Backyard Chickens

Hi K.,
I live in central Phoenix and we have several backyard hens. They are easy to care for - we feed them regular scratch and all our fruit and veggie kitchen scraps. Our 7 month son loves to watch them and our neices and nephews love to come and feed them. They do just fine in the summer - just make sure they have water that won't be tipped over and shade (they also love to take dust baths!). We get tasty fresh eggs and give them as gifts to family and neighbors! You will probably want to build an enclosure (or use something you already have) for them at night, or you may find some cats hanging around. We have dogs too and they get along just fine. A good place to buy is Pratts Pets (we go to the one in Glendale). You can find some great books at the library about keeping backyard chickens. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions!

We have four hens and have had them for about 11 months. When we got them two were laying already and two were pullets and eventually all were layers. They are very nice pets, very self sufficient. We had ours in a coop mostly when we first got them but they just roam around the yard now and rarely go in the coop. They lay their eggs wherever they want, the kids like to "hunt" for them. Lately they haven't been laying because they are molting so there are feathers everywhere, they are just growing in their warmer feathers. They do poop everywhere so that is lots of fun. We live in Glendale in a regular neighborhood, no HOA.

I've been thinking about this lately too. Funny you should ask. What I want to know is about the summer heat. Are they ok as long as you provide shade? I guess they should be. Sorry I don't have any actual advice for you. Anyway, good luck with your chickens. It should be fun for the kids.

While growing up in Mesa I had chickens and it was a great thing for all of us kids. I say go for it! Your kids should have fun if they don't mind getting dirty and keeping up after them (poop etc) and collecting eggs. The eggs are the best and you will probably need to pass them out to neighbors etc if you have quite a few chickens. I do recommend putting a sturdy roof on the coop though. I don't know if you have ever smelled a wet chicken but if it rains and they get wet... Oh man the fumes! Hope you have fun with it and Good luck!! -S