Hope to be a new chicken owner from AZ!

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nwebber

nwebber

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jun 8, 2013
31
6
26
Mesa AZ
My family and I are very much so wanting to get a chicken or two but we live in AZ where it is very HOT. Not sure what breed is best for warm weather and if we should wait till fall to start this adventure? Thank you in advance for any help you may have.
 
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I know a member from Phoenix and he has an air conditioned coop for his hens. That doesn't mean it has to be set for 70 degrees. Probably anything 10 degrees cooler or more than outside temps would still feel cool to hens. People in hot areas also set up covered runs to keep the sun off, place coops in natural shade of trees(if any) and set up water misters. Another thing to do is add ice blocks to waterers to bring the temps down a little. Offer the chickens watermelon etc. to keep them cooler and hydrated.

Maybe it is wise to get them when the temps are lower - is that fall in Arizona, I don't know. I think it would be especially stressful for young chicks to have to survive high temps among everything else. That way they would gradually get used to your temp increasing instead of all at once.

If you go to the social section of the forum go down the tabs till you reach "where am I, where are you," You can find your state thread there and get better info on what type of coop etc. you need for high temps etc. What breeds are best in your climate etc. Chickens are much better at enduring cold in a well built, draft free coop than dealing with blistering heat.
 
Hello and welcome to the Forum. There are quite a few breeds that do very well here in Arizona. You should pop over to the Arizona Chickens thread, where we've been discussing the heat and what we do to mitigate losses quite a bit lately. I have three laying hens, three roosters, and eleven pullets at various stages. All of them have been doing extremely well.

I have an adequately ventilated coop tucked against my front fence, side fence and the east side of my house. It gets early morning sun, but gets mostly shade by late morning, so it stays comfortable. Despite that fact, the girls still prefer being in the yard free-ranging. I have oleander trees lining my fence line and usually find a majority of the clan underneath those.

Just for the record, I have: 2 Barred Rocks, 1 Birchen Marans, 3 Black Copper Marans, 3 New Hampshires, 2 Silkies, 4 Ameraucanas, and 2 Speckled Sussex. Oh, and we just added three Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys.

If you are in the Northwest Valley, you're more than welcome to stop by. We're up in in the Arrowhead area.
 
Thank you everyone for such a warm and informative welcome. I have found a few coops that I'm going to see this week in hopes to have new additions to our family by the weekend. :)
 

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