Arizona Chickens

[Arizonachicken]

annekaelber:

Great to see you here! I'm new, too. My husband built me a coop/run large enough for 6. I opted to get some point of lay chickens and a few older pullets. That way, we didn't have to wait forever to start enjoying eggs, and my kids could enjoy the "chicks". Kinda best of both worlds, so to speak. The people here are so knowledgeable and helpful, you'll learn a ton just on this site. By the way, my sister's name is "Anneke". Pretty darn close!

Chirs: I can't wait to see pics of your new girls! (p.s. What is BSLRW)

Petra

 

[annekaelber]

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Thank you so much for the welcome and the helpful advice right off the block. I've started a notebook and am taking copious notes! And I will definitely make sure we don't purchase any chicks or chickens until the coop is done!

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Arizonachicken, what are "point of lay chickens" and "older pullets"? Off-the-cuff, I'm guessing "point of lay" may mean they are mature enough to be about to start laying eggs? Is your coop up on the coop pages? I would love to see Arizona-based coops in detail, so I know what to keep in mind.

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Thanks for the suggestion of a location to shop! I am hoping to eventually find people here I can help with the purchase of some of their chickens -- I like to "keep it local" if I can!

I imagine the search for the breed(s) and the design of the coop will go hand-in-hand. I'm just really eager to start searching and researching.

Anne.

 

[nurseshelly]

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Hi,

, I would build the coop bigger than you think you will need ... since chickens are pretty addicting, you always want just one more ... but you can't get just one, cause it would be lonely until it's integrated into the flock, plus it's easier to integrate two than one ... you see where this is going?
We were planning on 2 - 4 and we have 8 large fowl chickens, and 5 bantam seramas with a second coop - hmmmm, more than 2 - 4!!!
We enclosed the side yard, and put a shade cloth over most of the run. It works as an evap cooler too if we spray it and get it all wet, then the wind blows through it and really cools it off. We have a personal mister in there too. Mine have sand in their coop, gravel in their run, and a patch of grass, which is sadly dead but still nice to walk on compared to the gravel. They love the sand in their run! I just scoop it out with a litter scoop every other day. They have a poop board under the roost in each coop too, so most of the poo ends up on it, and scoops out really fast (prob 5 minutes for the small coop, 10 minutes for the big one). We put sand on the poop board too, so nothing sticks. As far as being physically limited, the heaviest lifting would be the 50# food bags, and also the water containers - a 5 gallon bucket is 50# too. I actually have developed tendinitis from lifting the 5 gallon waterer ... so now I only fill it to about 3 gallons ... but then you have to fill it every day or every other day. We also have several 1 or 2 gallon water containers around the run and the smaller coop. Also for us, the sand comes in 50# bags. Oh, one thing we did is ran a hose all the way to the coop for changing water. We are going to put a splitter on it so we can switch from mister to water for refilling containers easier. Since I have different age birds, I use flock raiser, and add oyster shell in feeders in each coop. Once all of mine are laying age (might never happen since I keep adding 1 here and there), I would put them on a laying pellet. Oh, Higley feeds has organic chick starter and layer pellets for not much more than regular.
You will probably need a different coop for the meaties, since they eat different food than layers. I'm sure there are plenty of people on here who can show you how to process your birds. I know there are links to videos that show how too on the meaties thread.
We got our first chicks at the Ace Hardware in Queen Creek. They are really nice! It was a long drive since I'm in Gilbert though. They will order chicks of the types you want, you only buy what you want, then they sell the rest ... so a nice way to get a variety without ending up with 50 chicks to sell.
Others of our flock are from breeders here in AZ ... they have nicer combs / wattles and such, but the hatchery birds are great too ... I think they silly looking combs some of them have add to character

Good luck!!!

 

[nurseshelly]

Here is the little Icelandic chick that hatched from Mahonri's eggs, we also got a bunch of FBCMs and one Ameraucana ... there are more waiting to hatch, but I don't know if they will. I had some temp issues when I added the second egg turner because it restricted air flow. I did buy a personal fan to compensate, and it fixed it, but still there was a day that the temps were a little high. Anyway, here's the little Icelandic

I was surprised it is so dark, but it came from a white egg, so I guess it has to be an Icelandic

 

[nurseshelly]

Here's our other babies

 

[Arizonachicken]

Annekaelber: I didn't post pics of our coop. I think the key is plenty of ventilation. My hens prefer to spend the day outside in their run. They only go in to lay their eggs and to roost. We have the run covered with a shade cloth and I hose it down about twice a day when it's really hot. They look comfortable, not panting too hard and walking around. Then they are let out to free range every evening. I would have them out all the time, but we have a large dog with a taste for chicken...found that out the hard way, if you know what I mean.

that was an unpleasant day! And yes, you're right about point of lay. By older pulett, I meant, not a tiny chick, but not old enough to lay, kind of like an adolescent. And I would say to definitely build larger than what you are anticipating, if you have the room. Even if you dont grow your flock, they will enjoy the extra space? Keep us updated!

 

[Mahonri]

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My AC unit has an energy saving feature with a thermostat. I set it at 80. The temp in the coop fluctuates between 70 and 85, but survivable.

 

[Mahonri]

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YEAH!!

pastry mama got 14 chicks out of 18... I told her I wanted her incubator.

I hope you get more to hatch.... Those marans look great.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

Mahonri, do your chickens stay in the coop the whole time or most of it? I'm wondering because mine come and go all day between the coop and yard so if I did a/c I'd have to figure out something with the door. Right now its just a 12"x 18" hole cut into the coop. I think all the cold air would just escape.

 

[Mahonri]

Mine is a closed in coop. (I also have two pens in the shade... one more shady than the other that are open on one side)

The big coop has windows and vents near the roof but the windows and vents are closed in the summer.

They get off their roosts and go to the run by about 5:30AM. They stay in the run until about Noon-1PM and then it's into the coop.

I have some real lazy girls that are up on the roosts by 7PM. Others head back out to the run once it's in the shade about 6PM and don't come into the coop until sunset.

I laugh at some of them when I come home at lunch and put food out for them... they'll come out of the coop, feel the heat and head right back in the pop door. I also have cloth with vertical slits over the pop door to keep in the cool. The were scared of it at first, but it didn't take long for all of them to learn that they could go through the cloth with the slits.

I have both water and feed in the run and in the coop.