Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

[COLOR=B22222]Hmm, some breeds have an easier time of it out here but nearly everything suffers in the summer.  I've tried the frozen bottle thing but they didnt' care for it.  I just recently switched over to nipples on buckets but the older chickens won't have anything to do with it but they young punks (2 months old) love it.  Probably the one thing that weighs heavy on my mind, as Rufus said, is the water.  I think my bucket solution will allow me to sleep better at night.[/COLOR]

Last year when it was so hot we gave the flock bags of ice chips, frozen grapes & yummy frozen treats..
Then we went to blocks since they last longer.. Only for the 115+ days.. :yiipchick

 

[City farm]

I have 8

2 blue wyandotte

1 silver laced wyandotte

1 gold laced wyandotte

1 black australorp

1 cuckoo maran

1 barred rock

1 buff orpington


They have grown soo much since I first got them!!! I love watching them...they are funny...

Aww cute, Lol I only have 4
 1 Amerucana
 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte
 1 Blue Cochin
 1 Red Silkie
 1 Polish ( soon to come)

 I think raising chicks is fun and they're funny like you said. I can only have so many  I wanted a  buff orpington and others but I think I have many now

What you CAN have & what you DO have are completely different... You are going to enjoy it so much.. Little stinkers are better than watching television..

 

[keckhart]

Hi there! I'm not sure if you just post here or not if you are aiming towards AZ folks. I'm in the San Tan Valley area. I have EE, polish and silkies. I'm looking for a few more silkie hens that are older. Anyone have any or know anyone that have any? Also do you folks use fans and misters to keep your birds cool in summer or other items?

Thanks!

 

[desertnewbie]

Hi there! I posted awhile back asking about coops. Our chickens are about a month old, we incubated and hatched them ourselves thanks to a friend.

We recently met our neighbors who have lived in their home for 20+ years. They have chickens and their coop is built like Fort Knox - three layers of wire put together, an outer fence, a bottom lined with concrete, wire and wood, etc. They have lost many chickens to wildlife and have found rattlesnakes in the coop. We live in an area where we see bobcats, javelina, mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes, etc in our yard all the time. We have no fence around our property. We are near a wash which attracts a lot of wildlife.

I'm looking for honest opinions. Is it even worth trying to have a coop? I don't want to spend a ton of money only to keep losing chickens. Does anyone else live in the same type of area and keep chickens successfully?

Thanks!

 

[azelgin]

Hi there! I posted awhile back asking about coops. Our chickens are about a month old, we incubated and hatched them ourselves thanks to a friend.

We recently met our neighbors who have lived in their home for 20+ years. They have chickens and their coop is built like Fort Knox - three layers of wire put together, an outer fence, a bottom lined with concrete, wire and wood, etc. They have lost many chickens to wildlife and have found rattlesnakes in the coop. We live in an area where we see bobcats, javelina, mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes, etc in our yard all the time. We have no fence around our property. We are near a wash which attracts a lot of wildlife.

I'm looking for honest opinions. Is it even worth trying to have a coop? I don't want to spend a ton of money only to keep losing chickens. Does anyone else live in the same type of area and keep chickens successfully?

Thanks!

I have all the critters you mentioned and more around me. I haven't lost more than a couple of chickens in the last 7 years. Two from coyotes, while free ranging and one to a neighbors dog, that dropped by to visit.
I'm a big fan of electric fencing and both my runs are protected with it. Its possible I could be wiped out tomorrow, but I've had a long run of good luck so far. The coops have been checked out by bobcats and coyotes for sure. I've seen them snooping around.
I do have perimeter fencing around my property. Field fencing, with barbed wire on top. There is also an electric wire on portions of the perimeter fence. I know that the coyotes get in, as I've seen them by the front door of the house. Same with the lions.

 

[DesertChickens1]

Oh, so glad you are goining in, &
What other breeds do you have? Love your polish. Our neighbor has polish that we traded.. She lays pinkish eggs..

I have a leghorn and I just bought two EEs two gold sex linked and two blue andalusian chicks (they're three weeks old now) and I co own two BLRW with my friend, I show them but they're at her house. I used to have RIRs and BRs when I was younger but I didn't know how to make a good coop when I was young so the coyotes got them. My polish lays light brown eggs

 

[City farm]

 

When I first started thinking about chickens in AZ I googled Arizona coops and yours was one of the first ones I saw (the one with the corrugated metal on it) and it always stuck with with me and was influential when I built mine.   Did your coop page get lost with the BYC migration to the new system?  I couldn't find it when I looked again.  It's great to see you posting here!

Thanks for thinking of me.  I've been gone from here for a long time.  BYC got sooo popular, I found too many threads happening to keep track.  It seems every question was answered, before I had a chance to offer any advice.  I have several friends that are interested in getting chickens, that I thought I had better refresh my knowledge a little. 
The chickens we have now seem to get by almost without us.  We still haven't had any predator losses and the hawks still circle without taking an interest. The mules have given up trying to stomp the chickens. Chickens don't run in a predictable manner and the mules gave up.  The incubator hatches we do, go just fine.   Actually, the only unordinary things have been a blind rooster chick and an unknown cross breed chick that is the size of a bantam.  I think she is a cross of Orpington/EE rooster and NH Red hen.  Unfortunately, "Stevie Wonder" started attacking anything that moved and had to bet sent to freezer camp.  "Runt Runt" amazingly lays normal sized eggs, she just doesn't lay them in a nest. We always find her eggs laying around the coop somewhere.  She also has some sort of brain disorder, as she is fearless and will try to peck your shoes to death.  She is the only chicken we have that you can just walk up to and pick up. She also could care less for the rest of the flock and spends her time by herself.
Egg production is doing well, as long as the ravens keep out of the coop.  I couldn't figure out exactly why we were getting so few eggs, until I started seeing the golf balls around the property.  Evidently, ravens can't eat the golf balls stolen from the nests and drop them in the field.
If you had followed the story of "Bob", the amorous Orpington rooster lacking in social skills (he was the one pictured in my little chicken tractor), you'll be happy to know he avoided freezer camp and was adopted by a nice family in Patagonia, that also bought eight young laying hens from us.  I never herd from them again, but I'd like to think Bob lived out his remaining days as a happy rooster. His brother Kramer died last year, of old age.
We're well into our fourth generation of chickens.  About a 50/50 mix of hatchery chicks and our own mutts.  I have a broody hen sitting on a dozen mutt eggs, right now.  We usually discourage broodiness, but did a head count and decided we could add a few to the flock.  That, and give some away.
Our only old girl left is "Charlynn", an EE/Golden Laced Wyandotte cross.  Named for a bitchey neighbor lady.  Charlynn will scream bloody murder, and peck viciously, if you open the nest lid while she's laying (the hen, not the neighbor).  That's why we named her after the neighbor.  I haven't gotten an egg from Charlynn for about a year, but she is still looking good and the first one out of the run in the morning.  The neighbor is not aging as well as the chicken.
My wife thinks I should change my avatar picture, but I'm still the same, so, the horse's butt is still there.  You can take that anyway you like.
Thanks for the welcome back.

So glad you are back on, love your story... Sounds like a fun home..
We did try the incubator, however. we realy love the hen to raise the babies.. Easier for us..

 

[City farm]

Hi there! I'm not sure if you just post here or not if you are aiming towards AZ folks. I'm in the San Tan Valley area. I have EE, polish and silkies. I'm looking for a few more silkie hens that are older. Anyone have any or know anyone that have any? Also do you folks use fans and misters to keep your birds cool in summer or other items?

Thanks!

So glad you joined,
Shoot, we just gave away a silkie... . We will keep our ears & eyes open for you.. Someone else will probably chime in as to where to get some.. I read from the post from where I got done posting, sometimes I find that you will get the same answer more than once... Can't wait to see what you get...
We do both.. Fans & misters.. Tons of shade and ice.. Frozen treats wet the soil down..

 

[City farm]

Hi there! I posted awhile back asking about coops. Our chickens are about a month old, we incubated and hatched them ourselves thanks to a friend. 

We recently met our neighbors who have lived in their home for 20+ years. They have chickens and their coop is built like Fort Knox - three layers of wire put together, an outer fence, a bottom lined with concrete, wire and wood, etc. They have lost many chickens to wildlife and have found rattlesnakes in the coop. We live in an area where we see bobcats, javelina, mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes, etc in our yard all the time. We have no fence around our property. We are near a wash which attracts a lot of wildlife.

I'm looking for honest opinions. Is it even worth trying to have a coop? I don't want to spend a ton of money only to keep losing chickens. Does anyone else live in the same type of area and keep chickens successfully? 

Thanks!

Hay, glad you are asking.. Plus
Unfortunatly, your neighbor is right.. It is awful to come out & find your flock dead or gone.. Exspecially if you have hand raised them.. Are you doing it for meat, eggs or both..
I have found so many FREE, things for our chickens.. Dumpster diving, people throughing out stuff from a re-model.. So if $ is the issue just ask around I am sure you can
find some great things that someone else would love to contribute.. Don't for get to get antibiotic, sav, & other chicken medicine.. Maybe someone can post that list of things
nneeded.. I don't have time to look for it or I would... Keep us posted and photos.. I bet your little one are so cute...

 

[City farm]

Oh, so glad you are goining in, &
What other breeds do you have? Love your polish. Our neighbor has polish that we traded.. She lays pinkish eggs..

I have a leghorn and I just bought two EEs two gold sex linked and two blue andalusian chicks (they're three weeks old now) and I co own two BLRW with my friend, I show them but they're at her house. I used to have RIRs and BRs when I was younger but I didn't know how to make a good coop when I was young so the coyotes got them. My polish lays light brown eggs

Our favorite are the E.E. the range in color of their egg is fantastic..
Well my favorite chicken right now is our Moma hen Cheryl. She is the sweetest chciken.. Let's us pick her up.. She looks like a kitty/chicken..