Washingtonians - Page 8126  

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMHunter 

I came home yesterday and someone had taken a big chunk out of my Faverolle pullets comb. I was so upset! I wish I knew who did it. I took the worst bulliers out of the flock just before bedtime. I put them in my large brooder/broody pen in my shed. I will see if things settle down or not. I think this is the one issue I have with chickens. They can be so mean!

And  they say the Fav are pretty mellow so will be the first to get picked on. But I must admit that when I tried to put the Silkiebator in with my B Fav they were not kind to her. Now I have to make another coop/run for the Silkiebator to live in. 

Well I guess I better get DW up and taken care of. So we can make a trip to Cloverleaf. She just thinks I am bringing her a pair of B SLW .  Well I NEED more Fav and have DW coached pretty well on being a distraction!!! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicken Rustler 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMHunter 

I came home yesterday and someone had taken a big chunk out of my Faverolle pullets comb. I was so upset! I wish I knew who did it. I took the worst bulliers out of the flock just before bedtime. I put them in my large brooder/broody pen in my shed. I will see if things settle down or not. I think this is the one issue I have with chickens. They can be so mean!

And  they say the Fav are pretty mellow so will be the first to get picked on. But I must admit that when I tried to put the Silkiebator in with my B Fav they were not kind to her. Now I have to make another coop/run for the Silkiebator to live in. 

I have seen her stick up for herself before.So I know they can, but they do tend to be the submissive one until they think they can win. I think she may have been checking out the nesting boxes and someone didn't like that. She has started squatting so I think she is going to lay soon. I am thinking of getting some nesting boxes to mount on the side of the run outside. Maybe it will be safer for any newbies. You need to get your silkiebator a boyfriend! I will have some splash cockerels ready to go in a few months.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicken Rustler 

Well I guess I better get DW up and taken care of. So we can make a trip to Cloverleaf. She just thinks I am bringing her a pair of B SLW .  Well I NEED more Fav and have DW coached pretty well on being a distraction!!! 

lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMHunter 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerrorBird 

My young ones are so sad when their ladder is taken over by the older girls that they try to sleep in trees outside.  I basically have to gently move the older girls to other ladders so the young ones will sleep in the house.  I have to carefully arrange everyone so that no one is being beaten up.  It's a giant pain, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't love them so much!

I have done and am doing this right now. I am putting my Cockerel and pullet up on the roost across from the older girls every night.

I also do this! LOL Our birds really like our two big cedar trees!

I have to pull most of the chicks out of the trees and put them in their small coop; just two of them will go directly in.

The two bantams are sometimes hard to find!  Occasionally I will also find the Ameracuanas and Foxglove (a smaller EE) in the trees.

I also have to pull the Brabanters out of the trees every night, as they didn't want to go in the big coop - they were getting picked on.

So - I ended up putting curtains between the two roosts to section the coop.

Now with the curtains - they aren't - but I do occasionally have to move one of the big girls to their side.

Having all these different sizes/ages/breeds is work - but I love it! My husband and kids think I'm nuts though

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ogress 

What do you all do when you feel a sore throat starting and suspect a cold coming on? My neck is sore to the touch, and I have no desire to get sick now (nor ever).

I take triple doses of vitamin C, and Airborne, (the tablet you dissolve in water).  That's usually enough for me to nip it in the bud, reduce my symptoms in a hurry and in a couple of days all indications of getting sick are gone.  But I'm pretty stringent about taking all my multi-vitamins and calcium daily so when all others around me are getting sick, I've dodged it for the past 6 years.  Haven't had a bad cold or flu for a long long time.  (Knock on wood.)

Hope you knock it out in a hurry and avoid getting sick!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justahannah 

Hi JNB! I'm in Tacoma and pretty new to Backyard chickens as well, it's definitely been cool to draw on everyone's chicken knowledge and just chat about chickeny things my non-poultry friends are tired of hearing about :D.

 

All this spider talk has me feeling itchy, we haven't had too many in the past, but this year we've been removing monsters from inside the house at least a couple times a week. We're talking quarter-sized bodies and legs that stretch out about as wide as a tennis ball, and most of the time they're in our bedroom or bath tub. I don't know if they're wolf spiders or hobo spiders, but I'm extremely glad we haven't been bitten by any of them yet, they look like they have huge fangs. Maybe next time I'll catch one live so I can ID it...I really don't mind spiders as long as they're not hanging out inside, but when they hang out over my bed I get pretty squeamish.

Welcome to the thread Justahannah!    I'm a neighbor - living in University Place just on the border of U.P. and Lakewood.  How many chickens do you have?  What kind?

Those of you in these area's I hope your gardens survived. I can't imagine getting nailed this early.

29 degrees in August? in Washington? Yup.
Posted by Cathy McLain
August 24, 2012 at 9:19 PM




Perhaps you thought it was a tad cooler in the Seattle area today than one might hope to experience in August.

Well, count yourself lucky.

The following report comes from The Spokesman-Review in Spokane:

The National Weather Service this afternoon has issued a freeze warning for sheltered valleys in Northeast Washington overnight.

Temperatures could fall to as low as 29 degrees between 3 and 7 a.m., forecasters said.

Cities identified in the warning include Chewelah, Colville, Deer Park, Newport, Kettle Falls, Republic, Inchelium and Wauconda.

Cool air has moved over the Inland Northwest in the wake of a dry cold front overnight.

Spokane could see a low of 43 tonight.

Temperatures will rebound starting on Saturday with highs in the lower 80s going to about 90 on Sunday under sunny skies as fair weather continues into early next week.

Thunderstorms may arrive by Tuesday.
 

This morning I was up and out in the yard bright and early and heard a new sound coming from my grow out coop.    My big, beautiful, 100% imported English blue Orpington boy has started to crow.  I was hoping I'd be able to grow him out more just because he's so pretty but that won't be happening now.  I should have known he was feeling his oats - the past week I've seen him fluff up and charge my little Pomeranian who is smart enough to take off in a hurry.  This morning he ruffled his feathers at one of the Ameraucana girls and she put him in his place. 

He's just over 4 months old, born the second week of May.  He was raised in the house.  This is the boy who used to sit on DH's shoulder while he played video games on the computer.  He's been great company but needs to find a new home, hopefully with some nice girls to hang around with.  He's always been the flock leader for the two English blue girls I'm keeping.

Good price to BYCer's.  PM me if you're interested.  I can post updated photos later today since I'll need them to place a Craigslist ad anyway.

Here's a few baby pictures of him.  Here he is with DH when he was just about 4 weeks old.  And HUGE.

8 weeks old - he's on the far right.  Of course, now at 17 weeks he's considerably larger and still has a long ways to grow!

So yesterday I did something stupid and it's resulted in me losing one of my sweet 4 month old Serama pullets.  My two boys and two girls have been occupying a couple of rabbit cages in the house, so I try to put them outside for a while each day in the 4X4 covered X-pen.  The pen is on the upper deck just 10 steps from the kitchen door.  Last evening as I was bringing them in, I accidentally left the door to the pen ajar on one of my trips in and out of the house. 

I had brought the boys in, was refilling the waterer in the kitchen and found that in my 2 minute absence that Wren, our little brown pullet had just disappeared.  I looked over all sides of the deck to the yard below where all the LF were free ranging and didn't see her.  I looked up in the trees and didn't see her or any other birds that might have swooped down and gotten her.  Later my Golden Retriever was crying at the gate leading to the front yard and then joined me on the top deck overlooking the front yard and was still whining.  He seemed to be indicating to me that she might have jumped up on the railing and gone over so I leashed him and had him try to track her in the front.  No luck.

This morning when the boys started crowing in the house I thought maybe she'd come out of hiding to try and find everyone.  I looked under bushes, cars, up in the trees, calling her but neither saw nor heard her. 

I'm so annoyed with myself for leaving the X-pen door open.  Two minutes and it's like she vanished into thin air.  This was a very sweet girl who loved to be held and petted and would just coo herself to sleep in your lap.

And I also want to add that although I gripe and moan about DH often, that this morning he was out in the yard bright and early doing a thorough search for our lost girl.  He may be a pain in the neck, but he's got a big heart.  I guess that's just one of the reasons I've kept him around for 21 years.

So, we keep looking.  Keep a good thought for us please that our tiny chicken comes home.