I am so excited! I want to get 2-3 chickens and would like some advice on which ones you all might recommend; I want fresh eggs in the morning :) I have signed up for Myron's next Raising Chickens in Your Backyard class but thought I'd get some ideas from here...I'm going to place the coop on the East side of the house as it doesn't get as much sun, probably 25% of the day. At the moment there is just rock there, but I'll be clearing it out down to the dirt where I'll be putting the coop.Are there plans out there for building coops? I've seen a ton and am curious, being in Arizona, is heat going to be an issue and, with regards to the coop, should it be half and half as far as cover goes? I mean, should part of it have a roof and another just have chicken wire? Any recommendations on size or type? How and where should I start, other than Myron's class :)
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Lord have mercy! There is so much to learn :) I've RSVP'd to the class and am anxious to take it! I guess some initial concerns are how to handle the chickens as far as the heat in the valley goes....my house runs North/South so the coop would be either on the East or the West. The thing is, in the summer, the east side gets pretty warm, but in the winter, the west side gets pretty cold :) I'm designing a coop now, but am wondering if it should be something I can move from one side to the other or....
And, on a whole other note...chickens age and I'm assuming they stop laying eggs at one point :) Having no delicate way of putting this, do you all eat the chicken at some point? I know I'm going to think of these things as pets but my mom grew up on a farm and she mentioned it and I was like, OH! Also, there's a cute youtube video where a little boy tells a joke about naming your poop cuz you essentially named the chicken you're going to eat and it cracked me up, but also got me to thinking about sort of the after-egg life of a chicken :)
I cover all of those things. :) Definitely put the coop on the cool side of the house. The coldest it ever gets in Phoenix is still very comfortable for a hen. Most people keep the hens for pets after the laying slows down, a few eat them. If you eat an old hen you have to cook it very slowly (or stew) or it will be like eating leather.
Rachel - thanks for the class....ordered the girls today...2 Barnevelders, 2 Easter Eggers, a Welsummer, Rhode Island Red and an Buff Orpington. They won't actually hatch till the end of April so we will have plenty of time to finalize our coop plans.
I forgot to ask in the class is it ok for the nest boxes to be at floor level? I was then going to do roosting bars at 2 feet...is that too hight for the above breeds? If I provide a bar at 15 inches to get into the 2nd tier of the nesting boxes they could probably use that as a step....then how far apart would I need to place the 2ft high roosting bars? I was thinking about 12 inches? Does that sound reasonable...I can't picture how big they are going to be!!
Great! That sounds like a fantastic batch of breeds. I agree with Chris that floor level is not ideal. I'd shoot for the bottom being about 18" or higher, and like Chris said, make sure you don't have any structures underneath it or they will be quickly soiled. Even a chicken with clipped wings will easily be able to jump 2 feet.
I'm not understanding what you mean about how far apart the roosting bars should be. If you mean having a couple of parallel rows, 12" is probably too close together, I'd go for 18". Glad you enjoyed the class!
I'll be teaching some classes soon, the dates are not 100% confirmed, but looks like I'll be teaching a class on either the 19th or 26th of THIS month. (location has also not been confirmed).
Thanks for letting me know that PV has lots of chickens...I didn't really want to call the city and ask....I'd read the code twice and it sounded like it wasn't a problem.
I would love to get my (human) girls involved in that. My oldest will be 5 this summer, so I think she would be old enough for the 4H Clovers program. Do you know anyone in that around here?
I'm in Paradise Valley...which from all I've researched does not prohibit chickens. We live about 3 houses from the wash so that's what generates the coyotes. The Hawks have a huge nest in one of those really tall trees I think they are an Iron wood tree. We also have an Owl next door in a large pine tree.
Didn't realize the original post was dated. If anyone knows of any upcoming classes...
Do most chicks hatch in the sping or all year long?
Yep, PV has a lot of birds! Chicks hatch all year. Typically they start in Feb and run through the summer into fall depending on the hatchery. If you get some nice girls, you should look into having the human girls get involved with 4H. There's great poultry programs for kids and they're very helpful in understanding a lot of the "scientific aspect" of things in a easy to understand way.
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And, on a whole other note...chickens age and I'm assuming they stop laying eggs at one point :) Having no delicate way of putting this, do you all eat the chicken at some point? I know I'm going to think of these things as pets but my mom grew up on a farm and she mentioned it and I was like, OH! Also, there's a cute youtube video where a little boy tells a joke about naming your poop cuz you essentially named the chicken you're going to eat and it cracked me up, but also got me to thinking about sort of the after-egg life of a chicken :)
I forgot to ask in the class is it ok for the nest boxes to be at floor level? I was then going to do roosting bars at 2 feet...is that too hight for the above breeds? If I provide a bar at 15 inches to get into the 2nd tier of the nesting boxes they could probably use that as a step....then how far apart would I need to place the 2ft high roosting bars? I was thinking about 12 inches? Does that sound reasonable...I can't picture how big they are going to be!!
I'm not understanding what you mean about how far apart the roosting bars should be. If you mean having a couple of parallel rows, 12" is probably too close together, I'd go for 18". Glad you enjoyed the class!
I would love to get my (human) girls involved in that. My oldest will be 5 this summer, so I think she would be old enough for the 4H Clovers program. Do you know anyone in that around here?
Didn't realize the original post was dated. If anyone knows of any upcoming classes...
Do most chicks hatch in the sping or all year long?
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