Arizona Chickens

[RennaeHanson]

I like not having to worry about any added "extras".

 

[EmmaDonovan]

If I only had A/C in my bathroom, that is where I would have to live all summer long.

It's really small but I spend as much time in there as I can. Both of us would sleep in there if we could fit but it's only one at a time so we alternate nights.

The bathroom only has an old casement window and we can't leave an air conditioner in it because someone will steal it (we live in a high crime/meth area). Instead we have a big, heavy 5000 btu portable floor unit A/C that I bought because I couldn't take how hot the house is any longer.

The A/C vents outside through the window so the window has to stay open (it's only the cheap one-hose kind of A/C, not the good two-hose kind). We cover the rest of the open window with cardboard but mosquitos get in, which sucks.

The bathroom is so small that the A/C unit has to sit in the tub! Every time we want to take a shower we have to disassemble everything in the window then lift that heavy A/C unit up and over the edge of the tub. It's very heavy. When they say it's portable they mean horizontally, not vertically! After a shower we have to lift it up and over the edge of the tub again to put it back in, and then we have to put everything back up in the window.

We have an old swamp cooler but it doesn't really work. We're lucky if it drops the outside temp 8-10 degrees and that only happens when the humidity is really low. So when it's 110F outside, it's at best 100-102F in the house. I just can't sleep when it's that hot. I hate summer so much!!

 

[BlueBaby]

It's really small but I spend as much time in there as I can. Both of us would sleep in there if we could fit but it's only one at a time so we alternate nights.

The bathroom only has an old casement window and we can't leave an air conditioner in it because someone will steal it (we live in a high crime/meth area). Instead we have a big, heavy 5000 btu portable floor unit A/C that I bought because I couldn't take how hot the house is any longer.

The A/C vents outside through the window so the window has to stay open (it's only the cheap one-hose kind of A/C, not the good two-hose kind). We cover the rest of the open window with cardboard but mosquitos get in, which sucks.

The bathroom is so small that the A/C unit has to sit in the tub! Every time we want to take a shower we have to disassemble everything in the window then lift that heavy A/C unit up and over the edge of the tub. It's very heavy. When they say it's portable they mean horizontally, not vertically! After a shower we have to lift it up and over the edge of the tub again to put it back in, and then we have to put everything back up in the window.

We have an old swamp cooler but it doesn't really work. We're lucky if it drops the outside temp 8-10 degrees and that only happens when the humidity is really low. So when it's 110F outside, it's at best 100-102F in the house. I just can't sleep when it's that hot. I hate summer so much!!

My next door neighbor to the north of me had one of those swamp coolers. One night the motor blew up on it and caught their house on fire. The wife ran over here to have us call 911. We ran our long hose over there to try to help with the fire so that it wouldn't take away the hose pressure that they were using at their property. It took the fire trucks about 30 minutes to get there after we called 911 for them.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Oh no! Were they able to save the house?

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh no! Were they able to save the house?

No. They stayed there living in their RV's for a few year's waiting for her to be able to retire from her casino job. Now they moved and took some of the stuff, but from what I hear is that the property next door is now listed as being deserted so that they could get some sort of tax break or something.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Oh, that's awful. I hope they have a nice home wherever they are now.

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh, that's awful. I hope they have a nice home wherever they are now.

I'm pretty sure that they moved to Oklahoma, as that is where their kid's and grandchildren live.

 

[BlueBaby]

Now we have to worry about our flock's getting the West Nile Disease this year. Will it be another reason to kill off poultry?

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/douglas-county-spike-birds-dying-west-nile-virus/

 

[cavemanrich]

Now we have to worry about our flock's getting the West Nile Disease this year. Will it be another reason to kill off poultry?

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/douglas-county-spike-birds-dying-west-nile-virus/

When West Nile was present in our area a few years ago,,,, it was mainly affecting the Crows, and Blue Jays. I don't recall it affecting chickens at that outbreak.
Took a few years for the Blue Jays and crows to start showing up again.

 

[BlueBaby]

When West Nile was present in our area a few years ago,,,, it was mainly affecting the Crows, and Blue Jays. I don't recall it affecting chickens at that outbreak.
Took a few years for the Blue Jays and crows to start showing up again.

Well, I guess at least if you know about it and know what the symptoms are, you will know what to watch for. If you live in an area that got a lot of rain and has standing puddles or pans of water you can get rid of them because they are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.