Arizona Chickens

[FeatherPugs]

Quote:
Yep trimmed our leghorn girl's wing too - so yesterday came out to morning feed and there she was roosting in a tree next to the porch!! Doesn't matter to her - she's just a social butterfly!!

 

[feedinbirds]

I live in high desert in So Cal - 120F is possible. No matter where I live, when it gets HOT out, I always offer chickens plenty of shade & water. I like to add vitamin/electrolye powder to the water, once a week or more often. I also try to leave the chickens alone during the hottest part of the day, to keep from stressing them. Fresh fruits and veggies are good, too. Depending on the housing for your chickens, you might want to use a fan to keep the air moving. Hens tend to lay less when weather is very hot, so keeping them as cool as possible will help them keep laying for you.

Make sure your coop has good air flow at night in hot weather, while keeping chickens safe. If the coop is too hot in the evening, they won't want to go in. Plenty of roosting space is important. In cold months the chickens will want to roost close together to keep warm. In hot weather they will want to spread out, so you need twice the roosting area in hot months as cold.

Water MUST be kept clean in the heat. Warm weather breeds bacteria in water fast. I've also frozen chunks of ice in big yogurt type containers, and added them to a shaded water bowl mid-day, to help keep chickies cool.

If free ranging, chickens will seek out the coolest part of your property. You may not want them wandering like that, but they will. If the safest area provides food, water, and the best shelter from the elements, that's where they will be. Most rural areas have plenty of chicken predators, from Coyotes, foxes & dogs to weasels, raccoons, opossums and skunks. Most of these predators will be resting in the heat of the day, but when hungry, you can't be sure they won't be active mid day, especially if they have hungry young to feed. No matter how you keep chickens, if they aren't safe from predators 24/7, you won't have chickens for long.

If your chicks are from a local hatchery, chances are the breeding adults were well acclimated to your type of weather and they can pass this to their chicks genetically. If your chicks came from a very different climate, or are breeds that don't do well in extreme heat, you will need to take extra care to make sure they are comfortable.

 

[mommax6]

Hi! We are in south Scottsdale..so almost Tempe area. We have had chickens a year. We made sure there's plenty of shade, natural and shade cloth. My husband put in misters (just 2 spray heads) because he wanted them to be cool! They are afraid of them so they don't go under them but it does mist other areas and I am sure it's cooler! I've heard about ice blocks in the water but we didn't do that. They seemed to do just fine last summer!

 

[City farm]

 

Sweet!! I will.. Probably a small one.. Our van doesn't fit much..I will keep you posted on the next trip there..

 

[City farm]

...

Hi all, I'm actually from CA but wanted to ask AZ chicken people a question about people.
Dr's are testing my son for Valley Fever and I've heard AZ has dealt with it a lot.
I'm hoping someone has some great remedies in addition to the medications prescribed.
Wondering if Oxine has been used for it before. Hope you don't mind the people question, but I thought you folks might be my best bet.
The Dr said meds can take up to a month to work and he's had breathing problems.
Thank you so much for your time
-Chrissy[/quote

sometimes there are secondary side effects from having valley fever. Here's what someone i know used after about a year of suffering. They had xrays and blood work to confirm it. This is homeopathic so its not by a doctor's prescription. Also for breathing treatments, they need to be done between 3-5 in the morning. There's a few hospitals out there that did it a certain time of the day that it seemed to help the patients throughout the day with better results.

Valley fever is no fun.. hope you caught it in time before it get's to bad.. we have heard that it is 6 months or more some time's

@City farm were they albuterol breathing treatments?
He's been miserable but I think much better than many with it. They have him one of the "zole" fungal meds. Dr said it could take a month to see improvement and he'll need to be on it for about 6 months. So I'm hoping something else could help earlier than a month. Thank you all for the input. I appreciate your awesome thread

From what I can recall, any breathing treatment.. It was the time of day in which it was administered. They wrote a book together called
YES,NO,MAYBE..

 

[City farm]

Well remember when I said people drop animals off along our road, dogs, cats usually - that's how we got our feral girl and now a feral boy and soon to be kittens - I wasn't fast enough on that one. Anyhow about two weeks ago a male peacock showed up in our chicken yard. He was hungry and thirsty. I have advertised and someone about 5 miles away from us said maybe that was one of their 3 that ran off. She wasn't interested in trying to capture it!! Crazy. I call him our foster peacock. I'm thinking it is now my peacock although I'm not really set up to take care of a peacock. Right now he free ranges, comes at meal times. I don't know if he is getting good water and dang if I can find where he is roosting. I know where he keeps out of the heat - in our oleanders - cool in those big ole bushes. So it has been a learning curve for me - never a dull moment at our house.

No way, how awesome!! Yeah, good luck trying to catch the dude!! If he wants to go home he will.. But it's highly unlikely.. Blessings from above.. Is he really loud?

 

[City farm]

I live in high desert in So Cal - 120F is possible.  No matter where I live, when it gets HOT out, I always offer chickens plenty of shade & water.  I like to add vitamin/electrolye powder to the water, once a week or more often.  I also try to leave the chickens alone during the hottest part of the day, to keep from stressing them.  Fresh fruits and veggies are good, too.  Depending on the housing for your chickens, you might want to use a fan to keep the air moving.  Hens tend to lay less when weather is very hot, so keeping them as cool as possible will help them keep laying for you. 

Make sure your coop has good air flow at night in hot weather, while keeping chickens safe.  If the coop is too hot in the evening, they won't want to go in.  Plenty of roosting space is important.  In cold months the chickens will want to roost close together to keep warm.  In hot weather they will want to spread out, so you need twice the roosting area in hot months as cold.

Water MUST be kept clean in the heat.  Warm weather breeds bacteria in water fast.  I've also frozen chunks of ice in big yogurt type containers, and added them to a shaded water bowl mid-day, to help keep chickies cool.

If free ranging, chickens will seek out the coolest part of your property.  You may not want them wandering like that, but they will.  If the safest area provides food, water, and the best shelter from the elements, that's where they will be.  Most rural areas have plenty of chicken predators, from Coyotes, foxes & dogs to weasels, raccoons, opossums and skunks.  Most of these predators will be resting in the heat of the day, but when hungry, you can't be sure they won't be active mid day, especially if they have hungry young to feed. No matter how you keep chickens, if they aren't safe from predators 24/7, you won't have chickens for long.

If your chicks are from a local hatchery, chances are the breeding adults were well acclimated to your type of weather and they can pass this to their chicks genetically.  If your chicks came from a very different climate, or are breeds that don't do well in extreme heat, you will need to take extra care to make sure they are comfortable.

Oh, you get that hot there?? What elevation? & what preditors do you have??

 

[City farm]

Hi! We are in south Scottsdale..so almost Tempe area.  We have had chickens a year. We made sure there's plenty of shade, natural and shade cloth.  My husband put in misters (just 2 spray heads) because he wanted them to be cool!  They are afraid of them so they don't go under them but it does mist other areas and I am sure it's cooler!  I've heard about ice blocks in the water but we didn't do that. They seemed to do just fine last summer! 

Oh, then really close to a few of us.. Hope you can join in when we do stuff... What breeds & how many do you have?

 

[feedinbirds]

The purpose of misters is to cool air temp, not get chickens wet. I believe that dry feathers are better than wet, when it comes to chickens regulating their body temp. The mist does cool the air, like a swamp cooler. The chickens probably just don't want to get wet. Glad to read the summer went well!

 

[moms3cuties]

, isn't it nice not to have moments dull where you bored, lol!

my White Leghorn is about as naughty and curious as yours I'd say. She comes in the house squawks at the front door after flying over my fence and then the neighbors fence. Gosh I thought that chicken would learn someday after I trimmed her wings.

Yep trimmed our leghorn girl's wing too - so yesterday came out to morning feed and there she was roosting in a tree next to the porch!!  Doesn't matter to her - she's just a social butterfly!!

yes I'd say my White Leghorn name chickles is way too social, for sure, lol

Here is a hug if it helps any!