Arizona Chickens

[itsredcandy]

Just stopping in to say hello. We are in Wittmann. We have a 4 acre farm with a herd of 28 Arabian Horses, 4 Peafowl babies, 1 very happy Guinea, 1 hen Aracauna, and 25 very quickly growing youngens'. Very new to this bird part of farming, but we are very excited to learn lots.

You can see some pics of a few of our animals here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/696341/greeting-from-phoenix

Thanks for reading.

Welcome PeaDaddy. You have lots of neighbors on here. I myself live in Far East Mesa, but there are several here that live in Wittmann.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote: Wire openings equal to or smaller than 2" X 4" welded wire will keep out pigeons and doves, but not sparrows. I think you'd have to have wire with openings smaller than 1" X 1" to keep out sparrows (they pass right through the 1" X 2" welded wire on my run). I think the most helpful thing you can do is make sure that food and water are not accessible to the wild birds. You can read in greater detail about what I did to keep wild birds away on my coop page.

 

[itsredcandy]

AAAAAND!.....my daughter knocked the egg carton out of the fridge when putting her home made play dough into the fridge. The carton had our first and only duck egg inside it. SPLAT! /sigh. Ah well. Good thing Khaki Cambells lay almost every day! One day, I will try a duck egg!

Oh man!!! It happens. Months ago, I knocked almost an entire dozen that took nearly two weeks to get onto the floor. I know that pain.

 

[In2Ice]

Pigeons and doves carry a number of things that can adversely impact chickens. I'd do what I could to discourage them from intermingling with the chickens.

Any ideas? My girls won't be free to roam because of HOA but the coop is not air tight but any means. We've tried getting rid of the things but they are determined pests.

I have my coop inside a 7' x 14' chain link dog run with a fenced top. It doesn't keep the sparrows out but the doves and pigeons keep away. I used to have the food and water in the run and I moved it inside the coop. I leave the coop door open because the chickens are protected from predators from the chain link fence. I put some 1 1/2" strips of sunscreen in front of the door. The sunscreen strips keep the sparrows out of the coop but the chickens just walk right through it. It took the chickens a few days before they got used to it. So far it works great. The sparrows stay out of the coop but still get in the run. I just wanted to keep them from eating all the food and pooping in the food. I use nipples on my waterer so that helps prevent outsiders from getting a free drink. All the birds just drink from my dogs watering bowl now.

 

[In2Ice]

Also wanted to add that you should try bird netting around the coop and run. You can get a bunch of it relatively cheap at Home Depot in the garden section. If the sunscreen and moving the food didn't work for me, that was going to be my next step.

 

[AZBootsie]

I need some advice. I have 3 chicks we are estimating that they are about 6 weeks old. When can I put them outside in there coup? I know it's suppose to be 112 this week. Any advice on this? The chicks almost have all of there feathers except for around there neck. Thanks for your help

If you are going to be around to keep an eye on them, I would give it a try. Make sure they have lots of shade and water, Freeze up some milk jugs or something and just rotate them out as they melt. There is going to be a dramatic temp change from AC in the house to heat outside, so I wouldn't try unless you are going to be close at hand. Check them often and if they look bad you can always bring them up to the porch or even back in the house.

 

[Litolbear]

Thanks for the advice I'm going to try this weekend. Do you think they will still need the warming light at night?

 

[parentwarrior]

Wire openings equal to or smaller than 2" X 4" welded wire will keep out pigeons and doves, but not sparrows. I think you'd have to have wire with openings smaller than 1" X 1" to keep out sparrows (they pass right through the 1" X 2" welded wire on my run). I think the most helpful thing you can do is make sure that food and water are not accessible to the wild birds. You can read in greater detail about what I did to keep wild birds away on my coop page.

That was my mistake in building my cage. I used 2 x 4 wire and all the birds , sparrows and doves, were getting in and eating the food and costing me a lot of money. I had to go over the wire with a second smaller one. It cost me a lot of money that I could of saved by doing it right the first time. The smaller wire was more expensive, that why I had gone with the 2 x 4 instead.
Kris

 

[City farm]

Wire openings equal to or smaller than 2" X 4" welded wire will keep out pigeons and doves, but not sparrows.  I think you'd have to have wire with openings smaller than 1" X 1" to keep out sparrows (they pass right through the 1" X 2" welded wire on my run).  I think the most helpful thing you can do is make sure that food and water are not accessible to the wild birds.  You can read in greater detail about what I did to keep wild birds away on my coop page.

Gallo del Cielo we saved your page that shows your build.. It give us a great idea
for ours.. We looked on the coop section.. & went through at least 300 different
builds.. I have heard from other friends that have chickens, they will eat the sparrows
that get stuck in their pen... Not sure ours are still to young.. The have fun trying to
get the flies... It seems to always be something huh? [VIDEO][/VIDEO]

 

[AZBootsie]

Thanks for the advice I'm going to try this weekend. Do you think they will still need the warming light at night?

I don't think so. It stays pretty warm at night and by 6 weeks they would only need warmth if it was actually cold. A night light would be good if they aren't used to the dark. I have had chicks so afraid of the dark that they piled up and squashed the one on the bottom.....but with just a few chicks ( I think you said there were only 3 of them??) piling shouldn't cause any harm.