Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

Speak of the devil; I just sent my dog after a coyote nosing around the coop.

Sweet, did the coyote take off? Do more than one coyote come into your backyard at a time?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
You betcha! The dog really lives for that task and she very keenly listens for alarm calls from the chickens. You know, I've never seen more than one at a time here and I've never seen more than one out in my neighborhood. A few miles away I did see a group of four running around a neighborhood just after dusk.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

If i didnt have kids i would put this on my fence... this is what im afraid of tho.. them just jumping right on over to have a meal

something tells me he/she didn't get the meal. But it was very close.

 

[rockmissjess]

It's just sod from Home Depot. $30 covers a good portion of the run; I put it in Nov. and stays it green until June with regular watering. I have to say though that my birds spend a good deal of their time free-ranging.

u laugh? why? *giggles* (shows u my homes yard)

 

[rockmissjess]

something tells me he/she didn't get the meal. But it was very close.

bahahahshahaha honestly i would love to see something like this in person.. does that make me a little twisted?

 

[dnx717]

Hello all!

New to chickens, fairly new to AZ. Grew up in SC where land was plenty but decided to start urban farming once I moved to the lovely cramped neighborhood in San Tan Valley in the east Phoenix Valley.

I want to get 4 golden comets, an Araucana, and an Easter Egger. These are pretty specific to what I want and I'm wondering where's the best place to get them. I do t mind an adult hen but would probably prefer pullers about to lay. Really not interested in raising them from chicks. Any advice?

 

[Sill]

So I was worried that the nipple waterers wouldn't be hydrating enough in the summer. They might prefer cups to get bigger gulps of water?

What do you think of this one? It will be hooked to a hose that will be put in specifically for this. They'd still have the hanging waterer of back up, too. I'm going to be gone for six weeks this summer and I'm trying to make it so that whomever I find to chicken sit will have as easy a time of it as possible.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290619075617

Let us know what you think about them after you start using them.

If i didnt have kids i would put this on my fence... this is what im afraid of tho.. them just jumping right on over to have a meal

I wonder if that coyote is even dead. I could just be hung up there.

Greetings and welcome to our thread! I think that nearly everyone here has had issues with coyotes. Jubilation, I'm very envious of your lack of attacks. I've had two attacks here in the center of Tucson and they routinely check to see if I've locked up the birds. I don't think there is any magic bullet to keep them away, 'cept maybe those made of lead. Of course that's not an option for us here in the city and you can't be there with a gun all of the time. A good dog may also help.

The best way to deal with them is to make your chicken enclosure as secure as possible. Having it covered is essential; coyotes can really jump and climb. Chicken wire will not keep them out; you should look for welded wire or hardware cloth (I see that you understand that too). The lead you have on that hardware cloth sounds awesome if it's in good shape. Then it's important how you attach the wire to the coop/run. The best way is to have a board screwed in over top of the wire so that it is sandwiched in between. Even I have not done this, but after seeing what the coyotes did to pipemum's coop it is our project for this upcoming weekend. Sill had a good suggestion about a place to make a visual barrier so the chickens can hide from the coyotes. I have section of shade cloth about 15' long attached to one end of my run so that the chickens have a place in the run to hide. We have so many coyote visits now that it really helps keep the birds less stressed. Finally, an "apron" around the coop and run to prevent diggers is essential. I used old scraps of 2 X 4 welded wire to make an apron that connects to the bottom walls of the coop/run and extends out perpendicularly about 20". The apron can be buried some so you don't trip on it, or if you live in a place that has grass, just stake it down on the surface of the ground and let the grass cover it.

Nice set up and I like the idea of sandwiching the hardware cloth between wood to make it stronger.
I have to have visual barriers on my coop and run because I have terriers that would terrorize the chickens otherwise. Out of sight out of mind.

I have nipple waterers and I like them, but I think cups would be good too. I've always wanted to try them just so I have a comparison to the nipples. The nipples can be a bit tricky to teach to older birds (although many people report that theirs took right to them--my original birds didn't). All of my chicks since the original birds were raised from day 1 on nipple waterers which makes it super easy and the chicks can't ever drown. Both of these work off of very low water pressure so you'll need a reservoir to hold the water. Something like a food cooler or water cooler would work well but a five gallon bucket will also work. A float valve like you see in evaporative coolers or one from a toilet will keep the water in the reservoir constantly full if you plumb it into your house water system. I like this method because you can put a frozen gallon jug of water in it on the hottest days. If you go with nipples, spend the money on good ones (which is really not that much more than the cheap ones). The knock-offs from China are a real hit-and-miss for quality and you can end up with leaking problems. These push-in style or screw-in style from QC Supply are excellent, I believe they are the original Ziggity brand. There are also the intriguing horizontal nipples that have recently appeared thanks to another BYC member, but I have no idea about their quality or performance. You'll need either a bulkhead or uniseal to send the pipes to and from the reservoir. I prefer the uniseal for the cost and failure-proof service but they only work with containers with a wall that is less than 1/2" thick. The great thing about them is they work really well with curved surfaces (like a five gallon bucket) where bulkheads do not.

Can you tell us a good brand of nipples? I got one from my feed store just to try and it doesn't seem to give them enough water. I've been thinking of trying the cups too.

Glad to have you on board,

Don't have coyotes here in Tempe where we live, but I have heard we have grey foxes... They can jump up to 6-8 feet..
We have hawks to worry about. We just put up the bird netting along the whole run.. When the chickens free range, we
are out there and our 2 dogs.. Gallo has shown photos of how they kept their flock safe.. Under ground wire ect...

Oh yes! The grey foxes are everywhere in Tempe! I even saw one in the daylight one afternoon on Baseline just east of Kyrene just standing by the road, I think it was going to cross. I see them at night often when they run across roads and you might think they are a cat at first until you see that very long bushy tail. We are putting netting over our run too. I'm hoping it will be done by the weekend so the girls will have room. Right now they just have a small covered area that is only four foot square, but I want my girls safe.

So, the nipple system in the coop is tied into the water supply via a water cooler reservoir. I can put a gallon jug inside there and it keeps it cool. In fact, the water just sitting in there tends to be a bit cooler than the water coming through the plumbing in the hottest part of summer. In the run I have a five gallon bucket with nipples on the bottom and the whole thing is covered in Reflectix insulation. That system works surprisingly well with a jug of frozen water in it. I only put ice in when it gets really hot. Most folks probably don't do a whole lot to cool their drinking water but my ladies really seem to appreciate it.

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I like the insulation on the bucket, an absolute must if it's going to be in the sun at all during the day. I'm going to show my DH the cooler set up. Looks easy to do so I can add that to his honey-do list.

 

[Sill]

You betcha! The dog really lives for that task and she very keenly listens for alarm calls from the chickens. You know, I've never seen more than one at a time here and I've never seen more than one out in my neighborhood. A few miles away I did see a group of four running around a neighborhood just after dusk.

Good dog! Really, a dog like that is priceless. Careful though, coyotes are smart and they will lure a dog away from the house and near the other coyotes to kill for a sort of cannibalistic meal. My nephew lives in NM near Taos and they have this problem. He almost lost his golden retriever to the coyotes that were waiting.

Hello all!

New to chickens, fairly new to AZ. Grew up in SC where land was plenty but decided to start urban farming once I moved to the lovely cramped neighborhood in San Tan Valley in the east Phoenix Valley.

I want to get 4 golden comets, an Araucana, and an Easter Egger. These are pretty specific to what I want and I'm wondering where's the best place to get them. I do t mind an adult hen but would probably prefer pullers about to lay. Really not interested in raising them from chicks. Any advice?

Craigslist
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/gra/
Do a search for chickens or pullets and see what comes up.

Oh, and welcome!

 

[FeatherPugs]

So, the nipple system in the coop is tied into the water supply via a water cooler reservoir. I can put a gallon jug inside there and it keeps it cool. In fact, the water just sitting in there tends to be a bit cooler than the water coming through the plumbing in the hottest part of summer. In the run I have a five gallon bucket with nipples on the bottom and the whole thing is covered in Reflectix insulation. That system works surprisingly well with a jug of frozen water in it. I only put ice in when it gets really hot. Most folks probably don't do a whole lot to cool their drinking water but my ladies really seem to appreciate it.

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Gallo - thank you thank you! I just showed my DH and he said "hail yes we can do that - dang why didn't I think of that!" Guess where we will be this weekend? Besides looking for a cooler at the yard sales!!! I already put iced jugs in the water the girls have now - or in their pans of water - so this will just give us more of what we need! Thanks again. WhooHoo!!

 

[Bobby Basham]

So, the water cooler acts on the same principle as a toilet tank with an adjustable float, right? Refilling to a designated level when the water level drops low enough to trigger the float. That's how I see it and think it's an ingenious idea. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona