Arizona Chickens

[Bobby Basham]

Delawares and BA's are my first top choices, and kinda hesitant about getting those hybrid sex-links. I had my heart set on some ISA browns, but having different thoughts.


I think the coup design is finally nailed down, but my run just needs screened in completely, including the top with 1/4" hardware cloth. --BB[/QUOTE
@Bobby Basham
Don't give up on the Isa Browns. You are worried about things too far into the future. BTW, they don't burn out in 18 months. Many for profit egg farms replenish their chicken stock at 18 months. This way they can still sell them possibly although not for much ka$h. (known as battery hens) After 18 months the hens produce eggs at a lower rate than before. Egg producers are not in it for fun. Profit is what keeps their farm going along with all other expenses related. Chickens still continue to eat. I am not an enemy of such peeps. A business needs to make a profit to stay open. Most egg laying chickens do the best in their first 2 years of their life. They slowly reduce production as they age. I only keep chickens as pets. (I don't eat my chickens) I had longest living chicken go 13 years. My last senior chicken pulled 11, but met a predator. Many went 8 and 9 years easily. These GOLDEN GIRLS in their golden years did not produce very many eggs. Many went on strike after about 6 or 7. Your Isa Brown will produce abundant eggs for 2 years easily. She will then drop off production and live to be 4 or 5 before going to the other side. I don't see that as a dis qualifier for a chicken.
Many peeps keep chickens for eggs. Once production stops, they eat them. These chickens are good for soup, since meat is not very tender. Still good to eat. The tender meat chickens only live 8 weeks. You get the picture.
WISHING YOU BEST

Cavemanrich, I am a worry wart and been reading like crazy all afternoon about these sex-links and other breeds, and have been thinking that having a few prolific egg layers wouldn't hurt for a few years, being a single person. Let them do their thing then put them in my pressure cooker (new, never used). Even if they don't have that much meat on their bones, I can't even eat an entire 16-oz cornish hen on my own, so the extra meat can go into soups, dumplings, pot pies, casseroles. I've also got the KitchenAid stand mixer with a gazillion attachments to make my own dough and pasta.

I was trying to avoid the fact that eventually, these chickens will be EATEN, and had a change of heart today. Have your cake (eggs) and eat it too. --BB

 

[cactusrota]

No Maran blood. Most of the barring comes from crossing with one of my White Rock hens, who happens to carry the barring gene even though she doesn't personally show any barring in her plumage. She's given me some outstandingly meaty NNs that are also great layers and really beautiful. This is one of my favorite hens from that crossing:

Trixie: She lays a deep teal/blue/green egg.
View attachment 1120248


I've also crossed a few of my birds with my Bielefelders since they are NOT heat tolerant at all, but are exceptionally sweet, friendly birds. That cross of NN/Biel gave me hens that are not only much, much more heat tolerant, but also quite large and meaty and excellent layers of medium-dark brown eggs, though not as dark as most Maran eggs. And my NN/Biel crosses are some of the friendliest hens on my property after my Biel rooster, Bosch, who's a total lover and lap chicken. (He literally runs across the yard just so he can jump on my lap and snuggle in against my shoulder.)

Oh! I was assuming that the barring came from legbars, since you had talked about the blue/green egg genes.

 

[Bobby Basham]

Bobby what hoa are you in you can have a coop like that? I'm in a hoa too. Want a coop but don't want to be told to get rid of it and the chickens.

Michelle, my neighborhood is way out near the TTT Truck Stop, way east of downtown Tucson. This is just north of the State and Federal prisons on Wilmot. There have been some new additions out here like the Pilot Travel Center (with Subway and Taco Bell), a new 18-wheeler dealership, and many new houses built by Habitat for Humanity.

My neighborhood is just a few blocks east of there, established around 2006. I've read through the entire what-cha-ma-callit, and it says you are allowed to have a "reasonable amount" of poultry, but did not state a specific number. I think Tucson City limits allow you to have 15-25 HENS max.

What you see is ONLY THE RUN. There are some regulations saying that you cannot build structures that will be seen and/or offensive to the neighbors.

That run is barely 5-ft tall, about level with my brick wall. My coop will be about 5-ft tall as well, but it may be buried about 6-inches deep, sitting on a bed of gravel and cement pavers. My side neighbors have no problems with me having chickens and maybe get a dozen free eggs on occasion, because I cannot eat them all.

My house sits on a Peninsula with a culdesac in the front AND back, so I hope none of the other neighbors from the back complain. You can't see anything from the front, but in the back, with those short walls, it's another story with all those houses in view. --BB

 

[Diannastarr]

No Maran blood. Most of the barring comes from crossing with one of my White Rock hens, who happens to carry the barring gene even though she doesn't personally show any barring in her plumage. She's given me some outstandingly meaty NNs that are also great layers and really beautiful. This is one of my favorite hens from that crossing:

Trixie: She lays a deep teal/blue/green egg.
View attachment 1120248


I've also crossed a few of my birds with my Bielefelders since they are NOT heat tolerant at all, but are exceptionally sweet, friendly birds. That cross of NN/Biel gave me hens that are not only much, much more heat tolerant, but also quite large and meaty and excellent layers of medium-dark brown eggs, though not as dark as most Maran eggs. And my NN/Biel crosses are some of the friendliest hens on my property after my Biel rooster, Bosch, who's a total lover and lap chicken. (He literally runs across the yard just so he can jump on my lap and snuggle in against my shoulder.)

your Trixie is so cute..! and wow i had been looking for White Rocks several years ago they seemed hard to find gosh , and you have them right here in Tucson, gosh wow that's just wonderful...!!!

 

[Bobby Basham]

I don't really have a set recipe. I add Celtic sea salt to the stock pot, followed by a TBSP of apple cider vinegar, and then start throwing in veggies and herbs: lots of garlic, onions, at least two large carrots and two large stalks of celery; fresh rosemary, thyme and sage; 1-2 bay leaf; a sprinkling of whole black peppercorns and sometimes I add a hint of turmeric. Add whatever bones and pieces you have available. Fill the pot up with water and bring it to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover...and cook that stock all darn day. If the water gets low and the stock doesn't yet tasted developed enough you can add more water.

I also often make it a double stock, which means I start out by boiling a whole chicken in the stock base for roughly two hours. After removing all the meat from the chicken for our meals, I put the bones back into the pot and add more bones and parts from the freezer, and still cook it all day.

Honestly, the trick is cooking long and slow until even the feet fall apart and everything is essentially mush. Then you just strain out all the bits and store the broth either in the freezer, the fridge or can it.

I like recipes where you can throw something on the stove and let it go for hours, while you can go ahead and take care of other business that need to be done. When you come back to that pot, you have many options what to do. I like stuff where you don't have to pay constant attention...just let them simmer and mellow, then get creative and work your magic.

Thank you, Desertchic, we need more recipes like these. It just shows that a chicken is more than just baked, fried, broiled or roasted. Poultry is such a versatile bird.--BB

 

[Bobby Basham]

Mine is probably like yours and I basically have to camouflage it...

Bobby that layout looks awesome. I am jealous.

Please don't be jealous. I just got this infatuation for WOOD! Even out in the garage as a kid, I've always tinkered with wood and power tools. It's just amazing what you can make from scratch. My construction is nothing more than 2x4, 2x6 and 4x4 posts. Just something completely from scratch. There is also a 12x20 tarp to cover everything except for my observation deck and a 4x8-ft narrow strip behind it. It's only five feet tall, but I'm gonna pack it with some deep litter to hide those base boards. There will also be raised veggie beds (hard cloth underneath) around the perimeter. So many plans, including solar power and irrigation. Being completely screened in, no predators above or below ground can get in, and no escape artists can get out. It will be the PALACE when I get done.

 

[Michelle Guynn]

I'm in Glendale so I don't think the poultry thing passed a few years ago. I may talk to neighbors to see how they feel. Our block wall is 6 feet. I keep my current silkies in the house. That being said we are looking to move in the next few yrs.

 

[Bobby Basham]

I'm in Glendale so I don't think the poultry thing passed a few years ago. I may talk to neighbors to see how they feel. Our block wall is 6 feet. I keep my current silkies in the house. That being said we are looking to move in the next few yrs.

With a 6-foot wall, you could easily have a small refab coup (which I don't recommend) or build you own with a small run. Go to the home page/coop section and check out all the small coop designs.

Coops are simple, and are only elaborate as YOU make them. The chickens could care less about fancy accommodations. Recheck your Glendale ordinances and see if things have changed. It seems that folks are speaking up more now adays and backyard flocks are finally being permitted.

Surely, you can put up some small structure out in the back yard with those 6-foot walls which can't be seen from the front street, and don't have noisy hens and complaining neighbors. You won't be the first, or last, to go "underground" with having chickens.

I don't know how many silkies you have, but it should be no problem constructing something for them and let them run around in the back yard for a little bit. No worse than having a small dog run.

I've been living in my HOA for eight years, and didn't even know that my neighbor across the street had three dogs, including a large Pit Bull and some type of poodle ankle-biter. The back gate on one side and the brick wall on the other hide a lot.

You shouldn't have to be living with chickens in your house. At least build something to let them roam outside for a few hours and give them a few treats. They just give off too much dander to have them cooped up in a house. This website is great, and am sure you'll find some type of small housing to hide in the back yard. Just be conscious about noise, odor, visibility (from the street), and complaining neighbors. Get those chickens out of the house to reduce your house cleaning and you should be fine.

This is a horrible pic of my house, but there is a gate on the left side at the rear, and a block wall unseen on the right rear. Everything is basically hidden from view. Looking out the backyard is a different story with all of the other houses seen on the second culdesac (I basically live on a Peninsula with two of them.). Being a person of color, no nude sun bathing for me any time soon...LOL! --BB

 

[MagicChicken]

Ok, thank's for telling me. I had to google search to find out about them. How long have you been raising them?

About five years.

 

[Diannastarr]

o and i meant to tell you that i had been interested in cream legbars for the auto sexing angle & those beautiful blue eggs, but i had read that after 2 years they stop laying , have you had that experience with yours..? its amazing you have so many of the breeds i have been looking into lately and we don't live to far from each other either, and thanks for your recipes, i also do every thing all natural & organic as possible so cooking from scratch is the base of a healthy life ,, so hey DesertChic i gotta say ,you got it going on....!