Sprinklers and Cornish Cross

[teenaweena]

Hi! I am BRAND NEW to chickens. One experience, though. I did watch my neighbors chickens for a few days when she was out of town. But I am a quick learner and very open to suggestions.
I want to start with, yes, I want it all and I’m trying to figure out how to get it…
So, I live in Gilbert, Arizona. My boyfriend and I are emergency room nurses that travel for work in the summer. I want chickens. We decided that we aren’t ready to be tied down to the house full-time, so now we are planning on doing meat chickens, Cornish Crosses. We only want about 7, considering I’ve never had chickens and I’ve definitely never processed chickens. He doesn’t really want to be super involved either. Kinda my deal which I am happy with. I’ve been doing a lot of research like YouTube videos and this website, it’s extremely helpful and I think I know the basics.
I come home in mid-September and would like to get my chickens then. I have two considerations though.
1. We are getting married in the backyard in October, we want the lawn to be green so we’ve been watering it with sprinklers, I want to continue that until the wedding and then after that when I winter seed. Is is okay to have them in their little chicken tractor with the sprinklers on or will they drown or… I don’t know. I could turn it off in sections, but them I would have to move them maybe 20 feet per day and I don’t want to stress them out. Ultimately, I want the happiest chickens up until the moment they die.
2. With only getting 7, I am concerned that the small size of a chicken tractor would be too small and they would overheat or not get adequate shelter from the elements. Is a 4ftx4ft okay?

Thank you in advance for your responses.
teenaweena

 

[nuthatched]

Can you water at night? They should be processed 14 weeks, I believe

 

[aart]

It's hard enough to maintain turf grass in your climate, think it needs constant reseeding let alone the watering.
This does not mix well with chickens, especially CX.
Wait until after the wedding.

 

[teenaweena]

Can you water at night? They should be processed 14 weeks, I believe

We water at night already! From what I have read they are processed at around 8 weeks. Would they still be upset if the sprinklers go off at night? They will be covered with the chicken tractor.r

 

[teenaweena]

It's hard enough to maintain turf grass in your climate, think it needs constant reseeding let alone the watering.
This does not mix well with chickens, especially CX.
Wait until after the wedding.

We have a property with flood irrigation. It’s a newly established yard since we moved in about a year ago. It was completely dirt/clay. We only need to sprinkler it with new seed for about two weeks, then the flood irrigation keeps everything alive the rest of the time. I think waiting until after the wedding is a good idea though. Just don’t want them to get too cold!

 

[aart]

Just don’t want them to get too cold!

You wouldn't want the birds to get wet at all...let alone all the poop.

I think waiting until after the wedding is a good idea though.

Another thought was the stink of chicken poop at the wedding.