Arizona Chickens

[dofnup]

Another tip about your initial flock size: unless you buy sex-links, you should probably account for roosters, too. I got 2 roosters out of 7 chickens. (Your results may vary

)

And always build a coop like you're planning on 10. Better to have too much space than too little ... plus what if you end up with 10?

It can happen, hee hee!

 

[DM]

HI lyongirl. Welcome!!!

I am in Queen Creek too. Got here less than a yr ago....I started with 3 chicks...I like the buff Orphingtons and Delawares. Buffs make great pets and they both are calm birds. the Delawares lay bigger eggs...we just ordered 20 more chick to let you know how out of had this can get. A lot of family and friends and clients of mine want to buy eggs...now we will have a total of 29 chickens. I get my feed at Ace on power and chandler heights....

what are your cross streets..just wondered if you were close to me. I have gotten a lot of help on the forum....they seem to know everything. I don't make many entries but read it all the time.

 

[Lyongirl]

I went on the chat here yesterday and they talked me into getting four so we decided that was at least our started number (possibly 6 because she said there could be genetic problems and it's better to be safe). We will be buying pullets because we most likely can't own a rooster. I live in an HOA community and they said they are fine as long as they "don't disturb the neighbors" so I figure a rooster might be a bit too loud..though I plan on bribing them with free eggs

. We were going to build a coop that could accomodate 10-15 chickens because we plan, if everything goes well and we enjoy the first four, to get up to that number eventually. I really like your coops that I was looking at! My husband is going to attempt to build it so something simple will work well since he isn't exactly a carpenter..he's an industrial engineer

. I'm a dog groomer so we are both switching when it comes to taking care of chickens!
I live out at Ironwood and Bella Vista so pretty darn far. I found some chicks over at a feed store on Power and Williamsfield but they just had americaunas, speckled sussex, and new hampshire reds. I was looking into barred rocks and australorps but am def. open to any that are great layers! Any suggestions on where to buy good quality chicks around here?

 

[rufus]

Ohhhh! We just had a doozy of a rain storm with about 20 minutes of hail. The hail went from dime size to quarter size. The roofs of the houses look like it snowed.

There must have been some real awful crashes on the freeway. The sirens are going like crazy. But thanks to the Berlin Wall, we don't see what is going on, but we still hear it.

Rufus

 

[GoneHomeGrown]

Hello all. I have been on BYC for a little while and been planning on saying hello here, but yeah not the best at getting to everything I want to sometimes. I actually fluctuate a lot in my online activity, so am the type that may be on for a few hours and every day for while and then just dissapear fo a while. I have had a couple of other posts up with newbie questions, that some may have seen.
This is my first year with outside birds and I went a little crazy with several standard chickens, a few bantams, turkeys and ducks. I tend not to start slowly into anything.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
flip-flops!

I got my new small coop painted just in time.

 

[tofuranch]

well the weather has been crazy...it is a swamp out there and it has gotten cold. We had rain all day again today.That makes rain 5 days in a row. I love it but it is a big mess in every coop....sometimes I wish that we had better ground that wouldn't do this every time we get rain.

 

[BrahmaRoo]

Quote:
flip-flops!

I got my new small coop painted just in time.

Flipflops! Yes!...but I lost one in the clay we have for soil. Muscovies are thrilled, but the chooks don't think so highly of all the rain
No paint on ours yet. It's a very basic, rustic affair.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
We had lots of hail too - the largest were golf ball size and we have a few small dents on the side of the van. We also have holes/cracks in our skylight from the hail (1st time for that).

The back window on my friend's car was broken from the hail - she says it's destroyed.

 

[BrahmaRoo]

Quote:
We built up the ground 6" and set the coop there, then trenched lightly around it. Also added sand to the floor, along with shavings and hay. no more flooding in the coop, and easier to rake the compostable material out.