Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Well, I'd love to crash your party with Hallerlake.
It would be good to see you again.

It may be @ 8:30 A.M. on Saturday...and then we'd have to rush off after an hour or so...you know, one of those round-the-sound driveways where we have 5 minutes to visit with 30 people ?

Wish we had longer to visit with, or even less drive-in-between-visits !
I will know exact times soon, & will let you know !

 

[Chickielady]

I have chased eagles out of my yard a coupe of times. They're a lot less magnificent when they have your favorite hen in their talons.

Or seeing hundreds of them scavenging at the Landfill....................little more than vultures themselves.
I myself have had the Eagles (nesting 1/4 mile away) LOOK at my birds...most pens are net covered (& have colorful rope stretched across) but they move on...the Hawks, however, will swoop in for a better look...and often ask to be cased off by ourselves, or the dog....buggers !

The worst predator we have here, is Mink.
The little vampire devils will go right through 2" X 4" field fencing...and they climb hardware wire until they can go over into a pen, and they dig like gophers, fast too !
They will drill holes right under your pens if you do not have bureid wire.
I had Mink dig 12" deep and go under my buired wire !
They kill, day or night, and drain the blood from a bird, then leave the carcass whole minus the head, behind them.

 

[Chickielady]

Thank you! It's not Juno - it's Blueberry.

I cannot break her, she is loud and obnoxious when I put her in the wire box to break her, so I've let her just sit in the coop hoping she'd get over it.

It's been three weeks now, and she's still happy to sit on nothing. So I thought I'd give her some day olds and get it over with

Sitting 3 weeks on nothing ?
She might not 'take' chicks if she has not had any eggs.
So funny !
I have had at least 20 broodies this year !!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting very creative in breaking them.
I may have a few extra 4 to 5 day olds by Saturday & stopping to see hallerlake.................babies are pipping right now.

 

[Chickielady]

Hello to the Imp !!!

 

[richarddhoward]

I know you can shoot coyotes and normally I could care less about them. Unfortunately, this one has gotten some pretty easy chicken dinners and he is out in daylight hours. I talked to my husband and he has a fellow at work who hunts coyotes and he is going to talk to him. The other problem is that this is all privately owned. I spoke to two neighbors and because of other animals on their properties they do not want hunters on their land. *Sigh* and the one neighbor is the one that lost a flock of 20 chickens.

People!

Really? If I were them, I'd be ecstatic! I was thinking about a compound bow this year, so I can hunt more silently, some people mind less. I can spend a dollar on a bullet, or 400 dollars to replace 20 chickens, I'm taking the 1 dollar option.

 

[RonB]

It may be @ 8:30 A.M. on Saturday...and then we'd have to rush off after an hour or so...you know, one of those round-the-sound driveways where we have 5 minutes to visit with 30 people ?

Wish we had longer to visit with, or even less drive-in-between-visits !
I will know exact times soon, & will let you know !

I'm sure I'm on that list of 30 Right ???

. I've been having trouble all summer with my four EE's wanting to go broody. they have been in and out of chicken jail all summer. hey Robin do ya have my bedroom all fixed up in your new house yet?? I'm retiring on Sept. 13th (Friday) want to come down and visit you and CR. Maybe I could stop by and pick up MikeyB on the way down.

 

[RonB]

I had a Welsummer pullet like that last year. I finally gave her three eggs and she hatched out 2 of them. She was a good Momma until they were 4 weeks old then she wanted out with the flock. She has not been broody this year However, one of my Easter Eggers went broody and she hatched out 2 black JG/Cochin crosses. They are 8 weeks old and she still guides and guards them. They are in with my Araucanas who are pretty small birds. Another week or two and they will be as big as them.

I had a two year old welsummer go broody this spring. I tried and tried to break her and couldn't. since I want to down size and she was one of my older girls, I got rid of her. Hated to do it cause she was so friendly

 

[BarneyChick97]

I know we can't do anything about Hawks. So this is what we built. Its just the cheapest pvc pipe you can get at Home Depot. Wrapped all over with chicken wire. I rotate our ducks and chickens in it, and move it to different places every day. I want my birds to get grass, but I'm not brave enough to hope they go under a tree. We don't have any roosters. Sometimes there can be 7-12 hawks, just circling our property and the 3 or 4 around us. They are definitely very brave vultures!!!
And good grief!!! I think I'd go crazy if there was a problem with mink!!

 

[Imp]

Hello to the Imp !!!

Back at ya CL!

 

[beausonge]

Really? If I were them, I'd be ecstatic! I was thinking about a compound bow this year, so I can hunt more silently, some people mind less. I can spend a dollar on a bullet, or 400 dollars to replace 20 chickens, I'm taking the 1 dollar option.

What is so crazy is the guy next to us shoots his gun several times a week "training" his hunting dogs. Somebody up and over the hill must be super rich because sometimes he'll shoot off an - automatic? - at 40 rounds a clip I swear. I don't know much about guns but we got all kinds of them going off around here. Then there are the cannons on the 4th of July and New Years that rattle your whole house. Then when you want to something legit - they worry about their animals? Like I said,