Arizona Chickens

[cavemanrich]

The coop we bought off of Amazon came in two boxes: one large and one medium. The large box we still have. Everything that's supposed to be in it is there: the poles, wire mesh that goes over the coop, and tarp. That's the majority of the materials. I guess the other (smaller) box that the thieves took had the connectors, door hardware, and I'm not sure what else.

That would give you a nice secure area, Well worth pursuing to get the hardware box.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Oh, thank you, cavemanrich - don't listen to me, I'm just bellyaching. I go through this every year at this time. I get all excited about all the chicks hatching then fail to get any kind of coop built. It doesn't help that this is my roommate's idea of a chicken coop:

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And this is mine:

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We compromised and bought this off of Amazon in 2021 but it was stolen out of our yard (along with a bunch of other stuff - we learned the hard way) before we could build it.

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So my roommate feels like she's already lost money on this and doesn't want to invest much more. She's the homeowner so she gets the final say. She wants fresh eggs - we eat a lot of eggs - and will put up half for whatever we build but she thinks a chicken coop shouldn't cost more than $100-200.

I keep a close eye on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace but I'm limited to items that will fit in her little Kia (I don't have a car). Sometimes people will deliver for a fee and sometimes they won't. Yesterday there was a listing for a large amount of free wood in Oro Valley. That would have been awesome.

Another issue this year is that I just had heart surgery so I'm not doing much construction work any time soon. I feel strong but the cardiologist says no heavy lifting. I keep telling him that baby chicks weigh almost nothing!

Harbor freight sells carport canopy's in various sizes. I picked one up for $99 years ago on sale. 10'x20' and that used to be their standard sale price. They also come in 10'x10' for under $50 I believe. It could be wrapped in wire the same way as your Amazon frame. You could either cement the legs into a hole or attach legs to t-bar stakes for security so winds don't blow it away if you tarp it. Just something to keep in mind in case that box of connectors you need is expensive. The canopy kits come boxed so they're cheap, they'd fit in a Kia and easy to slap together. Can add bricks, rocks, boards or whatever at the base to secure the wire since those canopy's lack horizontal bars along the bottom usually. One of mine has pallet walls to make a half wall at the base...3 pallets fit perfectly between each ten foot span. I can take some pictures for you if you'd like.

Also for wire...if you need to buy some and are thinking of going the chicken wire route to save money...you might save a little more by buying stucco wire/netting. There's different types, but one type is exactly the same thing as chicken wire. Last time I bought some, it was cheaper than chicken wire.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

For those of you who have automatic pop doors:

- batteries, solar, or electric?
- do they work reliably in our temperature extremes (28F - 115F)?

Anything else you can tell me about them?

 

[cavemanrich]

For those of you who have automatic pop doors:

- batteries, solar, or electric?
- do they work reliably in our temperature extremes (28F - 115F)?

Anything else you can tell me about them?

I have Ador1. It is battery powered. 6 volt battery, that I change out once per year.
Had it working since 2017,
I'm not in the Hot Dessert,,,,, (yes I spell it that way purposely) But don't see why it would act differently in heat. I think COLD is a more significant bad factor,, And I get plenty of that here. Except this year, El Ninio weather pattern.

 

[BlueBaby]

I'm going to pull out my incubator and start it going in a couple of day's. Getting ready to bring more Bielefelder's into the world.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Does anyone here use a rat-proof treadle feeder? It looks like they're typically made out of metal including the treadle which seems like it would be get too hot for chickens to step on in summer.

Has anyone converted a metal treadle to be useable in summer by covering it with wood or felt or something along those lines?

 

[BlueBaby]

Does anyone here use a rat-proof treadle feeder? It looks like they're typically made out of metal including the treadle which seems like it would be get too hot for chickens to step on in summer.

Has anyone converted a metal treadle to be useable in summer by covering it with wood or felt or something along those lines?

I use a feed bucket for mine.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Does anyone here use a rat-proof treadle feeder? It looks like they're typically made out of metal including the treadle which seems like it would be get too hot for chickens to step on in summer.

Has anyone converted a metal treadle to be useable in summer by covering it with wood or felt or something along those lines?

I've never used one. Id think just keeping it in the shade would do the trick though.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

I think I need to adopt some of y'all's pragmatism.

 

[BlueBaby]

I have something to do tomorrow, so I think I can start this batch of Bielefelder hatching egg's going on Friday. That would put them due to hatch on March 7th.