Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[hallerlake]

Quote: Just because they don't generally test for pullorum doesn't mean they can't or won't.

 

[Duck Drover]

He doesn't want to deal with you, and he's hoping you'll go away if he ignores you long enough. At least that's my guess.

Maybe he will also be too busy to take complaints if you have pet chickens!

 

[Duck Drover]

Welcome, one of the biggest coop tips I can give you is, build it bigger than you think you need.  You will never regret that decision.  

On the other hand, getting something small and cheap, such as converting a $50 playhouse that would have cost $200 to build, can get you started and then you can add to it if necessary. We are going to build nest boxes with exterior access so we won't lose floor space. I think our converted playhouse is about 4' by 8' of floor space so it is plenty big enough for a bedroom for the chickens, then the ducks have shelter underneath. I did have to spend another $25 to paint the inside with floor paint (I painted the floor and the walls because gravity does not seem to have an effect on chicken poop) and I will probably have enough paint to give the outside a touch-up as well. The nice thing about the playhouse is that it has a shingled roof that could outlast the roof on our house. It is fun to be creative and use what you can find second-hand.

 

[CarolynF]

My Chick's came today!! I ordered the from mypetchicken.com, and went with the assortments. I got 5 "Brown Egg Layer's" and 3 "assorted Silkie's" I can't wait until they grow up enough that I know what they are! I know two of the Silikes are buff, but the third I "think" is going to be white. Not sure.

This is one of the buff silkie babies.






Now we just gotta finish their coop!!! Good thing the weather has been so great.

Those are such cutie patooties!
I'd like to suggest putting marbles in the tray of that red waterer. You've probably notice by now that those little cuties fall down where ever they are when they fall asleep. Sometimes they drop their face right into the water and drown. The marbles help prevent the drowning. Once other person I know just lost a chick that way. If you don't have marbles, large glass "beads" or something smooth like that, you can use rocks but they're harder to clean.


p.s. A nipple waterer is even better and you can move it to their coop later.

 

[fikeyismybaby]

Anyone live near Spanaway? On the 19th at the Del's there will be a 4-h group advertising for paper clovers you can donate $1 or $5. They also come with a purina coupon. If you can please come out and support your local 4-Hers. There will be chickens, dogs, cat , and probably rabbits there and please ask those kids questions! No body ever does.

 

[blueducklings]

Hi Everyone!

It has been so long since I posted, or even visited, that I hardly recognize anyone.

Chickielady - your house looks fabulous! Are you still planning to paint a close up of a salmon on the side or am I halucinating? I have that same Farmtek thermometer - it also posted temperatres of 100, but my car thermometer was at 84. I think the car is more accurate. Last monday it read 65 while it was snowing - 2 inches on the ground! It did get to 65 that afternoon. Maybe it predicts future temperatures. It is at 60 now. That is probably close.

My hens are laying like crazy! I get nearly an egg a day per hen.Someone wants one of my roosters for their flock - woohoo! Now if I could only find homes for the beautiful banty boys.They are too old to eat.

I've got to do something about the rats that visit the rooster coop and my green house. Found a HUGE nestin the engine compartment of the riding mower which was stored behind the garden shed for the winter. I asked DH to deal with it this time. I think I need poisons. They no longer will enter the zappers. I put poison in bait traps up in the rafters of the main coop and banty coop last year. Took nearly 3 months before those darn roof rats went for the bait, but I have not seen them around for months. Then in February I went to check on the lemon tress in my green house. It had been a few weeks since I had been in there, and the lemons were almost ripe. Well, the entire plant was stripped bare! No lemons, no leaves! Other plants were missing branches and I noticed a bunch of fresh greenery including lemon treee leaves sticking out from under a low shelf - a nest! Norway rats had been getting into my rooster coop which is next to the greenhouse and eating the food. Some of those ratties got too big to squeeze through the wire so instead they moved into the greenhouse and ater the plants. When tey ran out of plants, they gnawed at the pots! No sign of them in the main coop nor banty coop.

I bought an electric mower to mow the yard while I wait for DH to clear the nest and for the swamp that the mower is trapped behind to dry. A charge lasts about an hour and a half, so it takes me 3 days to mow the yard, and I can't even get to the orchard which would be about half the yard! I got one with power assist for the hills, but I can't even use the option, as the hills are too steep and the power assist cuts out on them! I'm getting some shapely arms.

We saw a rat the size of a football! I must have fed it good. I think he eats more than my ducks combined.
DS took out his BB. Haven't seen any since. Took out 5. Ratzilla and his 4 ninjas. Nasty.

 

[blueducklings]

OOPs

 

[blueducklings]

Why is this double posting?

 

[blueducklings]

Sitting by the incubator for the next couple days my east indie eggs are showing signs of internal and a couple external pips. Come on babies....

How big do the babies need to be in order to be safe? I have bantam ducks so the ducklings are really small. The chicks are crow sized already so they should be safe but it may take a month or more before the ducklings are large enough to be safe. I am thinking it might work to put netting over the three pens temporarily while I try to figure out a more permanent solution.

My ducklings are 12 inches tall now and I still only let them out on slug patrol with me only twice a day. Otherwise, they are in a covered pen...outside.

 

[blueducklings]

More pics I forgot to post that SF & Haller will like~~~~~~~~










Very early this year !
Too early...the slugs were after them and the rain & wind knocked alot over.....don't they look like awesome grape popsickles ?????????
They smell so good........not like grape candy like you'd think though !

DROOL

smell like root beer I bet.
I got some last year from a farmers market. Waiting for blooms. I can see the bulbs.