Arizona Chickens

[pastrymama]

ttfoster! part of my coop is like that too and they are fine. i think i am colder than they are. i am wearing a jacket and a sweatshirt plus yogapants in my house and it's 74 in here.


bob,

how's cachubby? did you get to the vet? so sorry about his twin.

 

[AZBootsie]

Hi Ttfoster and welcome to the az thread.

I think I would try to cover the chicken wire with something to insulate/stop drafts etc. Maybe tarps, old blankets, plastic...whatever works for you. Heaters in coops spook me. I did put a lamp with a regular 75 watt bulb in the coop when my pullets first went outside to the coop. I put the lamp in a milk crate and hung it from the ceiling to keep the birds away from the hot bulb. But, later decided it wasn't necessary. Are your chickens full grown?

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
I got 11 FBCM and 2 Wheaten Marans from two separate breeders. I so hope the two wheaties are hens or hen & roo. I can tell at least 4 of the 11 FBCMs are roos and they aren't a week old yet. I also hatched a HUGE chick... bigger than all of them. It came out of blue egg, daddy was a Wheaten Marans, mama a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. I wish it were a hen it would lay huge olive eggs, but I'm afraid it will be a gorgeous roo. When my wife looks in the box at those 36 chicks she'll say, "You know, 20 of those are going to be roos"
such an optimist. Last new years hatch out of 11 FBCMs I kept 1 roo and 4 pullets. (most were roos)

This hatch I got about 7 Icelandics. Tiny birds with a lot of spirit. I hatched a Millie Fluer Cochin, cute little thing, and I have a NN X Lavendar Ameraucana. I so pray it's a hen. I also got about 10 w/bw Ameraucanas and a couple of EEs.

Now that my polish have finally started to lay (I know bad timing) I'm going to be giving them to a couple in our church who just finished a chicken coop and really want chickens. That will leave a pen open for the Icelandics.

I do have a 6 month old EE roo. BW Ameraucana X Cinnamon Queen that I need to rehome or process. He's real pretty whitish buff and he knows how to mate.

The Ameraucanas are finally starting to put out. Nice blue eggs. Tucson Tofu... got a broody? you have first dibs for a test hatch, then Noskiveez.

I won't be hatching again until the Easter Hatch.

 

[Lyongirl]

Thank you everyone for your advice

. I talked it over with my husband and we are going to wait until February and hope that feed stores start having more chicks and call around and go chick shopping

. I'm a little sad that having chicks delivered results in poorer health chicks because I really wanted some breeds that it seems the feedstores never have- mainly speckled sussex. How many people on this board breed/sell chicks in the spring and what kind?

 

[LarryPQ]

Lots of us do: but we arent always on all the time, to catch your question. I don't want you to get lost in the chatter, but I don't want you to have to read 400 pages either!

Alohachickens and myself are working on a new breed. She regularly sells the cull chicks for $1 apeice. I usually just sell hatching eggs, since I am not the the world's best hatcher

 

[dewey]

Quote:
I think you'd mentioned earlier about wanting to avoid a brooder/chick dust, but the average low temps in February, January, and December are pretty much identical, so February chicks will need a heat source for a couple of months the same as December or January chicks.

Every year my neighbor would mail-order at least 300 chicks, typically without much incident. If I couldn't find what I wanted locally I wouldn't hesitate to mail-order from a recommended hatchery, also your feed store might be able to order what you want. Hopefully you'll find a good source here.

 

[Mahonri]

Saturday I'll be putting sheets around our dog carrier and I'll see what kind of temp I can keep in the cardboard brooder that goes in it. I can't take the dust anymore and it's not even been a week! I've got to put them on the porch.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
When I got my chicks Jan. 3, 2010, I used one of those large dog crates with a rubbermaid bin inside as a brooder. There was just enough gap between the wall of the tub and the crate to insert some various pieces of egg-crate foam and fiberboard insulation. Then I covered the whole thing in an old blanket and sheets and kept it on my back porch. It was somewhat tricky getting the covers just right to maintain the proper temperature, especially with the variation between the day and night, but I was able to do it. As much as I love chicks, it was great not having them in the house. My wife certainly appreciated it. Good luck.

 

[5pinkarrows]

Lyongirl--a friend of mine got 2 speckled sussex chicks from feed store in Tucson. Of course, they sold them to her as Ameraucanas.

For the longest time I kept saying that her chicks didn't look anything like mine. It was so weird since they were the same breed. When they were fully grown and had no Ameraucana characteristics, I started searching online to figure out what they really were. You never know what you can find at feed stores or locally. The Phoenix area has an awful lot of choices. I wish I were up that way more often!

Mahonri--36 chicks sounds exciting! You need to post pics. Did you get any BLRW?

I was hoping to be up near Phoenix by the end of this month for a little minivacation, but we bought a new vehicle instead. Maybe one day we will make it up there and I can meet atleast somebody on here and buy a few chicks. Maybe someday. <sigh>

Ttfoster--WELCOME!! These folks are so helpful here! I have my chickens in a coop similar to what you described. I don't worry about them unless it rains.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
Lowe's has storage bins on sale right now. Wonder how it'd work if a smaller bin was set inside a large one, with the gap stuffed with straw for insulation.