Chicken Allies in the Mojave Desert

Chickens, right? Everyone's favorite "entry level" farm animal. Us, too. But despite reading a plethora of books on chicken husbandry and integrating chickens into homesteads, permaculture gardens, and holistic management schemes, we had no clue what we were doing when we brought our first flock home. In part, our cluelessness is due to the simple fact that most books on raising livestock are written by people who live in climates more "typically" suited to agriculture.

When we reckoned with the reality of the challenges we were facing with our first flock, we of course had to ask ourselves: what were we thinking? Should we even be keeping chickens in the desert?

We looked, of course, for others doing the same thing. A handful of homesteaders near Tuscon, and some near Las Vegas have written articles and posts on raising chickens in the desert. Brad Lancaster has a list[1] of chicken-friendly plants to grow in the Sonoran desert, which felt a little like validation. But generally, the advice given by the homesteaders fell short, and didn't truly account for the behavior and needs of these birds. We considered other options: Gambler quail, most notably, would be a native option, but we feel strange keeping a flying bird in a covered cage and knowing that they can never truly free range. Waterfowl, of course, make less sense than chickens, and turkeys even less so. But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself–why did we want to keep chickens in the first place? How do they fit into our mission of regeneration?

Chickens are incredible creatures. We've taken a bird that lived in the jungle[2], the terrestrial red junglefowl, and turned it into a big, yummy bird uniquely suited for life on small farms. Their instincts are to scratch for bugs and seeds acting as weed and pest control, bathe in the dust, flap their wings, and run around procreating. They can eat just about anything, making them efficient transformers of scraps and cheap food items into nutritious human food, both in the form of meat and eggs. Per pound of feed given, a laying hen produces the most pounds of food in return of any domesticated animal. So, our initial desire to raise chickens came from the pragmatic recognition that this was an incredible way to build community food sovereignty, and one of the most immediate sources of food we could raise ourselves, given the state of our soil. Over time, we've learned that despite the danger of chickens destroying gardens in which crops are planted close together, when managed appropriately in our dry land, they create mini-earthworks with their scratching and actually tend to leave most of our most valuable plants alone if we are strategic about moving them around. They trim mesquite branches that hang low, saving us the work of pruning, they add valuable nitrogen[3] to the soil, they help to reduce the numbers of flies that inevitably explode whenever water and foodstuffs are introduced to our imbalanced ecosystem, and the undigested food in their droppings and the seed they leave behind attracts native rodents that help to aerate the soils with their burrows and which also work to balance the ecosystem with their feeding habits and by providing food to higher-level predators.

Since introducing chickens, endangered species of kangaroo rats and ground squirrels have made a comeback here, as have sidewinders, Mojave rattlesnakes, quail, and great horned owls. The depressions they create around shady trees, cacti, and brush encourage water to soak into the shaded soil rather than evaporate off the surface, and enable burrowing lizards and rodents access to previously too-rocky or heavily compacted areas.

All of these benefits are dependent on appropriate management. When we consider the ethics of keeping livestock we must consider not only the satisfaction and well-being of the individual organism we are caring for, but that of the ecosystem as a whole. But first, let's dive into care. What challenges have we faced keeping chickens in the Mojave desert? How have we managed these challenges while managing resources efficiently and honoring the ecosystem we are trying to rebuild?

Making Happy Chickens

The most obvious challenge in our climate is keeping chickens happy even in extreme heat. Most chicken books proclaim that chickens deal with cold much better than heat, and I think that is somewhat true. Chickens–depending on the breed–do just fine in heat, the problem is generally our management. Articles I read by homesteaders in Tuscon and Las Vegas all recommended two things that are counterintuitive to me: misters in the chicken coop and enormous fans for creating drafts. I do not recommend either. Evaporative cooling only works when water is in contact with skin, not outer feathers. Wetting the outside of a chicken does nothing, and if you've ever paid attention to chickens, they don't appreciate their face getting wet very much. What a mister does do, though, is waste water and increase the humidity of their living quarters, which can be dangerous. Wetting down bedding such as straw or wood shavings creates an excellent recipe for mold, and if that's paired with a fan blowing through droppings-littered bedding, we're likely adding several respiratory irritants at once to our already-stressed chickens' environment.

Other challenges include wind, exposure to predators, water scarcity, lack of high value forage, and cold. Today we won't discuss solutions to all of these challenges, as we will primarily focus on managing chickens in heat while utilizing water efficiently. I hope to tackle the other challenges in future posts.

So what can we do to help chickens thrive in extreme temperatures?

Be picky about breed

Breed matters. Through trial and, unfortunately, error, we have found that Naked Necks are the best breed for our climate. They are feisty, and will defend themselves against potential predators, they are excellent foragers, are incredibly curious, and they fly well. Their featherless necks and legs enable them to lose excess heat much faster than other breeds, and they're good layers and meat birds. We've raised about a dozen other breeds, and some locals recommend Leghorns because of their extraordinary laying capabilities, but we also prioritize the lifespan of the bird and their day-to-day comfort, and so we stay away from the hyper-modified breeds that are excessively selected for either laying or meat. Naked Necks check all of these boxes. This is just a part of our ethical compass around livestock in general, which I hope to get into in a future post.

Shelter and range management

A chicken coop in the desert needs to be constructed thoughtfully. Ventilation is crucial, but we do have cold winters and need a way to shut out drafts when it is freezing. A large, secure run for early growing seasons is a must. I recommend top cover and deep litter– shade is non-negotiable. Most importantly, though, free ranging your birds is crucial, at least in Summer. While in Spring I may keep my chickens in the coop and run to give young plants a chance to establish, in Summer my birds free range every day. There are no shortcuts: free ranging chickens in the desert requires cultivating or constructing cover. Until our vegetation provided more hiding places and shade, this wasn't possible. But when confined, even with our greatly oversized coop which is very well ventilated and always has a cross-draft, and despite the run being shaded with a mature tree and shade sail, the chickens crowd into the coolest spots in the coop and overheat or suffocate each other. When they can spread out, however, groups of 3-4 split up and each find their own shade. We range our chickens in our West garden, which has the most trees, bushes, and other hiding places such as benches and tables to duck under.

A separate group of chickens ranges outside of the garden area, and we constructed a shelter pole-barn style but with rebar-reinforced straw bale walls. It has a reflective roof, and the straw bales on two sides ensure adequate shade and insulation to keep these birds cool during the day. They can leave the chicken tractor and find this shade, or shade under the chicken tractor and dig down into the sand to cool off. Shade cabanas such as these could be constructed throughout your property where you want your birds to range while you wait for trees and bushes to mature.

Shade sails are not generally 100% opaque and do not cool an area enough for temperatures above 115 farenheit. However, mobile shade structures made of plywood on a frame with wheels that is low to the ground (~13-15 inches) could be constructed as well. Plants do the best job of cooling, though, because of the transpiration from their leaves and the water retained at their roots.

Agua santa

Agua santa. Holy water. Our scarcest resource. Oh the debates about water. Will chickens drink warm water? Sure, if it's clean, and the only source they have. Though, too hot and they won't drink more than the absolute minimum to sustain themselves (turns out both sides of this debate are correct). We have a 55-gallon drum painted with a reflective white paint in the shaded part of the run, fitted with nipples for drinking. The rest of the year, this is sufficient for our flock if confined. In Summer, however, the water does inevitably get hot. We combat this by having an automatic drip-filler with a float valve to keep the waterer full - more water creates more thermal mass, and a full drum heats up much slower than a scarcely-filled one, but it still gets hot. Therefore, it is imperative to have many water sources spread out throughout the range area for birds that will not run through an island of hot, unshaded ground to get to water in the middle of the day. This is an actual problem--chickens will trap themselves in a spot that is shady in the morning but which becomes a tiny spot of shade in the afternoon, and they won't run through the sun unless there's an obviously better spot very close by. To account for this, I place metal trash can lids around, flipped so they make a small dish, moving them as the shade moves, and filling them periodically with cool water when they heat up or get dirty. There is no way to avoid midday chores if you have livestock in the desert summer. You must make sure the animals have water, and are accessing shade, and that none have gotten themselves "stuck" in an island of shade away from food and water.

The best way to utilize water efficiently is to pay attention to your birds, and to only put out enough water for the duration of time it is likely to stay clean and cool enough to be appetizing. Keeping the water in low shade (as opposed to that cast by a high canopied tree) helps it evaporate less quickly. I place the lids only on the mulched areas within infiltration basins so spillage can drain down and feed plants as opposed to evaporating off of the sand.

Some attention required

This is the final piece of management. In the morning and evening, and once or twice in the middle of the day, I check all the birds: do they have clean water? Are all the birds getting access, or are some being bullied away? Are all the birds in shade? I check the coop: are any hens crowding a nest box? Are any "trapped" indoors, afraid to go through the sunny spot by the gate to find a cooler place?

I do not fuss with making popsicles for my chickens, or bringing them ice, or any of the extraneous things that homestead influencers swear by. These things are nice, yes, but I think my chickens prefer the freedom to behave the way they need to, to let their instincts keep them safe and cool, than to be confined in an unsafe way and consoled with fleeting cool treats. They do get the waste fruit from the farmer's market, however, and the extra water gained from eating these sweet treats is no doubt beneficial. The bottom line is that we must be attentive to and honor the instincts of the animals when raising them in extreme environments. This requires very little extra work on a daily basis, but more careful observation and potentially more augmentation of our environment before bringing animals home at all to ensure that we can provide an enriching, safe environment that benefits them and which is in turn benefitted by their presence.

As climate changes, and more land is desertified every year, these management tips may become pertinent even for those who now live in temperate environments. Summers will become hotter and dryer everywhere, and efficient water and energy utilization will be critical to creating low-input food systems. These management tips privilege the animals' capabilities and instincts, as well as require no additional electricity or extraneous water use.

I look forward to writing more practical guides like this as we perfect systems for other animals, like pigs, horses, and rabbits. If this was beneficial, please consider supporting our work by subscribing at our Supporter tier and gaining access to even more practical information about land regeneration, original recipes, careful resource utilization, and twice yearly thank-you gifts. Thank you for your continued support!

Notes:

1. Brad Lancaster's "Plants for Chickens" in Sonora.
2. Gallus gallus Source.
3. Nitrogen addition to desert soils is a complicated thing. Too much nitrogen privileges invasives over natives, and while most of the local "invasives" are actually protecting the topsoil and filling valuable ecological niches in lieu of their native counterparts being mostly eradicated, we still are thoughtful with where and how we amend the soil with high nitrogen manures and what we plant in the amended places.