Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[CarolynF]

Question:
I've started seeing very tiny black ants running up and down one post in my coop, and nearby in the sand. A couple looked like they were carrying a tiny bit of something light colored.

1. Will they do any harm to my girls?

2. Do they indicate anything I should be paying attention to?

The pullets haven't tried to eat them. I don't know if the hens have seen them, yet.
I use Sevin powder and DE judiciously in the seams, cracks, and edges of the coop, on the perch, and in the nest box. And I scoop poop every morning.
Can I just ignore them?

 

[Chickielady]

In her defense, we Microsoft widows don't have our experts home long enough to solve computer problems. They do seem to have time to muck with them so normal users can't even get email sometimes. Lol.

Her man works from home 90% of the time....from the huge kitchen table.
He has his own computer, of course.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Spray

[COLOR=A52A2A]Question:[/COLOR]
I've started seeing very tiny black ants running up and down one post in my coop, and nearby in the sand.  A couple looked like they were carrying a tiny bit of something light colored.

1.  Will they do any harm to my girls?

2.  Do they indicate anything I should be paying attention to?

The pullets haven't tried to eat them.  I don't know if the hens have seen them, yet. 
I use Sevin powder and DE judiciously in the seams, cracks, and edges of the coop, on the perch, and in the nest box.  And I scoop poop every morning. 
Can I just ignore them?

Spray the ants with 409. Kills them quick

 

[Chickielady]

I too am a Washingtonian. We are recognizable by the complete lack of tan. We tend to mildew and rust rather than retainn color. The infernal rain hardly lets up except for the two weeks we get of summer. However we have some of the most beautiful woods to be found in the Pacific NW. Fishing is good, hunting is phenomenal (according to hubby, I couldn't kill a fly) and our birds here can rough it through the wettest of days. Go Washington.

True, but in my case, I am very tan where the sun can get to....and being the carnivore that I am (we both are)
We have no issue with culling, or hunting & do all our own butchering.
Love this place !!!!

 

[Hinotori]

Question:
I've started seeing very tiny black ants running up and down one post in my coop, and nearby in the sand. A couple looked like they were carrying a tiny bit of something light colored.

1. Will they do any harm to my girls?

2. Do they indicate anything I should be paying attention to?

The pullets haven't tried to eat them. I don't know if the hens have seen them, yet.
I use Sevin powder and DE judiciously in the seams, cracks, and edges of the coop, on the perch, and in the nest box. And I scoop poop every morning.
Can I just ignore them?

I'm not sure. I have a couple of birds that love to eat ants. Most of them aren't interested in ants other than the pupae. DE won't help with ants. They have a protective shell that is durable. If the ants aren't wood chewers (chicken favorite here. Haven't seen any in over a year) I wouldn't worry to much. But then I don't really freak out about ants unless they are in the house. Well spiders have mostly gotten to that point to. Stay outside and I don't care much what you do.

 

[Totalcolour]

Hi guys, a quick HELLO before MY poopy puter poops out on me again.

We have to go to OLY tomorrow for Doc appt & may be ringing up TotalColour...maybe !
As of right now, I am trying to coordinate a meet up with Lutefisk again...so we'll see~~~~~~~~

Have a great day !!!!!!!!!!!

I'm around all day . . .

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Are you all sufficiently impressed that I finally got a new password so I can join you again? My computer is still an annoying piece of junk. The screen display randomly shrinks to just 12% multiple times an hour and each time I have to force shut-down and it loses all my passwords that usually fill in automatically, so I am rarely on the beast anymore.

What impresses me even more, is your DH is a big-shot Microsoft computer-programming engineer !!!!!!!!!! How come he cannot fix your puter ?

Software guys are not hardware guys, though, nor are they tech support guys, oh, boy are they not tech support guys. My husband's long career is built on that dataset.

Exactly! At parties whenever someone asked about my profession.... I lied because they expected me to know all about hardware. It's like asking a dentist about the pain in your rear because he's called "doctor".

DH is a sys admin/desk top tech support guy for a bunch of structural engineers, cartographers, and "make sure the bridges meet in the middle" folks at WS-DOT (it was by ignoring the latter the project manager for the Sprague Street project proved that design-build is not a substitute for "check measurements") but even he would rather replace a bad computer than spend a whole weekend reviving one with a dead hard drive. Although I think Ogress's sounds more like a bad power supply or possibly a sick video chip.

 

[M-I Chicken]

Hi Washington folks! I thought I would share info on a coop tour that is taking place about 65 miles south of the border. Monmouth & Independence gained their right to have chickens last year - hence our celebration! Hope some of you can join us - Here is the info:


The Sunday July 14 M-I Chicken Coop Tour is almost here. The tour will take place in Monmouth, Independence & Dallas, Oregon on Sunday July 14 between 10 am and 4 pm. Same day $6.00 per vehicle tickets will be available at the home coop at: 1945 Riddell Road, Dallas, Oregon.

We are a rural community and the tour will reflect this. Here are some highlights:

• 4 backyard coops
• 2 small farms
• 1 small family farm will have their pastured meat birds and equipment on display and will share knowledge! A great chance to learn the how-to's.
• 1 plant nursery raises French Black Copper Marans and Ameraucana - a true treat for people that love plants and chickens!

• One coop has a spiral staircase, one backyard run is large with an excellent panel system, one coop could be a small house, another one is a great example of $20 repurposed shed & free dog run! All good examples of coop/run styles.

On Saturday July 13, 2013 at 11 AM Gretchen Anderson, author of "The Backyard Chicken Fight" and national advocate for backyard hens, will offer Free Hen Keeping Class at Independence Riverview 50 C Street
Independence, Oregon 95351 She is a great presenter and has much info to offer


I will be at the home coop - be sure to say hi!. Rosa will offer demos of beak and nail trimming, Joy Mazeikas, Author of Egg-Song will be on hand, Author Gretchen will be there to answer questions and will have her books available. We will have info on bio-security, local chicken and more!












[FONT=arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif]For More info visit www.MICoopTour.com[/FONT]

 

[BGMatt]

Welcome to all the new people!

Pretty slow around here, hatches have been a trickle as the young ones are laying yet and the adults are molting. My folks and neighbor pitched in today and helped finish some pens (normally wouldn't need the help but had to have hernia surgery last week so I'm pretty much useless for the next month or so) so I didn't have to sell off a bunch of stock.

Some of the young are looking very promising, just have to decide if I want to show badly enough when they will be just starting to lay or if I should just leave then home to get some babies before I start showing.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

That sounds adorable. Can you get a pick of the "slicked back pompadour" someday? I will so make that my wallpaper.