Eastern Washington

[RustyHen]

Welcome to all you new members! I sneak in here one in a while, since I'm from near Hermiston OR but they let me in here too!

 

[Divannah]

Your coop is beautiful.

 

[Divannah]

Hey... what? I clicked on "reply" to someone's post about a coop which is maybe two pages back. Wouldn't that post it "within" their post? I feel silly.

Well, since I am writing, I have some lovely 7 week old Roos for anybody that needs them for their flock. I have three full blooded welsummers. The father is from a good breeder's line; the mothers are from Meyer hatchery but lovely and lay quite dark eggs.

I also have, from the same father, a cross with my barred rock. If you have welsummer hens, this would bring you one step closer to producing autosexing welbars. They are both handsome, and one in particular has been the friendliest fellow I have ever had. Since born, he always runs up and hops in my lap, doesn't mind being held, and is a fantastic forager. I sort of hate to part with him, but I can't have more Roos. Also, I don't want to breed him back with his mother, nor go the welbar route with my flock.

Lastly, I hatched a variety of Pip's and Peeps Ameraucana eggs. In another month or so, I should be quite positive about hen vs roo, and will have a couple black, one Lav split, and a pure white roo for anybody wanting to breed with these fellows. Right now I for certain have a wheaten roo and he is turning out quite beautiful.

If there is interest, I will take some photos and post them.

 

[RustyHen]

Hey... what? I clicked on "reply" to someone's post about a coop which is maybe two pages back. Wouldn't that post it "within" their post? I feel silly.

Well, since I am writing, I have some lovely 7 week old Roos for anybody that needs them for their flock. I have three full blooded welsummers. The father is from a good breeder's line; the mothers are from Meyer hatchery but lovely and lay quite dark eggs.

I also have, from the same father, a cross with my barred rock. If you have welsummer hens, this would bring you one step closer to producing autosexing welbars. They are both handsome, and one in particular has been the friendliest fellow I have ever had. Since born, he always runs up and hops in my lap, doesn't mind being held, and is a fantastic forager. I sort of hate to part with him, but I can't have more Roos. Also, I don't want to breed him back with his mother, nor go the welbar route with my flock.

Lastly, I hatched a variety of Pip's and Peeps Ameraucana eggs. In another month or so, I should be quite positive about hen vs roo, and will have a couple black, one Lav split, and a pure white roo for anybody wanting to breed with these fellows. Right now I for certain have a wheaten roo and he is turning out quite beautiful.

If there is interest, I will take some photos and post them.

Divannah, I think that you need to click on Quote to get that done. I sure wish I could have roos but no go, here in town.

 

[3 of everything]

Question for the Eastern Washington thread...

We've got the coop framed out and will be finishing it up over the next two weeks. We're at the point that we need to decide if we are going to insulate it or not. The coop itself is 10x4 and is raised 3ft off the ground. I keep reading all different views about insulation across the web but wanted to get some direction from folks who have the same Spokane-type weather we do.

Do you insulate your coops?

 

[DaveOmak]

Everything I've read, the amount of fresh air required to keep the ammonia down and prevent respiratory problems with the chickens, insulation would be "not much help"....

It would help with radiant heat from the sun... but so will ventilation...

 

[3 of everything]

Thanks, Dave! Very good point.

 

[Divannah]

We had some stretches of very cold weather this past winter. We had insulated our coop, but not yet the roof. It is about 8'x12', a shed from Ziggy's. It was ten degrees warmer inside. That a big difference in keeping their feet and combs from getting frost bitten. We will insulate the roof before this next winter. I don't know what the degree difference would be had we not insulated.

 

[Raech]

Hubby picked me up a couple of blueberry bushes today, super excited, they already have berries on them. Bought some seeds yesterday, got some peas, lettuce, and flowers. Hopefully I won't be buying any plants next year, I really don't want to spend any more than I have to. Between needing to save up for hunting license and trying to save for a house, my mini check is not doing much of anything. So my garden has to start paying for itself, so I will hopefully have 2-3 trays of veggies started next spring, I really slacked this year on the garden. My neighbor is going to give me some lilies for next year as well, so I am out of pots already and the garden is barely producing. My 50 green onion bulbs that I got for $1 are sprouting up already too, and it has only been 2 days since I planted them. The largest tomato plant has 4 green tomatoes and I have only gotten 6 strawberries off of my 8 plants, so I am going to buy anywhere from 25-75 next spring, maybe I can get my numbers up to enough for the freezer. Herb garden is doing pretty good, found a couple of little green caterpillars today, and threw them into the other flowers so they can eat them and not "my" plants. Now if only I can get rid of the fruit flies that have decided to nest in all my pots I would be awesome, it is really gross checking the plants and the mulch starts to crawl. Any ideas on how to fix that? I have Googled it and came up with an alcohol bottle(we don't drink) night lights(outside garden). Hoping there is a way that I can spray and kill them, without having to buy a bottle of spray that I have to wash off of the veggies, plus my boys play on the patio right next to the plants so I really need to be careful since my oldest has an odd reaction to pesticides. Found that out the hard way, the park is really boring when you can't play on the grass, or out at Papa's after he sprays for a week.

 

[NinetreesMom]

Raech, in the house I make a fruit fly trap by mixing about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in 1/2 cup water, and adding a drop of dish soap (breaks the surface tension of the water so the flies drown). It works really well, and I am sure it would work outside or in a greenhouse too. Good luck!