Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

I, too, lost a chicken this week. Piper my first chick, the silver laced wyandotte, the only chicken that I named, died on Sunday. She stopped laying the end of May and wasn't quite right since. I guess she was just being weak and the heat eventually got here. May she RIP.

Agh, condolences from us...

 

[carnivore]

I didn't know there was a tractor supply store around here, I'll have to check it out. I was looking at ones online and it looked like it was going to run us $200-300. My husband is pretty handy, so it sounds like he would be able to set up something similar to what you did. Thanks for the advice. Our coop is smaller, so letting our chickens be able to free range a bit would really be helpful.

There is a new one on the west side of the freeway between Cortaro and Ina Roads.

 

[K9Dave]

I get the theory and as I noted above, it may work in some rural contexts.  My concern is that someone in the city here is going to read that and think it's going to provide some protection against coyotes.  It won't and it hasn't.  I was willing to test it and found it has had no impact on the frequency of visitation to my yard.  Maybe going out there several times a day, nearly every day, for the past year isn't enough?     I'm not sure what your neighborhood is like, but hanging a coyote carcass out for all to see and smell would not work in my neighborhood.     Seriously, the best coyote deterrent that I've found in the city is a well constructed chicken enclosure.

Oh so you've done it for a year? Huh

 

[City farm]

I lost my first chicken to the heat today. I feel bad. Here I was on cool,  Mt. Lemon with the kids, while my poor baby was roasting down here in Tucson. I'm going to have to make sure to put out ice bottles from now on.

Oh no, condolences from us..

 

[City farm]

I live in the Verde Valley about 15 miles from Chicken-mama.  It does get hot up here but my coop is always in the shade as is half the run all day.  Never had to mist or provide ice yet but I will if they look distressed.   

  Plenty of water and no cracked corn!


We have a whirlybird on the roof of the coop and that draws a lot of the hot air out.  I make sure all the doors (3) to the coop are open and both windows for cross ventilation.


I have a friend who has had chickens for years in Peoria and they only thing she does is keeps the mister going during the day. 


Jacie

We like the idea of a whirlybird for ventilation...

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote: Yeah, I'm in total agreement. Feeding them?

Idiots. You're so right about the easy food. Part of our problem here in Tucson started with the large number of feral cats, the coyote population exploded in the last decade. Most of the feral cats are now gone and I think that is forcing the coyotes to work back yards more diligently. While I prefer to let my birds free-range, you really have to be smarter about it. One guy at the end of the block had well over a dozen fully grown birds that free-ranged in his front yard and even crossed the road. I don't think he ever locked them up, even at night. Within a couple of months they had no more birds. We saw the coyotes walking down the street with them in their mouths. Most of the people with chickens in my neighborhood over the past five years or so have lost most or all of their birds to coyotes or bobcats at one time or another. The losses usually are due to inadequate construction to prevent coyotes from getting in or forgetting to lock them down at night. The people in my neighborhood that still have chickens have enclosures that keep coyotes out.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Yep.

 

[City farm]

Wow, it looks like I'm not the only one with losses this week. 

I'm getting over it, and planning with my husband as to what we are going to do. I really would like to get an electric fence put up eventually but we need to save for that. In the meantime, when he gets back from El Paso I think we will be putting up some plywood or something similar around the bottom perimeter of the coop where there is exposed wire. 

Good idea for a quick fix..,anything to help you feel better while your away..
I wish I had a electric fence around our home, windows, door that would shock people that come to solicit.. For some reason they can not read..

 

[City farm]

Christian with his new doeling "Gypsy"

Our new Nigerian doeling s Reeses pop "poppy" brown doe and Madeline "Mattie" white doe

moo moo

Sean

My new silkied AM chicks

Had to share all our new babies. My farm is coming together finally.

Ohhh, how wonderful !! so love your photos girl..

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Thank you everyone for the advise, my husband is currently standing watch and waiting. I think he has made it his personal mission to regain our yard. I wish I could post a picture of him, he looks quite funny. I will keep you updated as the battle plays on, I have a feeling this will be a long one...

Any sightings this morning? I did some searching this morning to see what AZGFD has to say about urban coyotes and it seems that there might be some recourse for us here. I got the following quote from this page:

to capture and remove coyotes for a fee.

Coyote-sized live traps are spendy, but O.K. Feeds rents them out. I might have to think about this, it might be worth buying one and lending it out to everyone I can in town. I'm not crazy about re-locating, but at least you can legally transport them to someplace where you can safely and legally dispatch them.