Arizona Chickens

[RioLindoAz]

Quote:
What feed store do you go to? My uncle says that there's a huge one in Tucson.

 

[rufus]

I also am in central Phoenix, smack dab up against a freeway. It is an older, mostly Hispanic neighborhood. So far, we haven't had any complaints, but I really don't have a lot of chickens and we keep a low profile.

Illegal possession of poultry is small potatoes in comparison to some of the other things that go on here.

We haven't had chickens in about thirty years, since we sold the family homestead. One day I was remembering how much fun they were.

The next day, my oldest son paid a call on a business near Pratt's. He stopped in there, and the next thing I knew we were back in the chicken business.

About a thousand dollars later, we had a chicken coop well concealed behind an eight foot wall. It is a real large back yard with mature trees and lots of bushes. It is a chicken paradise.

I don't know if the rooster crows or not. Who could hear it against the roar of the freeway.

Rufus

 

[a2ms4chickens]

Hi Chicken_boy-

I went to OK Feed Store on Ft Lowell. I know that Arizona Feeds also has chicks, but when I called them I was told only the one on South 6th Ave carries them. That is too far for me as I don't like to venture too far from home, LOL.

 

[mscory]

Hey thanks for the encouragement rufus! Good to know I probably won't end up in tent city over byc! What breeds are your favorites for az heat, etc. are there any smaller breeds that do well in the heat? I'm starting with a rabbit hutch and building a small run. Thanks! Cory

 

[Nichole77]

I preferred starting with babies rather than 2 month olds. I started with 5 chicks from pratts. 1 turned out to be a roo. I got pullets not straight run. I hand raised them and they are very social. Then I got 2, 8 week olds and they wont come near me. I try to hold them and give them treats but they get scared when I go near them. All of mine are very healthy but I do see some unacceptable chicks at Pratts sometimes. If you get a roo baby they will buy it back. I don't get feed from pratts because they don't have a vegetarian food. I go to Tractor on T-bird for that. I would get chicks there but they don't get as many or as often.

 

[paynemom]

Our 3 oldest hens are now about 11 weeks and free range in the backyard. They are very quiet, only make quiet bok-bok noises when chased by my 5 yr olds. Maybe they will get louder when laying, but I doubt much. They are Buff Orpingtons and I love them. I bought the 3 youngest from Mesa Feed Barn and they were all hens. Good luck to you new chicken owners. I am loving it.

 

[rufus]

mscory,

We usually opted for Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpintons or Barred Rocks. We prefer the heavy breeds. We had bantams only once, and they had chicken pox. It wasn't good.

Usually, we avoided black chickens because of the heat problem. Once my mom bought a bunch of white Delawares, and they were the pitts. They had an attitude problem. I never thought I would be looked down upon by chickens. Snooty chickens. They laid a nice large white egg though.

We did not mix breeds or generations. We kept them all in separate chicken yards.

September is the best time to buy chicks in Phoenix. You can put them right into a chicken tractor, and by the time it gets cold, they are big enough to take it.

By the way, I don't recommend rabbit hutches for chickens. The wire is bad for their feet.

Rufus

 

[mscory]

Quote:
Well, thanks for that rufus, but your response came late...I got 4 black australorps and 1 I don't know what colored for Easter that my kid had to have on Friday. Yes, I thought about color, but by then i had already caught chicken fever and that's all they had at Pratts (except for the colored ones).

One has had ongoing pasty butt and another had it once. One thinks I'm his mother and cried loudly all night the first night. I finally got him to sleep in the crook of my neck and we both dozed off for a couple of hours.

They go ouside in the late afternoon and love to scratch and peck. I'm getting a large used rabbit cage w/o a bottom today so I don't have to supervise.

I'm not sure about the rabbit hutch. I think it's a wood box sort of thing.

Omg I'm a crazy chicken lady!!!

Cory and Nate (my son-9yrs old tomorrow!)

 

[nimblytripping]

Quote:
(I've used that user name!)
I also am concerned about that, that last time I had chickens I bought 6 Barred Rocks and 3 were roosters. This time I bought 4 day-old chicks (1 died the next day) and I told the guy at Mesa Feed if any were roosters I was going to box it up and leave it on their counter and run away...

If I end up with a rooster out of my remaining three I am going to strongly suspect they are selling (or being sold) straight run chicks as sexed and I will be looking for someone close to Mesa to split an order from Murrays next Fall, you have to get at least a dozen chicks but they are consistently 95-100% hens.

 

[nimblytripping]

Sorry for the double post, but this link in the Gender/Breed BYC Forum has GREAT pictures that show how to tell the sex of your chickens... Mine are all girls! Mesa Feed won't end up with a rooster on their counter after all!
(Hope my link works, I am a newbie and experimenting)