Arizona Chickens

[Syl in Tucson]

How eggciting.. Do they have a pinkish tint?

No...the eggs are a creamy color and the shell has an odd feel to it.
I KNOW its this bird doing double time in the nest box. This is a new flock. My other girls all hatched in Feb, so they aren't laying yet. I've heard of double layers before, but never thought it would be a Polish. She doesn't double up every day , and she takes a day off here and there with no eggs. And the eggs are TINY. Smaller than the "small" eggs you would get at the store.
Anyway..thought I'd ask if anybody else ever had this happen. I'm not about to tell "Betty" that its impossible for her to lay two eggs in one day. She might stop

 

[K9Dave]

Where I am (right at the border of Pima and Pinal counties), tilapia won't make it through the winter. Fillet time when it gets cold. The koi will survive even under a layer of ice. That said, tilapia will survive in Phoenix, and have even gone wild and living in the rivers. Heating of the tanks is economically unfeasible. The best bet is a closed greenhouse with a large compost pile. The compost will give off enough heat to keep the greenhouse warm, and you are still getting some solar heating.
K9, there is a good Australian website called Murray Hallam's Practical Aquaponics. Everybody knows Aussies are crazy, but many of them are raising crawdads in their tanks. I'll stick to fish.

I'm gonna check that out. You did your set up nice. I have acces to these blue Water Drums. My buddy owns a Pump and Drilling Company and they use tem for something. Anyways I'm building my smoker out of 2 of them soon. Small one for the fire box and the other the cooking racks. One is about 33 gal I think he said and the other is 80 gal. I've thought of trying rack aquaponics systems with these barrels. I'm not a huge fan of the taste of tilapia though so was considering Catfish and Brim. Have any experience with these fish?

 

[maryhysong]

It didn't even hit quite 100 here today, and I lost 3 hens, presumably to the heat. That was quite a shock. I don't usually turn the misters on until it gets hotter, and the one pen where 2 died has no mister anyway. The only thing I can think is, it got hot so suddenly. We have had a relatively mild May so far, and just came out of a nice cool spell, then the temp. really soared today.
Last year, I did lose a few birds, but it was when it got up to 110 degrees and had been consistently hot for a month or more. I am just surprised. I lost an Orloff, an olive-egger, and a Rhode Island Red. Not a mark on them or anything wrong, they just keeled over in the late afternoon.

oh so sorry to hear that Marcy. I lost a couple of EE girls last summer; both after cool cloudy spells followed by really hot days, over 100. Yesterday it was 101 up here, tho in my canyon probably closer to 98/99. so far so good; most of the coops are covered with 75% shade cloth plus I wet the floors and walls down a bit in the afternoon. I'm off tomorrow and will set up some misters for the worst days.

 

[maryhysong]

I also lost a bird yesterday but to what looks like a most bizarre accident. An older production red that was given to me last year. I found her on top of the nest boxes, with a bloody foot and blood sprayed all over the adjacent roosts. On examination the only thing I could find wrong was it looked like some how she ripped a toenail off. Otherwise not a mark on her. I have weirdo chickens

 

[carnivore]

I'm gonna check that out. You did your set up nice. I have acces to these blue Water Drums. My buddy owns a Pump and Drilling Company and they use tem for something. Anyways I'm building my smoker out of 2 of them soon. Small one for the fire box and the other the cooking racks. One is about 33 gal I think he said and the other is 80 gal. I've thought of trying rack aquaponics systems with these barrels. I'm not a huge fan of the taste of tilapia though so was considering Catfish and Brim. Have any experience with these fish?

Catfish should be okay, bream might not be able to take the heat. One of the fish I would like to try raising in the aquaponics tanks is yellow perch, but they have the same problem, they can take the cold, but I'm not sure that our summertime temps go too high for them. Be very careful, though, using any type of game fish, you might be required to get a permit for them.
Another thing you need to be careful of, is what was in those drums? You can wash them until your fingers bleed, and still have chemicals leach out and kill your fish and poison your plants. You even have to be careful with IBC's for the same reason. I get my IBC's from EcoGrow in Tucson, they only buy food grade IBC's from dairies, that were only used to ship milk.
Another thing I forgot to mention about all those greenhouse pics is that all that stuff was planted in mid-March. Using an aquaponics system does give your plants accelerated growth and health.

@lilchikn, you were asking if a greenhouse is required I highly recommend one, and here are a couple more reasons, wind, and early plant starting. The wind issue is pretty self explanatory. The other reason is that we actually have a pretty short growing season in Tucson, before it becomes too hot. You want to start your plants early, so you can harvest them early. Once it gets to about 90 degrees and above, many plant pollens become sterile, and won't set fruit.

One drawback to an aquaponics system that isn't mentioned much is that you have to keep plants in them all the time. The plants absorb nitrates from the water which helps them grow strong and fast. The growbeds are the biofilter. If you don't have enough plants in the grow beds (or too many fish in the tanks), nitrate levels will rise enough to kill the fish. I need to do some more research and figure out what I'm going to keep in there over the summer.

P.S. There are some good reasons why you might not be too fond of the taste of tilapia, if you knew how they were raised. Try some aquaponic raised tilapia, and you'd probably change your mind.

 

[City farm]

Organic feed update: I need to move this extra feed out of here fast before the rodents get into it. Good thing it is not the rainy season! I posted on CL: get 10 or more bags, $22/bag. That is less than the price at the mill and doesn't include shipping.

Anyone going from Phoenix that you know of?

 

[Sill]

I agree. I grew up on a farm and have been wanting to have my own ever since then. North is our plan. She can do her job from most anywhere and there's usually always a need for a Blacksmith most places. Chickens, hogs, cattle and goats are in my nearer future finally. Also always wanted a Horse drawn buggy so I hope to build myself one so I'll have to have Stock horse too. Wife is a city girl and looks at me funny when I tell her these things. I've designed a Cabin as well, that will have a Steel frame as well as a matching house for my Mother-in-Law and similar themed Chicken coop.

Hopefully I will have time to devote to aquaponics as this seems more my speed. I already have fish and would love to eat and raise my own are you kidding me? I'm from La. you know we like our fish. Have you heard if these Prawns people have on their systems now?

Edited

I've heard freshwater prawns are great to have in the sump, or fish tank if they can be kept safe from the fish using some type of barrier. I've seen people use milk crates, plastic pallets, PVC pipes, and netting to keep the fish from eating the prawns. I don't think they grow as fast as crayfish or Yabbies.

Just curious what you (and anybody else into aquaponics) do in the wintertime, to prevent the cold from killing your Tilapia or whatever fish you are raising? Does the greenhouse keep the water warm enough for the fish? Do you ever have to add supplemental heat to the water when the temperature gets down into the teens?

They can survive in the valley without supplemental heat. But once the water gets cold they go catatonic and don't eat...or grow.

I'm gonna check that out. You did your set up nice. I have acces to these blue Water Drums. My buddy owns a Pump and Drilling Company and they use tem for something. Anyways I'm building my smoker out of 2 of them soon. Small one for the fire box and the other the cooking racks. One is about 33 gal I think he said and the other is 80 gal. I've thought of trying rack aquaponics systems with these barrels. I'm not a huge fan of the taste of tilapia though so was considering Catfish and Brim. Have any experience with these fish?

Catfish are great even in winter. They don't slow down as much as tilapia in the cold. They tend to be aggressive eaters and have huge mouths so don't put them in with any fish or invert they can swallow. I've also raised blue gill, rock bass and small mouth bass in my ponds and they all did well. I'm not familiar with Brim. People in colder climates or in winter can raise trout and perch species in their systems but here I don't think we have enough cooler months to raise them to eating size.

 

[Sill]

Catfish should be okay, bream might not be able to take the heat. One of the fish I would like to try raising in the aquaponics tanks is yellow perch, but they have the same problem, they can take the cold, but I'm not sure that our summertime temps go too high for them. Be very careful, though, using any type of game fish, you might be required to get a permit for them.
Another thing you need to be careful of, is what was in those drums? You can wash them until your fingers bleed, and still have chemicals leach out and kill your fish and poison your plants. You even have to be careful with IBC's for the same reason. I get my IBC's from EcoGrow in Tucson, they only buy food grade IBC's from dairies, that were only used to ship milk.
Another thing I forgot to mention about all those greenhouse pics is that all that stuff was planted in mid-March. Using an aquaponics system does give your plants accelerated growth and health.

@lilchikn, you were asking if a greenhouse is required I highly recommend one, and here are a couple more reasons, wind, and early plant starting. The wind issue is pretty self explanatory. The other reason is that we actually have a pretty short growing season in Tucson, before it becomes too hot. You want to start your plants early, so you can harvest them early. Once it gets to about 90 degrees and above, many plant pollens become sterile, and won't set fruit.

One drawback to an aquaponics system that isn't mentioned much is that you have to keep plants in them all the time. The plants absorb nitrates from the water which helps them grow strong and fast. The growbeds are the biofilter. If you don't have enough plants in the grow beds (or too many fish in the tanks), nitrate levels will rise enough to kill the fish. I need to do some more research and figure out what I'm going to keep in there over the summer.

P.S. There are some good reasons why you might not be too fond of the taste of tilapia, if you knew how they were raised. Try some aquaponic raised tilapia, and you'd probably change your mind.

You could try okra or devil's claw, they both do well in the heat. Have you ever tried fruit trees? I've seen some in systems; dwarf peach, citrus, olive and pomegranate. These were grown in southern Cal. but those trees do grow here in the ground. I would think they should take to aquaponics.

Oh I've seen some bad growing conditions at tilapia farms here in the valley. Yuck! The meat from those fish can't taste right. Clean systems will make a difference.

 

[K9Dave]

I've heard freshwater prawns are great to have in the sump, or fish tank if they can be kept safe from the fish using some type of barrier.  I've seen people use milk crates, plastic pallets, PVC pipes, and netting to keep the fish from eating the prawns.  I don't think they grow as fast as crayfish or Yabbies.

They can survive in the valley without supplemental heat.  But once the water gets cold they go catatonic and don't eat...or grow.

Catfish are great even in winter.  They don't slow down as much as tilapia in the cold. They tend to be aggressive eaters and have huge mouths so don't put them in with any fish or invert they can swallow. I've also raised blue gill, rock bass and small mouth bass in my ponds and they all did well.  I'm not familiar with Brim.  People in colder climates or in winter can raise trout and perch species in their systems but here I don't think we have enough cooler months to raise them to eating size.

Brim, Bream and Sunfish are pretty much called the same thing where I'm from. They taste so good to me. The only tilapia I've ever had was fast food and wild caught myself. Wasn't impressed with either. That's why I thought I'd try the ones I like to eat. With te barrel system I ahouldl be able to house several different species.

 

[carnivore]

Brim, Bream and Sunfish are pretty much called the same thing where I'm from. They taste so good to me. The only tilapia I've ever had was fast food and wild caught myself. Wasn't impressed with either. That's why I thought I'd try the ones I like to eat. With te barrel system I ahouldl be able to house several different species.

Careful not to overstock. The main drawback to barrel systems is that they don't give the fish enough room to swim.

@Sill, bluegill is another fish on my wishlist, another is striped bass. Az Game and Fish might disagree!