Arizona Chickens

[DesertChic]

Hi everyone. I reside in Phoenix. Central Phoenix to be exact. I have two baby chicks, a black sex link and a amerecauna. I'm new to this chicken raising, so I'll def be following this thread to get info on how to raise chickens in this hot & dry weather. Thanks!

Welcome! You're in a good place. There are a lot of experienced, caring people here who are always willing to share their wisdom. This has become my favorite thread here on the BYC.

 

[Twinklin]

Hi everyone. I reside in Phoenix. Central Phoenix to be exact. I have two baby chicks, a black sex link and a amerecauna. I'm new to this chicken raising, so I'll def be following this thread to get info on how to raise chickens in this hot & dry weather. Thanks!

Welcome! I had a black sex link, they're very good layers.

 

[pipemum]

I feel like I'm having a bad run of chicken luck lately. Tapeworms, flys, rattlesnake...well, now a few of my meat chicks have what look to be bite marks on their rumps. Would a nasty rodent bite them? They roost for the night on the ground, so toes and such wouldn't be available to bite. OMG. I'm almost positive the injuries are NOT peck marks either, so yeah, it's probably whatever making the tunnels that allowed the rattlesnake in. I put them in the big coop last night, and set a live trap inside their coop. The trap was sprung, no rodent--it's a packrat sized trap, so a mouse would probably fit through the wire. I also hardware clothed any tunnels into, but it's a losing battle--they've already dug over 18" down in one spot. Can rodents develop a "taste" for blood...aren't they usually herbivores? I'd feel so much better if it were pecking damage and not freaking something eating them at night.

Anyway, a couple of the wounds may need something on them. Should I apply Blue Kote? Vet RX?

 

[pipemum]

Also, I really don't like my buff orpingtons. At all. I've tried giving them away, but I suppose I'm too honest about their awful personalities and no one wants them. They are mean. Decent layers, but not worth the behavior. Now one is broody and the other has a poopy butt that I'm going to have to wash and I'm just like, ugh...are these two really worth it? I dunno what to do with them.

 

[pipemum]

It just occurred to me that the relatively easy solution to the rodents digging under is to hardware cloth the bottom of the interior of the coop! So simple. It's an A-frame coop, only 5x6'.

 

[MagicChicken]

I feel like I'm having a bad run of chicken luck lately. Tapeworms, flys, rattlesnake...well, now a few of my meat chicks have what look to be bite marks on their rumps. Would a nasty rodent bite them? They roost for the night on the ground, so toes and such wouldn't be available to bite. OMG. I'm almost positive the injuries are NOT peck marks either, so yeah, it's probably whatever making the tunnels that allowed the rattlesnake in. I put them in the big coop last night, and set a live trap inside their coop. The trap was sprung, no rodent--it's a packrat sized trap, so a mouse would probably fit through the wire. I also hardware clothed any tunnels into, but it's a losing battle--they've already dug over 18" down in one spot. Can rodents develop a "taste" for blood...aren't they usually herbivores? I'd feel so much better if it were pecking damage and not freaking something eating them at night.

Anyway, a couple of the wounds may need something on them. Should I apply Blue Kote? Vet RX?

I haven't had rodents bite my chickens but it has been mentioned as an issue by some long-time poultry keepers on one of the Heritage Large Fowl threads. They mentioned rodents chewing on tail feathers at night as one of many reasons to keep rodents out of a coop. If rodents can chew tail feathers they can chomp a chick butt. Relevant posts were a couple of years ago and I don't have a reference for them.

Ground squirrels are attracted to road kill and I have always assumed they were eating it. I'm guessing they're like chickens: opportunistic omnivores.

 

[pipemum]

Oh that's right, I've seen the ground squirrels eating their squished comrades. Yeah, I'll definitely hardware cloth the A-frame at the bottom. I can't believe it didn't occur to me before. Now the biggest issue will be maneuvering my big self through the tiny door.

 

[aviddamy]

My Buff Orpingtons aren't very friendly, well that was until they matured. Suddenly once they started squatting their personalities totally changed. They don't jump on me or seek me out other than following me around, but they aren't fighting me when I pick them up. The only exception to this is one particular bird who just hates being handled. She's not mean but she makes a lot of noise and struggles so if I'm not careful she scratches me up. I'm working on her.

My duckweed is gone. A nice mechanic saw that my plants were dry and dumped the duckweed and water on my dry plants...well atleast my peppers are happy. Haha! I know he was only trying to help so I won't say anything to him about it. Plus he helped me make a gate to my pallet fence yesterday.

I'm workin on a run for my chickens. The coop is too hot for summer time. I have two moringa trees I'm going to plant in there. That will give them some shade plus the grape vines to the west side. My entire backyard is just way too sunny so I'm planting trees and vines to try to help. I also have 4 huge shade cloths that I will use to cover the run and its west side to give them plenty of shade.

 

[dnx717]

Phoenix posters:

I'm having terrible trouble keeping the fly population down. Last year was an issue as well so this year we put up 4 fly strips and 2 fly bag traps (stinky but very effective when you see the dead flys in the bags). I also put pine shavings around 4" thick in the run hoping the flock would cover their own mess. They free range for 2-4 hours a day and I spray down my yard once they return to the coop.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of these flys (by the hundreds!) and prevent their return? My wife and I are talking about selling off our flock of nine if we can't get this under control.

 

[aviddamy]

In my yard, the bags tho effective actually made more flies show up. Mine dried up and I left them that way. Way less flies now. I might refill them but put them in a way less traveled part of my yard. They sure are stinky!
I've also read some about fly predators. Perhaps someone who uses them can suggest a good place to get them? I've heard they are worth it. Sadly I have other bugs that are more of a concern than flies.