Arizona Chickens

[ejcrist]

I still have my mini hand-held rotor-tiller that I haven't tried yet. I will till the soil around the run then put the actual boxes in place. These sections may only be 4 x 8 feet, well actually 4 x 16, extending around the outside of the run. My entire run is 16 x 16, excluding the cutout for my little 4 x 8 observation deck. --BB

Roger that - yes a tiller is certainly helpful. I couldn't farm without one (or two to be exact). Just make sure you dig down deep with a shovel or caliche bar the first time you break soil so you promote good drainage - you only have to do it once. If you only use the tiller you might be just dredging out a shallow pan which is like a pot made of dirt. Try to get down at least a foot if you can. I know it sounds like a lot but just do a little each day. It makes a huge difference. Then backfill with a mixture of the steer manure and the dirt you broke up and you'll be good. My big tiller is a BCS750 12HP with the 33" tiller, and it gets down 18" easily so I didn't have to hand dig my plots but for a small area I'd just do it by hand.

 

[BlueBaby]

Roger that - yes a tiller is certainly helpful. I couldn't farm without one (or two to be exact). Just make sure you dig down deep with a shovel or caliche bar the first time you break soil so you promote good drainage - you only have to do it once. If you only use the tiller you might be just dredging out a shallow pan which is like a pot made of dirt. Try to get down at least a foot if you can. I know it sounds like a lot but just do a little each day. It makes a huge difference. Then backfill with a mixture of the steer manure and the dirt you broke up and you'll be good. My big tiller is a BCS750 12HP with the 33" tiller, and it gets down 18" easily so I didn't have to hand dig my plots but for a small area I'd just do it by hand.

Yes, that soil sure is hard to break up at first. We had to use a trench digger in order to just run wire underground for the coop and chicken run, plus we used it to dig a place to run a pvc water pipe from the house out to the coop.

 

[ejcrist]

Thank you for this info! We xeriscaped the front, still a work in progress. The back yard is our main focus now and I have a LOT of space where I want to kill off everything and then try eco turf. Gotta get rid of the crabgrass first. Getting this book.

You're very welcome - glad to help. If/when you're ready to buy cover crop seeds take a look at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in CA for small quantities, or places like Hancock Seed and L.A. Hearne Co. - they have the best prices and great selections. Burpee and territorial are ok for some things but I never buy most seeds from them unless they have something I want that no one else has, which is rare. Those places are just way too expensive. I did get some seed starting stuff from them, specifically soil blockers, because at the time about 30 years ago Territorial was the only place that had them. But yeah, don't pay too much because most cover crop/green manure seeds are are only a fraction of the cost of regular vegetable seeds.

 

[ejcrist]

Yes, that soil sure is hard to break up at first. We had to use a trench digger in order to just run wire underground for the coop and chicken run, plus we used it to dig a place to run a pvc water pipe from the house out to the coop.

Amen sister. I thought I had compacted soil back in PA but little did I know what real compacted soil was. AZ would take first place on hardpan clay for sure.

 

[BlueBaby]

I have separated my boys from my girls for the next few hotter months, and will put them back together for breeding when it starts getting cooler again. I don't want the roosters tearing up the hens in the heat. Anyways, I do have the fertile eggs available until the end of this month, if anyone is interested. The eggs would hatch out Blue and Splash Australorps.

 

[cactusrota]

Amen sister. I thought I had compacted soil back in PA but little did I know what real compacted soil was. AZ would take first place on hardpan clay for sure.

Which is why it can be so hard to control weeds here. That hard packed ground makes it almost impossible to get to the roots. Even when it rains, it's still packed enough to make it almost impossible. Weeds here are so evolved for these conditions. I poured some straight vinegar on some weeds yesterday and the very ground foamed up because of how alkaline it is here.

 

[cactusrota]

So, I debated posting this here or on the NN page because it kinda involves both equally. I've had this thought in my head for awhile, but probably won't act on it until next year since i've got too much going on this year. I'm thinking about crossing NN's with either Buckeyes or heritage RIR's to get a nice dark red NN, and then call them something cool like Hell Peckers or something. Sounds dorky, I know...
I'm just wondering how many people in AZ have either Buckeye's or the heritage RIR's and how they compare to our heat. I feel like the pea comb of the the Buckeye's might be a problem for the heat, but I could be way off. I like what I've read in reviews about Buckeyes personalities and such, but like the big single comb better... And i know what's said about both in the breed descriptions on all the pages out there when it comes to maximum weights and such, but just wondering what peoples actual experiences are, here in AZ specifically. Hardiness, personalities, weights and growth rates, all that jazz. If you were to do a project like this, which one would you chose?

 

[ejcrist]

So, I debated posting this here or on the NN page because it kinda involves both equally. I've had this thought in my head for awhile, but probably won't act on it until next year since i've got too much going on this year. I'm thinking about crossing NN's with either Buckeyes or heritage RIR's to get a nice dark red NN, and then call them something cool like Hell Peckers or something. Sounds dorky, I know...
I'm just wondering how many people in AZ have either Buckeye's or the heritage RIR's and how they compare to our heat. I feel like the pea comb of the the Buckeye's might be a problem for the heat, but I could be way off. I like what I've read in reviews about Buckeyes personalities and such, but like the big single comb better... And i know what's said about both in the breed descriptions on all the pages out there when it comes to maximum weights and such, but just wondering what peoples actual experiences are, here in AZ specifically. Hardiness, personalities, weights and growth rates, all that jazz. If you were to do a project like this, which one would you chose?

I have a couple of SOP RIR's I got last year around October. We had a couple of warm days when I first got them and they seemed to do just fine but I can't say yet for when we get those really, really hot days, like 115+. I think they'll do about as good as my layers did last year since the only thing different about them mechanically speaking is they're larger. They have nice big combs so I'm hoping that radiator helps with their extra size. I took the advice of a member on here and put out Walmart oil pans filled with water for my birds to wade in and it made all the difference in the world. They stopped panting while wading even when the temperature was 118F - that made me a believer in wading as a great means to cool them off.

I can't speak to using Buckeye's - never owned them. I think you have a great idea in crossing them and I'm guessing just about any bird crossed with a NN would do a lot better than the parent breed would do. So far NN's have exceeded my expectations in all the qualities I value most. They're super delicious at the table, they're extremely hardy from what I can tell, and they lay as good as the best layers out there. On top of that they're friendly and very easy to handle. I'm anxious to see how they do in the heat but I have little doubt they'll excel in that area too. With only half the feathering of regular birds and large combs I don't see how could they do any different.

I generally stick to the same line of thinking as you when it comes to comb type and the heat. I subscribe to the belief a bigger comb bird will fare better than one with a smaller comb - it just seems logical. On the other hand there are some breeds reported to do well with small combs and I don't know what to attribute that to other than the fact they're generally on the smaller side as far as large fowl goes. I've read and been told Dominiques and Ameraucanas do well in our heat and both of those have pea combs, but both are also on the small end of the scale. There's probably others too.

If you can I'd cross both when you get around to doing it and compare and contrast between the two. I'm just guessing but I have so much confidence in NN's after raising my first couple that I'd think crossing with just about anything would give you improved performance over the non NN parent breed.

 

[DesertChic]

So, I debated posting this here or on the NN page because it kinda involves both equally. I've had this thought in my head for awhile, but probably won't act on it until next year since i've got too much going on this year. I'm thinking about crossing NN's with either Buckeyes or heritage RIR's to get a nice dark red NN, and then call them something cool like Hell Peckers or something. Sounds dorky, I know...
I'm just wondering how many people in AZ have either Buckeye's or the heritage RIR's and how they compare to our heat. I feel like the pea comb of the the Buckeye's might be a problem for the heat, but I could be way off. I like what I've read in reviews about Buckeyes personalities and such, but like the big single comb better... And i know what's said about both in the breed descriptions on all the pages out there when it comes to maximum weights and such, but just wondering what peoples actual experiences are, here in AZ specifically. Hardiness, personalities, weights and growth rates, all that jazz. If you were to do a project like this, which one would you chose?

I don't have personal experience with either of those breeds, but people that I know have had good luck with the RIRs, and not-so-great luck with the Buckeyes, which really struggled with our excessive summer heats. That said, @ejcrist is absolutely right that crossing any breed with NNs will improve heat tolerance and hardiness. I have Bielefelders, which may just be the absolute worst breed to have in our hot desert and represent the only birds I've lost to heat stroke. BUT...my Biel/NN crosses tolerate our heat extremely well, actually lay more eggs than the Biels ever did, and retained their exceptionally friendly personalities. But in case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm hugely biased in favor of NNs and crossing them with anything and everything. I honestly believe them to be the best truly dual-purpose breed there is.

 

[cactusrota]

Ya know, I only have minimal experience so far with NN, but I really love them and am really leaning towards having them as my mainstay. I did break down and get 3 Mottled Java chicks at the feed store the other day, just to try out. I don't know if I'm gonna keep any of the Barred Rocks I got, we'll see. I love Australorps. And I think I will always have a couple of those, no matter what. Since I'm putting together a new flock, practically from scratch, right now, I'm in the state of mind that i wanna get three of everything... just to try them all out. But no matter what direction my head goes, it always ends up back at NN's!! I wanna do a black NN breeding project (with the red necks) and call it Roadkill Retreat. I'd call it a Ranch but the DH has problems with the word Ranch, not really sure why. I just really like the black plummage with the blue/green sheen. And I've also found that with alot of things, black things tend to hold up to the summer sun here alot better. Just leave a black bucket and a white bucket out in the sun for a couple summers and see which one crumbles first. So a good hardy black NN with a red neck that looks like a Turkey Vulture would be perfect! Thus: Roadkill Retreat.

And then make dark red ones by crossing them with RIR's, and they'd be all red like demon turkey vultures that escaped from hell. Yes, my mind goes weird ways like that.