Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[itsren]

That Fudgelet is developing a mighty fine habit of laying 2 eggs in a day. She does this about once a week. So crazy!

Here are today's eggs, and 2 of them are Latte's. Our BCM, Penny, laid her very first egg today!

 

[BGMatt]

Very excited and my non-chicken people don't understand, so will share here, just put first eggs in 4-5 years in the incubator! 7 SG Dorking eggs from a very nice exhibitor at the PNPA show, was hoping to set them sooner but incubator/hatcher got delayed shipping and got here this morning rather than Monday like they were supposed to.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Well this is not free, but they are also looking for trades. This is a REALLY REALLY nice one.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/grd/3769061958.html

 

[mikeyb]

Hey peeps.

I need some advice. As you saw in the pictures I posted I have an EE roo that is a sweet boy. That being said, he's already henpecked by Niqui the Dominique I got from Walady94. Niqui is a very confident girl, and goes about her day with gusto. Fluffy, however, just runs around behind Niqui like a love-sick-puppy. I'd like to reduce Niqui's agressive attitude toward the 3 newer birds, including the roo. Is there a way to change her agressive behavior? I've tried taking her out of the pen and let her see the others inside, but Fluffy panics and does all she can to try to get to the same area Niqui is in. I don't want to make the choice to rehome one of my birds, but if Niqui keeps being so agressive I'm not sure what other options I have.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm also curious about Matty's crowing. I haven't heard any yet, and he's constantly running away from Niqui. Is this something he will outgrow? Should I even be worrying about this behavior?

As a third concern, my RIR, Red, seems to be smaller than all the other birds. She seems OK to go do things on her own, or with the others, but both Red and Lace are the first ones to run from Niqui. I will put down wetted feed each morning, and today all 5 ate at once for about 2 minutes. Then Niqui was running them all off. If any of the 3 started towards the fresh wet feed Niqui would take 2 or 3 steps towards them and they would run off. Even if Niqui wasn't eating she would chase the others away from the feed. So, do I need to be worried about Red being smaller? With Niqui seeming to be so domineering, is it likely this will change as they grow older?

So many question, so few answers in my head. Your help is always appreciated.

I had a chick just like that. Finall had to cull her a couple of months ago. She was my "psycho" chick. (grew more aggressive as she got older)
You could try to isolate her for a week and then re-introduce her to the flock, may have to do it more then once. I would not allow one bird to upset the tranquility of a flock.

 

[bikerchicky]

I had a chick just like that. Finall had to cull her a couple of months ago. She was my "psycho" chick. (grew more aggressive as she got older)
You could try to isolate her for a week and then re-introduce her to the flock, may have to do it more then once. I would not allow one bird to upset the tranquility of a flock.

I was wondering if that would work. My concern is for Fluffy that is so attached to her.

 

[itsren]

Bikerchicky,

My hens are aggressive toward my pullets. Slowly, it is getting better. They still act like 2 independent flocks. When I scatter treats, I have to scatter in multiple places so everyone has a chance to get some. I'm hoping it will get better over time. But, for now, I just have to try and outsmart the big girls.

 

[michellemcfeely]

I just had my very 1st call duck baby hatc, and #2 is close behind.. This is my 1st time hatching eggsthis is really neat and the coolest part is my 17 yr old daughter watched it hatch.

 

[bikerchicky]

I had a chick just like that. Finall had to cull her a couple of months ago. She was my "psycho" chick. (grew more aggressive as she got older)
You could try to isolate her for a week and then re-introduce her to the flock, may have to do it more then once. I would not allow one bird to upset the tranquility of a flock.

I have the option of doing an isolation pen within the bigger pen for Niqui. It would allow Fluffy to not be stressed because Niqui is gone, but also not allow Niqui to chase the other birds around the pen. Any thoughts on trying this method? My GF used this method to break her broody hen.

 

[LaughingFeather]

I found this very interesting. Link: Is this poop normal?

5 chicks now. so cute.....

 

[CarolynF]

Really? Question - are you growing organic? Because, honestly, I'm about ready to stop growing organic. I see nothing coming up from my organic peas. I know the other seeds are GMO - but, man, I'm am tired of things struggling so much to get different organic seeds to germinate. When I first started gardening, I didn't grow organic seeds and had great results (without the use of fertilizers).

I don't buy organic seeds if that's what you mean. Organic and GMO are different. I don't know if my seeds are GMO. I augment the soil with steer manure. Other than that there's not a lot to do. If I get aphids I spray with soapy water. Now that I'm getting chicken manure I mix it into the soil after it's composted along with leaves from our yard.