Arizona Chickens

[Wildroses986]

Hello all! I live in Tucson and am trying to start up my backyard flock sometime after the hottest part of the summer before it gets chilly and on a BYC member suggestion I bought Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. In the coop section the book recommended using dropping pans under the coop, do any of you guys have experience building/using a dropping pan and do you recommend it?

Thanks!

 

[ArizonaNessa]

from Glendale

I have never used dropping pans under a coop because I don't have my chickens on wire. I use a method similar to a deep litter method. The chickens have access to the ground. The bottom of my coop is covered in pine shavings that I buy in compressed blocks from the feed store. If you are just going to have a coop for them to sleep in and they will be free ranged the rest of the time then maybe a raised coop with dropping pans would be ideal for you.

I am sure that others here have used them or have other suggestions for you. Glad you have joined us.

 

[Wildroses986]

Thanks very much for the warm welcome

We have somewhat of a plan for our coop, nothing set in stone yet. We aren't planning on having but a handful of chickens since we don't want to anger our neighbors. I would prefer not to house the hens on wire, but I also would really like to use the chicken waste on our veggie garden.

I've heard that having nice sand in the run area provides a place for hens to dig down and find cooler soil as well, is sand an option for inside the coop or am I talking crazy? Everyone should feel free to tell me when I come up with terrible ideas, as I have no idea what I'm doing!

Oh, by the way, we are planning on a 3 wall design with a 16' attached run, if that helps or changes anything... going to dig a trench around the whole thing and bury the chicken wire 6 inches down to prevent any predators digging underneath.

Thanks for everyone's help and input!

 

[gckiddhouse]

Quote:
That is just crazy talk! I don't even sweep and mop my house every week! Well... come to think of it, we don't poop on the floor either.

We have the ground + wood chips. Since they free range most days it sorta mulches easily so we only occasionally rake it out.

The bottom of the hen house is wire, but the poo does not fall through. So, what we have been using is these pine mats that are for a cooler. We put two in the hen house floor and change it every week or so. It catches the poo and then we just through it away. This is not very cost effective, but it keeps things easy and clean. They are about $3 a piece.

Mahonri, I am sure that if we had a washable floor, I would be out there all the time cleaning it, too.

 

[DM]

I have a small flock of 3 babies and bought a portable henhut that sits on the ground and can be moved. I have been placeing it over the grass to fertilize the yard and also over small garden sections that I plan to use as fertilized mulch for the rest of my garden. I move it around. It is small but adequate for my 3 chickens when they are grown...

I plan to free range them when adults after I clip their wings but only when I am on the patio enjoying them and reading as the cats are know to visit my fence.

By the way, I wrote a while back about the fiberglass used to make the roosting section of this henhut and the danger of its heat building tendency and found the answer is to place cardboard over the fiberglass roof and allow the outside cover of screen material to drape like a tent...it works. The fiberglass is cool to touch and the chicks are comfortable. I was so worried I even bought a thermometer to keep a check on it.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
Our 3-sided coop has a linoleum floor that is covered with shavings & DE. The DE keeps the shavings dry and I just go in their about every week or so and scoop out the poop under the roosts and add shavings as needed. Every few months, I take out all the shavings and replace them. The coop does not smell.

A droppings pan might be nice, but I never got around to trying one - I'd have to figure out how to install one and what we're doing seems to be working fine.

 

[Tonopah Pati]

I have two chicken hutches that have wire floors, with slide out pans. The hutch is so easy to clean, I just hose out the inside of the hutch and dump the pans in my mulch pit, then hose down the pans. I have been using my mulch on my trees that I am growing and on my container garden. I house four chickens in each hutch. The chicks also love the roosting limb I put in the run. I also placed a pvc pole with rebar inside it and then slid the pole across the corner of the run, it is about 4' long and about 2' up from the ground, My chicks love to roost on it and watch me work. I also use straw on the ground in the run, they love to scratch and kick it around and I don't have to spread it. I just bought a roll of grass and planted it in the run. I built a 3" high box around the grass and placed chicken wire across the top. The chicks can walk on top eat the grass and not pull it up by the roots. I think I have pretty spoiled chicks. I rake out the run 1x a month as well as dumping the pans.

 

[DM]

Thanks everyone for your entries. I learn a lot about how to raise chickens. Was interesting to read about the various ways everyone handles chicken coops and cleaning them.

The heat is coming soon. I am still okay with my set up but it is not 110 yet. Worries me some. Plan to put the sprinklers on mid day to cool the coop. What do you think? It comes on about 3 am so the ground is wet till about 10am. Plan for the second one around 3 pm. Would not normally do that for grass but I think it will help the chickens since the coop is on the grass. That green screen shade actually keeps the cardboard lid dry... go figure. The run section of the coop is open so the grass there would get wet. Should work.., don't you think?

 

[H2OKarensa]

Hey Guys, sorry I've been out for a while. I was on vacation up in the white mountains. Our neighbor watches our flock/herd for us while we're gone and she does a great job! She's 15 and wants to be a vet. It is a perfect setup.

So, for poop collection, we have a board underneath the roosts that we can scrape the poop off of every few days. It goes in a bucket and then into the compost.

So.....did I hear something about a coop tour in Tucson? Count me in!!!

 

[H2OKarensa]

Oh yeah!
I'm ready to get my incubator running that DH got me for my b-day.

I know where I can get some fertilized eggs up in Marana, but is there anyone closer to Sahuarita who has eggs for my bator? At this point I'm not picky about breed. Just want to try this out for the first time!!!

Thanks!