Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Dwkuska]

I am pretty sure I have too many birds but from what I have read about the ordinances, young birds don't count and most of the birds I have are less than 6 months old. The ducks mature in four months but I think the age distinction on poultry and waterfowl is 6 months. Could someone correct me if I am wrong?

If this "concerned citizen" had talked to me personally, I could have assurred the person that most of the birds they likely object to are for sale, I was just waiting for Spring when more people are looking for chickens and the birds would be fully grown (they are bigger than a standard sized chicken but not full size for large fowl). These birds are close to becoming mature but they are not there yet. I am considering killing the Orpington roosters myself if they are just going to be eaten but I would rather give them a chance to live since they are from imported lines and not from hatchery stock. When mature, these roosters sell for $50 each because the rooster is the most important consideration to the quality of the offspring. These big boys are also great protectors due to their size in addition to being docile due to their breed.

I am not sure about the young bird part as all the ordinance I have read states "bird" no referance to age. I would also use caution with the "they are for sale" portion as someone might construe that as you operating a business without proper zoning or license. I hope you find the right person for your birds. I am lucky enough to have neighbors I can bribe with free eggs in exchange for their silence. Muahaha

 

[Dwkuska]

Well spring is right around the corner

so the wife and I are getting excited. Wife spent most of the afternoon digging out the south patch of lawn next to the house to make into a nice veggie garden. Plan is to plant mostly fruits and veggies the chickens will eat. We will eat what we like and the rest will either be fed directly or canned/frozen for the birds next winter. Feed seems like its getting more and more expensive so looking for good ways to keep feed costs down.

Saw the thread on making fodder with seed trays but looking at the cost for even barley seeds... its not cost effective. Anyone else here plant gardens or have good suggestions for garden additions to help with feed costs?

 

[nakstk]

We planted some kale right next to our run. The chickens got the stuff right that poked in or that they pulled in and we got the other stuff. That worked out great. I am going to do it again this year too. It also acted as shade for them too. It grew to be 4+foot tall. I am So excited for Spring planting! We just used up our last jar of tomato sauce, not looking forward to buying it again.

 

[Duck Drover]

It looks like duck season has started here! I have a late Australian Spotted duckling that hatched and it is almost feathered so I brought in my "nanny" duck to keep her company inside and hopefully be her buddy when she goes outside. At this age, we have discovered that it is easiest to keep ducklings in the bathtub instead of the clear tubs I use for brooders because it is easy to clean the tub with the shower sprayer and the ducks love to get a shower and take a bath in the tub. My husband showered the tub to clean it last night and he discovered that the water was not going down the drain. When he looked at the drain, he saw an egg blocking the water from draining! My hen must think that it is Spring since it is room temperature inside.

My nanny is a bluehead so I am thinking of putting her in the breeding pen with my silverhead trio instead of in the yard with the greenheads she had been with until I brought her in but I want to wait until I get eggs from the silverhead hens first so I don't disrupt my silverhead trio (I added my silverhead hen to a silverhead pair so they have been getting used to the idea of being a trio).

I guess I better start looking for eggs in the yard already. I have noticed some piles that look like broody poop and the ducks seem to be busy with their mating rituals but I still was not expecting duck season to start in January. We found duck eggs in a nest with chicken eggs during the freezing weather so we ate them (duck eggs make the best brownies) but I thought that must have been a fluke because it is still Winter. The egg that we pulled out of the drain will not be fertile so it is in the fridge for eating but there may be fertile eggs in nests in the yard that I can move to the incubator so the crows don't find them.

 

[Chickielady]

Why not raise them on shavings? and typically i raise chicks and ducklings on hay.

Ducks are one thing, turkey polts are another altogether !
Turkey polts, from one day to the next, and from hatch to hatch, can vary in what seems to be stupidity.
I hatched several settings during the year, and one group would do OK and the next would eat nothing but shavings & die.
I have been told by top turkey raisers to rear them on sand for that reason.
Seems once one eats shavings, the rest follow suit and then taken off the shavings and put on sand they can actually be stupid enough to starve to death....
Sand on the other hand is safe, non-flammable and easy to deal with.
It is also something baby birds need to digest.
I use play sand, some folks just use dirt dug up out of the yard.
Last spring someone else on this thread was raising polts and had the same issue of one after another dropping dead full of shavings.
Hay is ok as it is too hard if not impossible for the polts to swallow it.
Sand has worked well for me, for ducklings, too.
They can dabble as much as they want, and the sand allows the water to sort of seep down & away from the birds.
It has to be set up correctly...sand in a rubbermaid tub will not work well for ducks.
Sand several inches thick over dirt works great.
Ducklings can be a chore !

 

[Dwkuska]

Ducks are one thing, turkey polts are another altogether !
Turkey polts, from one day to the next, and from hatch to hatch, can vary in what seems to be stupidity.
I hatched several settings during the year, and one group would do OK and the next would eat nothing but shavings & die.
I have been told by top turkey raisers to rear them on sand for that reason.
Seems once one eats shavings, the rest follow suit and then taken off the shavings and put on sand they can actually be stupid enough to starve to death....
Sand on the other hand is safe, non-flammable and easy to deal with.
It is also something baby birds need to digest.
I use play sand, some folks just use dirt dug up out of the yard.
Last spring someone else on this thread was raising polts and had the same issue of one after another dropping dead full of shavings.
Hay is ok as it is too hard if not impossible for the polts to swallow it.
Sand has worked well for me, for ducklings, too.
They can dabble as much as they want, and the sand allows the water to sort of seep down & away from the birds.
It has to be set up correctly...sand in a rubbermaid tub will not work well for ducks.
Sand several inches thick over dirt works great.
Ducklings can be a chore !

I raise all my chicks on shavings. I have never heard of any chicks dying from only eating shavings. Though my chicks do pick at the shavings they seem far more interested in medicated feed, and corn on the cob. IMO if your chicks are so stupid that they only eat the shavings... its prolly a good thing they dont make it to sexual maturity. Not trying to sound cold. I am just saying that natural selection provides better chickens then sand.

 

[Hinotori]

I raise all my chicks on shavings. I have never heard of any chicks dying from only eating shavings. Though my chicks do pick at the shavings they seem far more interested in medicated feed, and corn on the cob. IMO if your chicks are so stupid that they only eat the shavings... its prolly a good thing they dont make it to sexual maturity. Not trying to sound cold. I am just saying that natural selection provides better chickens then sand.

Turkeys, not chickens.

 

[Chickielady]

Turkeys, not chickens.

Correct, and to add, it is not just my polts, it is everyone's polts.

Polts, by the way, are baby turkeys.

 

[Chickielady]

Exciting !
Buster's Super Crele daughters are laying !!!
So, Saladin has suggested we name the Super Crele birds "Doms" as ancient Cockers called their Crele Cocks.....so far, it is taking some getting used to.
Saying I am developing Dom Chanteclers is really puzzling quite a few folks.

Anywho, soon I can save up eggs & get them in the incubator and see what pops out !
Hoping for true-breeding C/C birds ! (remember Buster has an incorrect P/C that had to be corrected by adding R/C into his daughter's line, so fingers crossed that all offspring result in Cushion Comb birds.
For those who find this all secret-codey-mysterious:

S/C = standard comb
C/C = cushion comb
P/C = pea comb
R/C = rose comb
(and so on)
and s/c s the least dominant of the bunch.
Or so it seems to be.
So breeding a P/C to a S/C will give you P/C chicks.
R/C is dominant over P/C (more often than not) but will give you C/C birds.
Weird, huh ?
So, since Buster came up with a P/C, he is bred to R/C partridge to establish a crele with a C/C as chanteclers are supposed to have.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

does anyone know of a vet in WA that will decrow a rooster? I want to keep a rooster so i can hatch my own chicks, plus i hope to get a tophat type rooster. Recently found out you can get them decrowed to keep them in city limits. Anyone know where that can be done?