ago. We put in all of our extra seed packets, packets that were expired and seeds collected from plants that we grew. It started with a few hundred packets of seeds. The idea was to promote gardening in AZ and to share seeds from plants we found to do well in our climate and to promote interactions among our community. The only requirement in getting the seed box is that you have to help get it to the next person. You can take what you want/need and add whatever you can, no one will know. It zig-zagged across the state and finally made it back home to me. I was disappointed that there weren't any seeds in it beyond what I sent, but I was thrilled that so many people out there planted seeds from plants that I grew. It was great hearing from some of you. It was also fun to follow it's journey from member to member. I think it was a success and I think we should give it another go. Start collecting your seeds! This time I hope everyone that gets the box signs it with their BYC username. Squeekyballs drew the rooster and the box art was done by azpenguin. Laree even signed the BYC sticker.