So overwhelmed

[TracyinAZ]

Ok, thank you.

Fortunately I am not used to any critters of ANY kind, either back in IL or here in AZ and I'd really like to keep it that way.

I am on my second house here in AZ (now with my new husband). In the first house I had a scorpion maybe one every few months. An ant here and and there out in the yard and a roach if you dug down in the yard to plant something.

Here in our house (about 3 blocks away from the old house) we do not have any types of critters. Have never had a scorpion inside and have never seen one outside in the last three years since we moved in. No visible insects in the yard, no rodents, etc and never anything in the house in spite of my lack of kitchen sweeping when my 4 kids are done eating! We have been very lucky pest-wise!

I'm ok with more pine shavings if it will help.

Thanks!
Tracy

 

[SallyF]

If you don't have grass in your yard, you can put some in a planter. Some on here have used a rectangular planter and put some kind of chicken wire over the top so the chooks can eat the grass blades but not scratch all the roots out. That way you could keep it in the run for them without them destroying it. I'm going to try that this year and plant kale in the planters for them; it seems to come up well from seed. I've also used the little containers of wheat grass that you can buy in pet stores (and pet departments of grocery stores) for cats.

My chickens free ranged through my garden last summer. They did not bother the carrots, radishes, beans, gourds, squash, okra, lettuces, herbs or tomatoes, but they demolished anything in the cabbage family (kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts).

 

[LarryPQ]

Tracy-

Sorry to be so chatty, but since you are on a little lot, in what sounds like a subdivision, you may want to double check with your HOA (if you have one) to make sure you can keep chickens. Some in Mesa allow it, some not. I think this is the correct city code.

http://www.mesaaz.gov/clerk/CodeBook/CodeinPDF/T8/T8Ch6.pdf

Edited: ditto on the cabbage. They even pecked my kohrabi!

 

[Mahonri]

Lots of SHADE. Even morning sun can heat them up too much in July & Aug.

I have a wood floor with linoleum and we sweep and mop every week.

I also put a small AC unit in the coop last July after I lost a RIR to heat exhaustion. ... and my coop is in the shade almost all day.

 

[TracyinAZ]

LareePQG - Thanks for the heads up, but this time I do not live in an HOA. And yes, I know allllll about HOA rules as I have held the title of President, Vice President and Board Member for longer than I'd like to admit! After living in an HOA for several years I realized I am more of a "live and let live type of person". The HOA where I used to live has held their property values much better than my new neighborhood, (my parents, my brother and his family and my ex-husband still have houses there) but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. I had all loser neighbors in my HOA, but all wonderful neighbors in my "new" (we've been here 3 years) neighborhood. Ideally, I'd like a large amount of land near the Superstitions, but my husband has done so much beautiful remodelling on this house, I can't see leaving it any time soon - I'm still too emotionally attached to this house and all the wonderful changes he's made).

I am so thankful for everyone's willingness to share here, so please don't worry about being too chatty - I love all the info!

SallyF - Thanks for the garden info.

Mahonri - Thanks - I've wondered if it might be helpful to have some sort of air flow. Since my dh will build whatever I ask for I could go this way, but then again I don't necessarily want to have a million dollar hen house!

Tracy

 

[LarryPQ]

you are one of THEM!

Just kidding. Again, welcome

 

[TracyinAZ]

Hehe!

I WAS one of them.

I got roped into being on the board as they needed another person and they were afraid of some of the hard-core loonies that were wanting to get on the board for their own agenda(s). Same loonies still try every now and then, but no one votes for them. It's really a neighborhood filled with various crackpots and I'm pretty happy to no longer be among them! I am all for the idea of an HOA. The property values are higher (in the HOA I used to live in) than the neighborhoods that surround it that are not hoas and it pisses me off to no end when people move into an HOA (many times because they like the neat, orderly look) and then think they are above the "stupid rules" or they didn't even bother to read what the rules were. I think it's a no brainer - if you do not want to follow the rules (all of the rules), then simply do not move into an HOA. No one is forced to purchase a house within an HOA. I mostly got tired (as a board member) of having to babysit adults. Many times people want other people to follow the rules.

All in all, there is nothing I would trade about my current non-hoa neighborhood - well, except for more land! My husband tells me stories of growing up on 40 acres and it sounds heavenly to me!

Thanks for the welcome and for the help!

Tracy