Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[TacomaFarms]

We lost a the runt of the litter last night. I was sad, we're going to bury it under the cherry tree.

And we lost our liberty this morning when Obama passed the Monsanto Protection Act.
http://www.farms.com/ag-industry-news/congress-passes-controversial-monsanto-protection-act-006.aspx
http://www.inquisitr.com/591630/farmers-protest-monsanto-protection-act-at-white-house/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/congress-protects-monsant_b_2956642.html
http://rt.com/business/monstano-dupont-seed-battle-910/

Does anyone else feel that the Obama administration has failed to protect our rights? I read through the Bill of Rights this morning, and I think I counted 7 that were in the works to being violated in a major way.

I know this is political, and I HATE politics, but it's come down to my food, and God knows I LOVE MY FOOD!!!

 

[ChickAudie]

Well we made some great progress on the coop today, we got the flooring raised up on the legs and almost got the footings right (my only job today). Whoops! I'll fix that tomorrow and get the old barn shutters ready to be repurposed as the siding of the coop.

This is the the underside of the flooring (made out of pallets YAY!)...



It got dark quick so I don't have any other pics, but it looks like an oversized bar table right now.

I can't wait to see what other awesomeness we can contribute to this beast of a coop. There was a suggestion to paint it OD green with a white star painted on it and some camouflage cover over the top for the coop tour! But then someone suggested OD green AK jackets for the girls and hand grenades and I had to put my mother hen foot down! lol... No grenades! what the heck!? It was a great day overall though!

I will keep you all posted on the advances.

I hope everyone had a great day...

Yay! That look s like it's going to be awesome!!

Quote: Oh, YUM! Maybe we will be ready for a workshop next year (first year with chickens, DH will handle processing them). Hard to pass up on the sweet tea and JALAPENO corn bread!!! Om-nom-nom!

Quote:

See!!! I knew it was a ligitimate excuse!!!

Grrrr ....

It looks like it will rain today. RAIN?!?!

I live in the freaking desert on PURPOSE -- we don't need no stinkin RAIN !

I hate rain!


Yesterday I got the arbor finished. Today, I'll continue to work on fencing off the garden from the pack of wild, on-the-edge-of-starvation, rabbits. They ate everything - twice - last year, until I got smart enough to put up a fence. It was only temporary. This year I'll put a permanent fence in (at least for the east side of the garden. It will look nice from the house.

Out of 34 eggs that made it to lock down, only 14 hatched (3 others got shrink-wrapped). Something went wrong with that hatch. When I opened the lid on day 22 - there was a really bad odor. I cannot find an egg the blew up - but I think one of them certainly had a small crack and really stunk up the place. I'll be sure to give that hatcher a good spritzing with the bleach bottle before I use it again.

I did get a good ratio of M to F -- 5 males and 9 females. Which is both good and bad. Good because pullets are easier to sell and I can charge more. Bad because I really am after a rooster from this breeding for the next step in my Hambar project.

Did I mention that I dislike rain?

Dislike is not a strong enough word.

Sorry to hear about your hatch VF, dern it. I hated the rain, until I missed the rain (Iowa) and now I am happy with the rain because it brings the green and we like green :0)

If you have never read this before this is the original version straight from the authors website.
This will be a great way to start your day.
If you have ever dealt with government employees before you will really enjoy this!
Thank God not all government employees are like this. LOL!




STATE OF MICHIGAN

• .....

We lost a the runt of the litter last night. I was sad, we're going to bury it under the cherry tree.

And we lost our liberty this morning when Obama passed the Monsanto Protection Act.
http://www.farms.com/ag-industry-news/congress-passes-controversial-monsanto-protection-act-006.aspx
http://www.inquisitr.com/591630/farmers-protest-monsanto-protection-act-at-white-house/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/congress-protects-monsant_b_2956642.html
http://rt.com/business/monstano-dupont-seed-battle-910/

Does anyone else feel that the Obama administration has failed to protect our rights? I read through the Bill of Rights this morning, and I think I counted 7 that were in the works to being violated in a major way.

I know this is political, and I HATE politics, but it's come down to my food, and God knows I LOVE MY FOOD!!!

Oh, no, you are not alone. I try to stay out of politics, but I can see that's not helping. Most countries world wide has banned Monsanto completely. The former CEO of Monsanto now heads the EPA, so try and figure that one out. This whole administration is a joke. I love my bumper sticker - "Don't blame me, I voted for Ron Paul"

 

[CarolynF]

I watched this last night, I'm sure someone has posted this or seen this before, but man oh man! I am impressed. TONS of ideas. Glad I saw this before the coop was finished!

That's a well done video, thank you for posting it. It would be nice to see what they think they might change after having birds in there for a year or so. The first thing I would suggest is to use a 2x4 laying flat rather than the what they used for the perch, and I would never put traction stuff on it. I want to be able to clean that board so I want it to be smooth. Can you imagine trying to clean poo off that stuff?

Did he mention making the pop door drop down about an inch or below it's threshold? It's a good idea so the prying paws of racoons can't lift it up.
He didn't address ventilation, either. Those are cute windows, but I don't think that's enough, especially since they aren't on opposite walls. There should be more at the roof line or in the ceiling.

That's just my 2 cents worth.

 

[RainMom]

MikeyB:

Compost Bin-Free (Rochester)

http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/zip/3707016839.html

 

[ChickAudie]

Carolyn, Thanks for pointing that out. We were wondering how to secure the guillotine door. We didn't drop it down into the floor, but it makes a ton of sense to do it. I just wonder about all the debris (not dam beaver debris) that might end up in the track...?

I was wondering also, when I watched the video, if you had a couple smart enough raccoons, couldn't one pull the string and let the other one in the coop? Maybe I am making them smarter than they are?

 

[sarahkatie]

[COLOR=FF0000]MikeyB:[/COLOR]

[COLOR=800000]Compost Bin-Free (Rochester)[/COLOR]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/zip/3707016839.html

I'm emailing the people..... That's awesome

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote: Hmm, they have 4 nests which should accommodate at least 10-15 hens, but the coop is way too small for that. They really only need 2 nests. As far as ventilation, the floor boards looked like they had space between them - good idea. Nice job overall, but In less than a year I think they will wish it had been twice as big!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Grrrr ....

It looks like it will rain today.  RAIN?!?!

I live in the freaking desert on PURPOSE -- we don't need no stinkin RAIN !     I hate rain!


Yesterday I got the arbor finished.  Today, I'll continue to work on fencing off the garden from the pack of wild, on-the-edge-of-starvation, rabbits.  They ate everything - twice - last year, until I got smart enough to put up a fence.  It was only temporary.  This year I'll put a permanent fence in (at least for the east side of the garden.  It will look nice from the house.

Out of 34 eggs that made it to lock down, only 14 hatched (3 others got shrink-wrapped).  Something went wrong with that hatch.  When I opened the lid on day 22 - there was a really bad odor.  I cannot find an egg the blew up - but I think one of them certainly had a small crack and really stunk up the place.  I'll be sure to give that hatcher a good spritzing with the bleach bottle before I use it again.

I did get a good ratio of M to F -- 5 males and 9 females.  Which is both good and bad.  Good because pullets are easier to sell and I can charge more.  Bad because I really am after a rooster from this breeding for the next step in my Hambar project.

Did I mention that I dislike rain?

Dislike is not a strong enough word. 

Unfortunately, the Yakima Training Area is in the part of the rainshadow that gets closest to no rain at all (around 5 inches a year). I always wanted to move out to the Wenas Valley: almost no rain, and lots of meltwater so it's green for a long time in summer.

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

Hello friends,
I am beyond busy right now and will be right up to April 15th so just a quick note.

PAUL: dawng and I are still interested in the processing class. I am interested in birds. I'll PM you.

CR: your remark "bursting Mikey's bubble" - oh, man did that make me laugh.

Dave: yeah, I call them family, too. Love that.

Greg: I read the whole dam thing. Funny, funny stuff.

CL: where are the photos of you all purple? I would love to see that! Too funny.

I can't remember now what else I wanted to comment on.
Oh well, back to work!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Keep the jokes and photos coming!

 

[BGMatt]

Carolyn, Thanks for pointing that out. We were wondering how to secure the guillotine door. We didn't drop it down into the floor, but it makes a ton of sense to do it. I just wonder about all the debris (not dam beaver debris) that might end up in the track...?

I was wondering also, when I watched the video, if you had a couple smart enough raccoons, couldn't one pull the string and let the other one in the coop? Maybe I am making them smarter than they are?

Looks like it's built on blocks that are partially buried in the ground with hardware cloth wiring for the run...I don't think raccoons are a worry because they wouldn't be able to get inside the run to go through the door to the coop.

Also, PVC perches are awesome (although I'd not use the grip tape). I've found wood perches of any type can develop cracks and have parasites live in them, PVC does not. If I'm raising game birds or birds that should have a prominent chest I will also hang the perches from the ceiling so they swing, which causes the birds to use their wing and chest muscles to balance when flying up on perch or moving on it.