Arizona Chickens

[Billiam]

From everything I've seen and read so far, once they are fully feathered, they should be good to go outside. You'll definitely want to put them out now, too. With the slightly warmer weather this weekend, it will allow them to get better acclimated to the cold and you won't have to keep them inside all winter. My girls are about 9 weeks right now and have been outside for the last month or so. They are perfectly content and are doing great. No severe huddling, no shivering, or anything. They are plumping up quite nicely and have grown some beautiful feathers! Now I wish I had some recent photos to post!

Oh, and we've been hitting between the high-30s to the low-40s the last month at night, so it's been a touch cool at night. I had to break out my leather jacket and riding pants to come home from work every morning. Winter is quickly approaching!

Thanks for the response! So you've had yours out since they were about five weeks old? Now are they in a coop right now or are they in an open cage like I have pictured? I don't have anything to protect them from any wind if it showed up one night. I have moved the heat lamp out there with them so they can hang out under it if it does get too cold for them. I'm sure if someone from the northern states was reading this they'd be laughing at me. I just want to make sure I can leave them out going forward and get them integrated with the flock before the rain and wind gets here which is usually in about two to three weeks. Thanks again!

 

[Drjennidvm]

hi everyone, i am hoping to take advantage of my 4-day weekend to get my fodder and fermented feed going. will post pics if i can remember. not sure if anyone else here is following it but i have been reading the growing fodder for chickens thread, i can get a pound of wheat at winco for .57/pound, and that is supposed to grow into 6 pounds of feed after 7 days. anyone grow or sprout for your chickens, and if so are you familiar with other grain/seed prices?

 
[/quote]

Hey, I grow fodder for my chickens and horses. I use hard red organic wheat from Azure Standard ($20 for 50#) for all and mix in black oiled sunflower seeds for the chickens. Most feed stores have whole feed grains that can be sprouted, but wheat is best for chickens. The best fodder growing thread is on KeepingAFamilyCow.com proboards. BTW, my 5 girls are still laying 4-5 eggs per day, even in the arctic north, up here by Prescott- I'm sure it's the fodder!

 

[Fuzzybird]

I was so proud of my first home grown turkey and how it turned out I have to share. Sure differant and better than the store bought. It was a 13.5#s

 

[Fuzzybird]

Up date on my Serama eggs. Candled them on the 13th day and out of the 7 3 were clear. Two have almost a double air sack, which I am sure doesn't hold good for the eggs and the three look normal so far. I think I would be happy if I got one live chick out of it. Estatic if I happen to get more than one.

 

[Demosthine]

Thanks for the response! So you've had yours out since they were about five weeks old? Now are they in a coop right now or are they in an open cage like I have pictured? I don't have anything to protect them from any wind if it showed up one night. I have moved the heat lamp out there with them so they can hang out under it if it does get too cold for them. I'm sure if someone from the northern states was reading this they'd be laughing at me. I just want to make sure I can leave them out going forward and get them integrated with the flock before the rain and wind gets here which is usually in about two to three weeks. Thanks again!

If you go to the Coop-In-Progress link in my signature for The Little Red Henhouse, you can see exactly what my coop looks like and where it sits at the moment. The last photo in the Beginning the Walls section shows it as it sits now. You can see that one of the walls and most of a second is sheltered against the house, and the entire coop sits underneath the back porch. There is a small draft on a regular basis, being as we live right near the desert and have a wide stretch of flat lands to the West of our street. It doesn't seem to bother them at all, though. The coop is only wrapped in chicken wire for now, since I haven't had the time or money to put the paneling on for the walls. They are completely content, though.

When I first put them out, I hung the heat lamp in the corner where the two walls of the house meet. It was averaging about the 60s at night, but from day one, they started sleeping away from the lamp. By the third night, they were huddled at the far end of the coop and I stopped using the heat lamp. It hasn't been on, or in the coop for that matter, ever since. Yeah, those up North would laugh at you. I would say leave the heat lamp on for them in one corner, but leave them outside. Yours seem to be well feathered and are probably ready for it. See how they are sleeping and acting in the morning and go from there. The sooner they get acclimated and grow their feathers in, the better off they'll be. From reading the old-timer threads, you don't want to coddle them and pamper them. They are extremely hardy to cold weather. I would venture to guess you should be able to completely remove the heat lamp within a week. If you are really concerned about it, you can drape a sheet or blanket over the fence you have. That'll help keep the draft out and their heat in. Just that should be extremely beneficial. Personally, I would just use the heat lamp.

 

[notinoz2007]

hi everyone, i am hoping to take advantage of my 4-day weekend to get my fodder and fermented feed going. will post pics if i can remember. not sure if anyone else here is following it but i have been reading the growing fodder for chickens thread, i can get a pound of wheat at winco for .57/pound, and that is supposed to grow into 6 pounds of feed after 7 days. anyone grow or sprout for your chickens, and if so are you familiar with other grain/seed prices?

Hey, I grow fodder for my chickens and horses. I use hard red organic wheat from Azure Standard ($20 for 50#) for all and mix in black oiled sunflower seeds for the chickens. Most feed stores have whole feed grains that can be sprouted, but wheat is best for chickens. The best fodder growing thread is on KeepingAFamilyCow.com proboards. BTW, my 5 girls are still laying 4-5 eggs per day, even in the arctic north, up here by Prescott- I'm sure it's the fodder![/QUOTE]

thanks for the response. i did indeed get both projects done, i was thinking with the cool weather it would take a few days to ferment but i was done by this morning and they loved it. they got another bowl full this evening. i soaked the fodder yesterday and transferred it to the growing container today, i already see little buds sprouting on the wheat, i hope it works! i will go to the feed store next week to see what kind of grains they have and get prices.

 

[notinoz2007]

at 1 am this morning mr yellow (my project roo) was crowing. right away i got a box, put him in it, and put him in the laundry room...
if it had been just that one time i'm sure i could forgive him (and hope the neighbors forgave me) but he has been crowing at all hours in the middle of the night at least 3 nights a week and i have no idea what his problem is! the lights are out in the whole neighborhood. does cold make roosters crow? is there an imbalance?

 

[squeakyballs]

Fuzzybird - I bet your family was impressed!

 

[rufus]

at 1 am this morning mr yellow (my project roo) was crowing. right away i got a box, put him in it, and put him in the laundry room...
if it had been just that one time i'm sure i could forgive him (and hope the neighbors forgave me) but he has been crowing at all hours in the middle of the night at least 3 nights a week and i have no idea what his problem is! the lights are out in the whole neighborhood. does cold make roosters crow? is there an imbalance?

Hmmm! Probably a street light or billboard fooled him. I live along the freeway and we have those darn electronic flashing billboards that really confused my chickens. We had to get rid of the rooster when ADOT put in those huge sodium lights. They drove him crazy.

I am now chickenless. I was going to start over with a new flock, but then a swarm of bees set up housekeeping in my coop. My wife doesn't want to spend the money to have them removed or exterminated. She wants me to do the job with a can of Raid and a fly swatter. Well I do a lot of dumb things just to keep peace in the house, but that isn't going to one of them.

 

[AZKat]

Don't take this the wrong way, Rufus, but did you just get a new life insurance policy?