Tag: chicks

Winter Chicken Keeping in Phoenix

Preparing the Chicken Coop for the Colder Months Ahead

The winters are rather mild in Phoenix and your birds will be quite comfortable without heat added, as long as they are protected from wind, drafts, and especially rain.
Temperatures rarely drop below freezing in Phoenix, with the usual overnight temperature in the 40s. As long as your birds are kept dry, cool weather is quite welcome, especially after a long summer of brutal heat.
A heavy-weight tarp is a suitable protection from wind, along with ample clean pine shavings (preferred) or straw in the coop and nest boxes. Your birds will huddle together for warmth at night, if you stick your finger deep inside their feathers you’ll see they are toasty warm, even at freezing temps.
Never put a heat lamp in your coop, the risk of fire is far too dangerous. I wouldn’t use a light bulb for heat either. First of all, your birds don’t need it in Phoenix, and second, light is annoying and disruptive to the normalcy of nature.
You will hear other chicken keepers say egg laying is reduced or halted completely in the winter months. That may be so in other parts of the country, but in Phoenix, I never notice much change in frequency. Remember, the key to keeping the egg basket full is defined in two simple words… happy birds.

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Chicken Coop is Finished

Preparing for the Brooder to Coop Transition

The chicks are heading into their 5th week in the brooder and will be ready to move into the coop the following week. This is what I call their transitional week. Their radiant heat source is slowly taken away, and they’ll also lose their all-night red lighting.
The first few nights I switch from red lighting to a white night light, then the night light is taken away. By the time they transition from brooder to coop, they will have learned to accept cooler temperatures and total darkness at night.
In most parts of the country, chicks are kept in the brooder until they are fully feathered, which is usually around 8 weeks. Here in Phoenix, Arizona, by the end of April temperatures during the day reach about 85-90, lows about 65. Therefore, it’s plenty warm to move the chicks to the coop at about 6 weeks. As you can see, they’re pretty well-feathered already!

The Finished Coop

The coop is an existing 10×10 x walk-in covered dog enclosure converted to a chicken coop. It’s inside a 3 stall covered open air barn, offering them plenty of shade and fresh air. It has taken almost 3 weeks to completely cover the chair link fencing with 1/2 inch hardware cloth.
Needless to say, I have spent my self-quarantine time wisely. Unfortunately, my fingers are a mess from working with stubborn wire and zip ties.

Predators have been a problem in the past, we have had our share of traumatic experiences with hawks, bobcats, and coyotes. I’ve lost at 8 birds over the years, with so much time on my hands, this was a good time to put the effort into predator-proofing the coop. Not to mention keeping wild birds from entering the coop and eating all the chicken feed.

Tip: Chicken wire isn’t going to keep your birds safe from predators, always use hardware cloth. Chicken wire can be chewed through or easily bent to give predators access.
Also, lay /bury hardware cloth at the base of the coop to prevent digging by raccoons and coyotes, etc.  More About Predators

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The Beginner’s Guide to Incubation

This guide is intended to help people new to incubation learn how to properly incubate and hatch eggs.
It will walk you through how to incubate and hatch most common types of poultry, such as chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, etc.  Read Article

by: Backyard Chickens
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