Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[RainMom]

We finished and deployed the new tractor Friday night. I haven't seen anything like this design so it's a big guess as to whether the hens would take to it. They seemed willing enough to go in during the day after I threw a bunch of scratch in.


But most decided to sleep on the deck Friday, Saturday and tonight and we had to move them in the dark. I'm not too worried, we went through this with the ark and it took a few days.


They are laying in the nest boxes (plastic tubs). I had put an egg in each one to show them. I had to enlarge the holes since they we struggling to squeeze in the original holes.


Here's the back. The door is secured with a magnet and flips down for access to the nest boxes.


I was a little nervous about how open it is compared to the ark they've been in, but they came through the 28F low Friday night just fine. It's real easy to move, can pick up the front with one hand and roll to a new spot. No bedding to clean up except in the nest boxes.

"deployed", hehehe- another server dude in the group, hehehe.

So- is there screen on the bottom of the tractor or is it all open ? (I can't quite see.)
Also, are the 2x4's there to roost on?

 

[RainMom]

five are out! also have at least a dozen piping and this is just day 19.5. getting chicks in the mail is not this fun.

how fun is that !
We sure had a good time with the chicks we hatched in our inCOOLbator.
We've got 11 under a GLW right now- she kicked one out from under here- either someone pecked a hole in it or it was cracked, so not a dozen anymore.
One more week till more baby chicks due. (Thank goodness the hen house is almost done!)

 

[RainMom]

That was MY first thought too!!

I have 11 layers right now and they only have the option of 2 nest boxes. So for now, they use both because otherwise they'd drop em out in the middle of the chicken run. No other options. But unless she has like 100 birds, they're totally gonna fight over 2 of those 9 nests!

but if you only give them 2 nest boxes, they will only use one of them and lay the rest on the floor or under the hen house or something.

Chickens like to keep their options open, ya know? (wink, wink)

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
So true!! Picky picky girls!

I do know that after my babies from right now start laying in August or so, I will once again open up the rabbit hutch for laying. That'll at least give my 17 chickens 3 places to lay. Not that they'll use all 3......

 

[RainMom]

Rainmom - you can actually get some really cheap vinyl flooring at Home Depot. We bought one roll of vinyl and floored our coop. It's so nice to have vinyl in there! It's always sparkley clean underneath the shavings when we stir up the floor of the coop.

I know, we've talked about their $59 rolls of el-cheapo linoleum, but DH and I are truly enjoying using salvaged materials.

We did buy new shingles- those are hard to re-use, because they are so brittle ( and besides, a good roof does wonders to keep this ancient cedar shed going).

I'm going to check some of the big flooring companies to see if they have scrap this week, if not, we're going to get el-cheapo from Home Depot.

 

[TacomaFarms]

okay, so here's the last of the chicken house work we did today, before it got too dark to work:

we put this rail on the front of the slated poop board.
It's a 4" piece of smooth pine, that was already varnished with a clear shellac.
This way the poop doesn't roll all the way onto the floor, right?



except we decided to give it an upgrade: watch how hubby is holding this rail:

we made it so it flips down- it's hinged with a pair of spring-loaded cabinet hinges, so when we want to change the sand on top, we flip the rail down and ~voila~


here's how the window looks now that we finished it- I'm still not sure if we want to use some of the boards we cut out to trim it or not?


just a floor covering and we're ready for the chickens to take up residence in the old west chicken saloon!
(need some wagon wheels on the sides!)

This is very neat!

five are out! also have at least a dozen piping and this is just day 19.5. getting chicks in the mail is not this fun.

Yay! I absolutely agree!


I attempted to post earlier, but my phone wouldn't multi-quote and then mid-message it just did the funky chicken and lost everything I had just written. So I apologize for any posts I didn't respond to or awesomeness that I missed. And big hugs to any and all that lost birdies, I think I saw a couple.

As for my update: Chubby, mama rabbit, ended up having 8 kits, and they are all doing well. I stopped at Wilco yesterday on the way home from my daughter's horse schooling show (she placed 5th and 7th in two different classes at her first ever show! Very proud mama!), and picked up some kitty formula just in case Chubby didn't nurse, but when we got home not only did she nurse, she let me watch! How awesome! Love this mama, but she's already showing signs that she wants to mate again.

I have words for her... OK! But that wasn't all...

If you have issues with mites, bugs, flies, fleas, etc., pick up the Sevin Concentrate Bug Killer, and use a paint brush to apply it to anything and everything! I painted the interior of the rabbit hutch with this, and not only did it rid the coop of the mites it also got rid of the nasty little gnat buggers that were incubating in the rabbit dung. YUCK! I haven't had to powder them, and any and all signs of bug life has cleared up. I will powder them with the Sevin Dust (5%) once the babies are big enough, but this seemed to work excellently for me. I will paint the entire chicken coop with this stuff.

Speaking of the coop, it didn't get quite as far as I thought it would, but that's ok, the flooring is done and very secure, and I'm re-evaluating my original ideas.



Chaebird happy birthday (hope I wasn't too late)...


And goodnight everyone...

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
And if you give them 5, they will all fight and lay their eggs in one.

 

[ChristineR]

So my male kitten attacked one of the chicks. I was right there and he got wacked to make him let go. Pierced through the left wing which bled a bit, and tore the skin almost an inch open on it's sternum/belly. I closed that with two disolvable stitches. I think it will be ok. It was stressing and shaking so I had to give it back to mama. It hid under her for a few minutes then was back out and about with it's sibling like nothing happened. I caught it again and it was acting normal.

Watch your chick closely for infection. Cats' mouths are teeming with bacteria.

 

[Hinotori]

I want to say

and the Washington Thread to all the new people I know I've missed.

 

[RainMom]

This is very neat!

Yay! I absolutely agree!


I attempted to post earlier, but my phone wouldn't multi-quote and then mid-message it just did the funky chicken and lost everything I had just written. So I apologize for any posts I didn't respond to or awesomeness that I missed. And big hugs to any and all that lost birdies, I think I saw a couple.

As for my update: Chubby, mama rabbit, ended up having 8 kits, and they are all doing well. I stopped at Wilco yesterday on the way home from my daughter's horse schooling show (she placed 5th and 7th in two different classes at her first ever show! Very proud mama!), and picked up some kitty formula just in case Chubby didn't nurse, but when we got home not only did she nurse, she let me watch! How awesome! Love this mama, but she's already showing signs that she wants to mate again.

I have words for her... OK! But that wasn't all...

If you have issues with mites, bugs, flies, fleas, etc., pick up the Sevin Concentrate Bug Killer, and use a paint brush to apply it to anything and everything! I painted the interior of the rabbit hutch with this, and not only did it rid the coop of the mites it also got rid of the nasty little gnat buggers that were incubating in the rabbit dung. YUCK! I haven't had to powder them, and any and all signs of bug life has cleared up. I will powder them with the Sevin Dust (5%) once the babies are big enough, but this seemed to work excellently for me. I will paint the entire chicken coop with this stuff.

Speaking of the coop, it didn't get quite as far as I thought it would, but that's ok, the flooring is done and very secure, and I'm re-evaluating my original ideas.



Chaebird happy birthday (hope I wasn't too late)...


And goodnight everyone...

Nite Ma, Nite Pa, Good Nite Mary Ellen, Jim-Bob and all......
I am beat, and have a very darned full day tomorrow, driving all over the place, hauling a trailer.
Please pray for no rain and no traffic, okay?