Viva Las Vegas!

[pmona]

I actually didn't plant this year. I normally get lots of tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. I am redoing my yard and making the existing garden bed back into a flower bed with a small patch of grass. My real project is an aquaponics garden which is somewhat attached to my coop/run. In that garden I hope to grow all types of vegis and fish as well.

 

[Peep_Show]

Camp Kenmore!!! I like that even better than Freezer Camp!

 

[vegaschick]

so glad to find vegas folk on chicken hello all I have 4 four month old chickens we are trying to make it through this summer currently they are indoors during the heat of day and go out side about 4pm. any suggestions on what i can do to help them get through summer heat. i have cool air going into there coop from my swamp cooler and there coop is in shade from 12pm on they get am sun.

Yay! Glad you found us here! WELCOME!!!

Sounds like a pretty good plan. Each one of us does things differently so there is no right or wrong. I find that my chickens prefer vegetative shade over any other. Meaning, plants are a great way to shade, probably because they release water vapor throughout the day. They especially love afternoons on the lawn under the shady fruitless Mulberry tree. Too bad they tear up the lawn over time. I've heard of others that have swamp coolers in the coop and it's an excellent idea. My chickens don't really like wind so I'd have to tweak the output somehow. They get ice in the waterers and sometimes frozen treats like watermelon, grapes, etc.

My chicks are about the same age as yours, ~ 4 months. I too am in Henderson where it is often hotter than in Vegas proper. My 4 barred rocks seem to do well even with the heat. The entire coop is shaded through out the day so that helps a lot. During the heat of the day, they spend most of their time resting under the house. If I leave the coop open for them to roam around the yard, they seem to never settle down no matter how hot it is. They prefer to hunt and scratch and will constantly roam from one end of the yard to the other.
I do have a mister which is set up in their coop and they will rest under that when it is running. But I found even with that on, they prefer to roam the yard. So most of the days I don't run it.




Ultimately when it isn't so hot, I will finish my garden project which borders the run/coop. I expect it with its water and the trees will also help keep the coop even cooler than it currently is.
It should come out like what I have drawn on my site when done -- http://monafamily.com/blogs/pmona_journal/chickens-the-garden/

Welcome pmona! That makes 3 members from Henderson, of course!

You do have a pretty little coop! Very nice! My coops are all recycle coops so looks are a bit of a trade off. That is awesome that your coop is shaded all day. I bet that makes a HUGE difference for the chickies! As you mentioned, different breeds do better in the heat than others. I refuse to have another Orpington because they are simply tooo fluffy for me, though others do fine with them. It's a personal choice. Roaming shows that they are managing the heat well, otherwise they'd just lay and pant! Now, I have tried a mister before with minimal success. Mostly we just got the run wet and stinky. If I ever tried again, I would limit the output (maybe just 1-2 stations) and aim the nozzles up to distribute the moisture more effectively. I mostly plan to plant grapes and a pomegranate in the run to help with shade. I also want to plant sunflowers along the wall for them to eat the seeds when they fall. It's gonna take some tricky planning because they sure love to gobble down the green stuff! We let them into the garden area in the winter so maybe that will be when I can get that ready.

so you garden too where you able to get anythign to grow this year im not the best of gardner but i normaly get my tomatoes and bell peppers and squash to grow but this year nothing it so sucks. but i have heard from a few that this year is not good for garding.

on the coop i am planning on growing grape vines on it to help keep it cool during the summer


and you have a very nice coop and run.

Me too! I got quite a bit to grow in my bucket garden this year. Better than other years in the ground anyways, but not stellar by any means. Now that things are winding down, I'm gonna replant for the fall season. In the next few weeks I'll get my seeds started, my buckets ready and my shade cloth repaired so that I can use the next few months to try again! I'm not the best gardener either, but I try! It's all trial and error for me!

I actually didn't plant this year. I normally get lots of tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. I am redoing my yard and making the existing garden bed back into a flower bed with a small patch of grass. My real project is an aquaponics garden which is somewhat attached to my coop/run. In that garden I hope to grow all types of vegis and fish as well.

Oh, I'm so glad we're getting more folks interested in gardening! The aquaponics sounds really cool, though I don't know anything about it. It is gardening in water...right? Or is that hydroponics?

Camp Kenmore!!! I like that even better than Freezer Camp!

Me too! I totally stole the name from another BYCer, deb...something.


Man! The weather is really trying to make up for lost time here in the mountains of Southern Utah! It has rained almost every day, at least a little, for a month and a half. We had lots and lots of rain yesterday. I had standing puddles in the run! It was soooo gross! I had to spread out lots of grass clippings and hay just to soak up the excess and make it safe to walk in. I was very relieved to see that the chickens had mostly stayed dry...especially the little chickies!

 

[cary 1973]

.
what do you plant for the winter i never tried winter garding

 

[pmona]

Oh, I'm so glad we're getting more folks interested in gardening! The aquaponics sounds really cool, though I don't know anything about it. It is gardening in water...right? Or is that hydroponics?

Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics (growing plants in water) and fish farming. My plants actually grow in a gravel bed which is flooded with water. It is more or less a closed eco system where the fish provide the nutrients for the plants. Their pond water is pumped up into the garden bed, the plants filter the water clean, and it drains back into the fish pond. Many people even grow the food they feed the fish making it truly a closed system. Ultimately you get protein (fish) as well as vegetables from it.

 

[Peep_Show]

Cary:

Winter is the best time for gardening here. In late September you can start putting in onions, garlic, cabbages, kale (grows REALLY good), chard, most root crops. We rarely get a good "freeze" freeze and so the cold crops do really well....probably the best time of year to grow stuff unless you're into cactus. In the recent Henderson Happenings there's a listing for a gardening class on winter veggies (Free class on Sat 9/15 9-11 a.m.) (Henderson Happenings put out by the City of Henderson Parks & Rec Dept. Website is cityofhenderson.com/parks)

 

[cary 1973]

thank you im farly new to garding only been trying for 3 summers now and working on getting my soil good. now with my chickens the soil should be really good by next year. my bell pepers are really kicking booty now that the fav place for the chickens to dirt bath and hang out and you know what else they do while haning out with the plants

 

[Peep_Show]

Hold out on removing your peppers until well-after the first freeze. After the hot weather dies down is when the plants really set loads of peppers. Last year my jalepeno crop exploded with little peppers at the first of October and we got a couple extra quarts of pickled peppers in late Nov/early Dec.

 

[cary 1973]

surfing the web and i came across a web site that was talking about if you live sunny places that sun block needs to be put on the chickens combs. Dose any one do that? I have one that her comb flops over her eye (she is my daughters chicken and they have the same hair style and eye make up its funny cuz she picked her chick out and this chick is just like her lol) I know sun block gets in my eyes it hurts like heck I would not want to do that to her and the chemicals i dont want on my chickens. just wondering what everyone elses thoughs on this is.

 

[vegaschick]

Cary:

Winter is the best time for gardening here. In late September you can start putting in onions, garlic, cabbages, kale (grows REALLY good), chard, most root crops. We rarely get a good "freeze" freeze and so the cold crops do really well....probably the best time of year to grow stuff unless you're into cactus. In the recent Henderson Happenings there's a listing for a gardening class on winter veggies (Free class on Sat 9/15 9-11 a.m.) (Henderson Happenings put out by the City of Henderson Parks & Rec Dept. Website is cityofhenderson.com/parks)

Thanks for the link and the info! I love free classes!

Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics (growing plants in water) and fish farming. My plants actually grow in a gravel bed which is flooded with water. It is more or less a closed eco system where the fish provide the nutrients for the plants. Their pond water is pumped up into the garden bed, the plants filter the water clean, and it drains back into the fish pond. Many people even grow the food they feed the fish making it truly a closed system. Ultimately you get protein (fish) as well as vegetables from it.

Sounds very cool! What kind of fish will you be using?

surfing the web and i came across a web site that was talking about if you live sunny places that sun block needs to be put on the chickens combs. Dose any one do that? I have one that her comb flops over her eye (she is my daughters chicken and they have the same hair style and eye make up its funny cuz she picked her chick out and this chick is just like her lol) I know sun block gets in my eyes it hurts like heck I would not want to do that to her and the chemicals i dont want on my chickens. just wondering what everyone elses thoughs on this is.

I've never heard of this. I've not seen a problem with my chickens combs either. Granted, I do have an abundance of pea combed chickens, but the straight combed varieties haven't had any problems with comb sunburn. I am a bit worried about my Naked Neck, though. Just give them access to all day shade and there should be no problems.

ETA: I agree about the chemicals and sensitive eyes. What's good for us is not always good for chickens.