Arizona Chickens

[RedMama2]

Those prefab coop's don't hold up to higher wind's as they are not very well made for the most part. Also if they say it's good for 10 chicken's, most likely they are meaning 10 bantam's.

Yeah, I know they aren't the best, which is why we modify. We have some scrap wood/lumbar to bolster it. And at this point I may only have 6 chicks we are keeping. So the prefab for 10 would be fine.

 

[springvalley123]

Watch out! I just got an order of 10 sapphires from TSC/Hoover's and paid extra for all pullets. I got 4 Roosters. Monday I'm calling about options.

Thanks for the heads up. were the cockerels barred, or has the sexlinking of this hybrid changed?

***ETA***
Wait---i also bought midnight majesty marans at cal-ranch, a hoover's breed, and got a "male" that was actually a female barred rock! Whatever doesn't look right, I'd keep until I could tell if it was a pullet or cockerel for sure. For example, a yellow down chick in a batch of red sex links might be a white leghorn pullet. Never know...

 

[springvalley123]

What kind of coop do you have? My hubby wants to just buy a prefab coop and modify it to fit our needs. I'm inclinded to go with him on it.

I have the "extra large walk in poultry pen" that's 13.5 x 10 ft, with 6.5 ft tall at the peak and 4 ft tall on the sides. I ignored the chicken wire and zip ties it came with, so I have about $900 into it counting its price, trampoline stakes, hardware cloth, shade cloth and heavy duty tarp. BTW the tarp is holding well and not holding snow, keeping out the rain, so it was a good investment. And I built a roost inside of it to further keep out any wind and make the birds feel secure. In their minds, hardware cloth isn't secure, they need to feel enclosed as if sleeping in a tree it seems...

 

[igorsMistress]

Weed killer--- can it harm my chickens?

We've got weeds (of course) from all this rain. We used to use weed killer (way too much to pull by hand) but now that we have the chickens wandering around for an hour each evening, I'm concerned that using any would be bad for them.

Thoughts?

I wouldn’t. You may find your chickens will eat them for you.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

I have the "extra large walk in poultry pen" that's 13.5 x 10 ft, with 6.5 ft tall at the peak and 4 ft tall on the sides. I ignored the chicken wire and zip ties it came with, so I have about $900 into it counting its price, trampoline stakes, hardware cloth, shade cloth and heavy duty tarp. BTW the tarp is holding well and not holding snow, keeping out the rain, so it was a good investment. And I built a roost inside of it to further keep out any wind and make the birds feel secure. In their minds, hardware cloth isn't secure, they need to feel enclosed as if sleeping in a tree it seems...

Is it one of these?

 

[Happy Novogens]

I wouldn’t. You may find your chickens will eat them for you.

That's what I was hoping but I believe it's more than they can take care of.

 

[springvalley123]

Is it one of these?

yes, that's it. Oh, the tarp that comes with it, never held a drop of water and didn't last very many breezes.

 

[RedMama2]

Thanks for the heads up. were the cockerels barred, or has the sexlinking of this hybrid changed?

***ETA***
Wait---i also bought midnight majesty marans at cal-ranch, a hoover's breed, and got a "male" that was actually a female barred rock! Whatever doesn't look right, I'd keep until I could tell if it was a pullet or cockerel for sure. For example, a yellow down chick in a batch of red sex links might be a white leghorn pullet. Never know...

Everything I've seen says the males have light colored patches on their heads. I have 4 this way.

 

[RedMama2]

I have the "extra large walk in poultry pen" that's 13.5 x 10 ft, with 6.5 ft tall at the peak and 4 ft tall on the sides. I ignored the chicken wire and zip ties it came with, so I have about $900 into it counting its price, trampoline stakes, hardware cloth, shade cloth and heavy duty tarp. BTW the tarp is holding well and not holding snow, keeping out the rain, so it was a good investment. And I built a roost inside of it to further keep out any wind and make the birds feel secure. In their minds, hardware cloth isn't secure, they need to feel enclosed as if sleeping in a tree it seems...

We're going to get the large run also. I have to pull a rosebush to place it, but I hated the bush anyways. Hasn't made flowers in years.

 

[springvalley123]

Everything I've seen says the males have light colored patches on their heads. I have 4 this way.

Ugh. That's too bad. But, you never know, maybe someone put four barred rock pullets in the box with six sapphire gems? One can hope right?