Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

HELLO!!! I think I FINALLY found the right forum! Thanks for the invite HoneysuckleHills. I'm not available on Tuesday nights, and usually Friday nights and/or weekends work best. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and learning about Chickens!

 

[CarolynF]

I've had two surgeries through Oly Ortho - they are the best!

However, on my Dr. visit today, he said I have to keep the neck brace on for another MONTH! Yikes. It's healing well though, and very little scarring.

DANG!!! I know you were looking forward to dumping that thing! Sorry!!
But I'm really glad that you're healing properly!
Just bake some more bread to take you mind off it.

For the pretty blue eggs I don't care about high producers. Lol I guess my "problem" with EEs were that they are "common" and "mutts" but now that I think of it they are probably the best of both worlds

what are sex links crosses of? How are laced wyandottes? I loooove their color. I'm not a huge fan of black or white chickens but would definitely consider a ostrolorp, is that the same as astrolorps? How long until I can keep them outside if raising from chicks? I have an unused bathtub that I could keep them in although my parents might have a cow. I'm worried chicks would be too much work at this point for me, I can barely handle my son! Also will just getting 2 be ok? Like a EE and a Orpington? I know ill want more chickens later but I think 4 would be too much work right now. Or is it better to start them all together?

OK.... Gotta make a correction here before it proliferates..... sorry Dave.....
The spelling it AUSTRALORP because it's a combination of Australia + Orpington. The Aussies took the orpingtons and created their own version.
A black Australorp has a beautiful green sheen on it's black feathers and when the light hits those feathers it's incredible.
My Black Sex Link (BSL) looks like a small Australorp. The actual ones are kinda big. Don't let people make you think they always have red in their feathers, it totally depends on what breeds were used in the mating. It drove me bonkers until I talked to some people that regularly use Black Australorps!

Sex Links tend to be smaller but still lay large eggs. They're more "efficient" meaning they eat less food and still produce very well.

There is a great thread on BYC that goes into great detail about what constitutes a Sex Link and what birds can be mated to successfully create sex links. The charts are good as an overview. I find it fascinating. The thread is titled Sex- linked Information


How many eggs per week to you want? Two really good layers will only give you about 12 per week. I have 3 hens (BSL, EE, and Barnevelder) and can't even average 12. I started with the EE and BSL and quickly found out I needed more. I think it's much easier to start with 4 than have to go through the hassle of adding new ones to the flock.... like Dave said. He's OH SO RIGHT! For me, it's no more work to have 4 than to have 2... seriously. I clean the coop and pen every day and I'm done in less than 10 min. I use a 5-gallon bucket fitted with water nipples so cleaning and filling is infrequent. And my feeder hold enough feed for at least 5 days. It's a lot less work than dogs or cats!

Chicks are really cute, but IMHO starting with a pullets that are about 10 - 16 weeks old would be my favoritie way to start.

I think EE's are awesome They lay a nice colored egg, and most of the time their feathering is quite attractive.

Sex-Links come in two colors - red and black. BSL's are made with a "red" rooster over a "black" hen - most often a RIR or NH roo over BPR. RSLs are a "red" roo over a "white" hen - Again, RIR or NH over RIWs or WPR's. BSL hens will be mostly black with some red highlights - RSLs (or Golden Sex LInks) are mostly red-ish with some white. They are both considered very good egg layers.

Wyandottes are good cold weather birds, and if you could find heritage birds, you'd probably have a good dual purpose hen on your hands. They are not "bad" layers, just not at the volume of those that I listed in a previous post.

Ostrolorp is my way of misspelling Astrolorps -- I find the spell check on this forum to be - lets call it icky - so I don't use it
AUSTRALORP Dave

Your chicks can go outside to play - any time you think it's warm enough. If you are asking - when can they be off heat - then I'd answer - "when they are fully feathered". That's usually around 9-11 weeks. If you are good about weening them off the brooder's heater - you can get them off heat faster than 9 wks.

Yes you can keep chicks in a bath tub. Several here have. WARNING - they are very dusty. They produce a dander that is very fine. You will be shocked at how much dust collects in a short time. One of the things that is very important with chicks is to make sure that they do NOT walk on a slippery surface for the first week. So that bathtup - needs to be lined with cardboard or something (not newspaper - but paper towels are ok)

Just 2 is ok - don't get just one. Also - if your plan is to get 4 - do that now. If you want the details - I'll explain why - but trust me here - you'll have less work if you do the 4 chicks at once and not two now and two later. So - it's better for you to start all 4 at once.


Ok -- next batch of questions please

 

[Sudsy Chick]

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Will do! =) Let me know what you have in mind!

PS - for anyone that doesn't follow Sudsy Chicks Facebook or Twitter - there is a 10% off Happy Friday sale today only! Just search Sudsy Chick on Facebook (sorry cannot post a link per mods.)

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Ha!

I want purple eggs! (I have pink eggs - our Easter Egger Foxglove lays them. Hatched her from eggs given to me by Kanake - wonder what she is up to?)

Even with my "blue" laying Easter Eggers, the eggs change shades...a little more green sometimes when placed next to our true Ameraucana eggs which are always a brilliant blue.

If any chicken has access to the outside and grass and bugs and good food and water, they will lay much tastier and healthier eggs per studies, including this one: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#axzz2QJ4msMPE

 

[Sudsy Chick]

HELLO!!! I think I FINALLY found the right forum! Thanks for the invite HoneysuckleHills. I'm not available on Tuesday nights, and usually Friday nights and/or weekends work best. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and learning about Chickens!

Honeysuckle Hills is pretty awesome! So is this smiley! ---->

See you at the meetup!

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someone's on a roll!

(no smilie pun intended!)

Thank yoiu Carolyn! LOL That was bugging me for pages as it kept getting misspelled in different ways!

 

[Duck Drover]

Hey everyone. Real quick here, I have two little chicks that need a home. One is a E.E. and the other is a black sexlink. The reason I have them is because the grate people at Bothell feed call me when they have a chick that is not sellable as I have told you guys before. They called me today because they had a black sexlink with some sort of eye issue. As you will see in her picture. Now she runs around just fine, eats and drinks just like the rest. Shows no signs of being sick other than the eye it's self. I should have said no to taking it, but I knew they would have just taken her out back and "delt" with her. I am hoping one of you are willing to take her and her healthy friend. Right now with the impending move I am not able to keep chicks. They are free to any one of you. Because I am not on here very much if you are interested please PM me. Thanks ya'll. This is her with her bad eye open. This is with the eye closed. Other eye is just fine. The EE is mostly yello, but has blue on her head and blue stripes on her back. So very cute!

I got five chicks today that look like the one you are calling an Easter Egger and after reading all the various conflicting descriptions online I am hoping mine are Easter Egger and not Araucauna (tufted?) as they were labeled. I could even out my flock by taking a sixth chick but I only want to keep one type of chicken and these have been my favorites for many years (I don't care what they are called as long as they are the same chicken, LOL). I am not going to show them so I don't care about the show standard but I do want a chicken that carries the genetic make-up that produces the traits I desire so that may be the Easter Egger. That was what we used as a nickname for our "Araucauna" (it has been so long I forgot the spelling) chickens in the past so it seems that is the chicken breed for me.

 

[VelvettFog]

Australorp

Some times I am such a dork .. You'd think that as a trained linguist I'd be able to see that this word is Australia and Orpington bashed together.

Now I get it -- but geeze if it was a snake I'd be bitten already.

Thanks Carolyn !

 

[FirewifeJess]

My favorite blog has a post on the differences between Ameraucanas, Easter Eggers, and Araucanas here: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html

 

[FirewifeJess]

My children are melting. Literally, melting down, crying, sugar is wearing off and the long day is causing chaos. We had a great day until now My mini Pinata cakes didn't turn out as I'd hoped, but the birthday boy and everyone else still thought they were awesome so I won't complain. I'm a TERRIBLE baker so at least they tasted good! Pics in a minute, from the ipad.

One great thing about today was William's ophthalmology appointment. We wanted to get his next corrective eye surgery over with if he needed one (he had one at 8mo old) and it turns out his glasses have helped his turned eye so much that he won't need a surgery again for the foreseeable future! Woohoo!!!

 

[FirewifeJess]

 

[FirewifeJess]

Yes, both my boys have mohawks for the day. Yes, we will shave the rest off before church Sunday

They will have their 24 hours of fun though.