Arizona Chickens

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NestingMillenial said:
Hi everyone!

Just moved to Tucson last year and prepping to get some chickens next spring (right now I am just revamping a former catio into what will be my coop/run).

A few friends and I collectively had 5 hens in central Texas before I moved, and I built their coop back then, but I left soon after so my chicken experience is still pretty limited.

I will likely get my chicks from Ace on 22nd - I was reluctant at first with buying chicks at a hardware store, but turns out that particular one is pretty spectacular. However if you have other recommendations for AZ breeders, I'm all ears - I'll be interested in getting some fun breeds down the line too, as long as they are heat tolerant.

Very happy to be joining the AZ ranks :)
(And yes, this weather is amazing! <3)
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Hi and welcome!

I love the catio idea. I looked at some of those for our run, too. I think that would work well in our environment. Let us know how it goes!

I bought chicks from Inspire Farms in Mesa and also from BlueBaby. All healthy and good layers.

Have you checked out the Aloha breed? Despite the name its a breed being developed here in Arizona. They do well in our weather extremes. I love their colors. My next purchases will likely be Alohas.
 
NestingMillenial said:
Ohh, thank you for telling me about those - they are striking! Is the person still selling them? The most recent posts/comments seem a bit dated by now. Let me know if you find a place that has them, I'd be excited to try a breed created locally <3
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Black Galaxy Dairy Goats in Tucson I think still breeds Alohas (although their main focus is goats, as their name implies). I haven't bought anything from them but we exchanged email about a year ago. They seem like a nice family who loves their animals.

https://blackgalaxydairygoats.weebly.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067542983166#

There's also a Facebook group for Alohas and breeders:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/286067051831848

For some reason you can't sell eggs on Facebook so they refer to them as "warming orbs." 😄
 
That's awesome, thanks so much Emma (and for letting us all in on the FB secret code too! That's hilarious!!)

Whenever I am done prepping the coop and I am ready to get chicks, I thought I'd use the heated blanket method (something like this) but is it even necessary in AZ, outside of the dead of winter? Do you guys have special tips when it come to raising chicks in our climate?

The Ace I mentioned (the one that has a great reputation for how ethically they sell chicks) stops selling them over the winter: if anything I would have thought the summer a harder season here. What do you all think about that? Any best timing to get them?
 
We got our chicks in March. We used two brooder heating plates. I like that model because it comes with feathers which makes it more like a mama hen for the chicks. Their little heads peeking through the feathers are so cute. 🥰 You can raise the plate as they grow. Get the anti-roost cone, too. I don't know why they sell those separately because you pretty much need it or they'll cover the plate in poop.

As long as they're fully feathered and you keep the wind off of them they do okay in winter. We get a wee bit of snow where we live and the chickens are fine. They fluff up and keep each other warm.

Having said that, we have one radiant heat panel in the coop. I don't think it's needed but it's nice for them. We're trying to give them a good life, not just the bare minimum for existence.

We also have one metal waterer with a heated base. It doesn't drop below freezing often but when the weather is predicted to freeze we hook that up so we don't have to go out in the cold morning to break up ice in the waterers.

Summer is more of a concern than winter. You need to provide shade, cool water to drink, and cool water footbaths. Waterers with large cups allow them to dip their wattles in the cool water, too. At 80F we add ice to the waterers. At 90F we provide footbaths. We also use a mister; some chickens like it, some don't.

We don't spend much time outdoors in summer but we have cameras in the coop and run and we keep an eye on the flock that way.

We keep several hospital cages set up indoors. If anyone looks like she's struggling with the heat we immediately bring her indoors so she can cool off. I think we've only had to do that twice and the hens were fine each time.

Frozen treats are nice, too: peas, broccoli, berries, grapes, melon. You can freeze blocks of ice with bits of fruits or vegetables for them to peck at. We freeze yogurt with fruit in ice cube trays.

I love these silicone ice cube trays. They have lids and the top part is plastic so they stand up and don't leak. The silicone bottom makes it super easy to pop out the cubes, it's kind of fun, haha.
 
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Wow, thank you so much for this and all the links too: so informative!! I appreciate it A LOT!! <3

Good point about the watering cups allowing them to wet their wattles, I'll do that. And same for having emergency cages on hands to get them inside - thank you, that's an easy thing to plan for and I wasn't thinking about it!

I have been researching a few ways to cool them down and I am definitely planning on ice cube/frozen treats (though I hadn't thought about yogurt, but I remember one of our chickens loved that when I was a kid, so that makes sense, I'll add that to my list of things to have handy!) and footbaths too: for those, I was told that hanging food above it would be a good way to lure them in.

I'm extremely grateful for all the information, thank youuuuu!
 
Well, today is hatch day. Yesterday it basically drizzled here off and on, but the electric stayed on, even during the night. I know that, because my clock radio wasn't blinking when I woke up. There's supposed to be more rain later on today.
 
BlueBaby said:
Well, today is hatch day. Yesterday it basically drizzled here off and on, but the electric stayed on, even during the night. I know that, because my clock radio wasn't blinking when I woke up. There's supposed to be more rain later on today.
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Gah, we didn't get a drop of rain here.

Good luck with the hatch!
 

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