Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Sweetlilbaby]

It wouldn't let me copy anyones posts so... To whom it applies
I put my compost in plastic totes with no lid (holes drilled in the sides 1 inch from the bottom for water to drain) and then cover with 1 inch of shredded paper. it keeps the smell down and paper also rots, the covering of paper seems to help with the breakdown.



Now for my day. it's been horrible. I woke up to my eggs first day of lockdown being a bust. I'm hoping they are okay. I woke up and noticed that the incubator had come unplugged somehow. Don't know or care how just sad that it happened. I felt the eggs they were cold. I plugged it back in and am hoping they make it. I've had this happen before with successful hatch when it was only a week or so in. But never had it come unplugged this late in the incubation.
my dogs keep alerting to the incubator (likely how it came unplugged) so i don't know if they know we're about to have more family (chicks) or what.

 

[Rainier]

There was finally enough sun to take a few pictures. Here is what we have to work with. If we add ducklings (maximum of three) they would be in the back part of the middle yard.

The front yard. I'm standing towards the back where the fence is to come on the property. I could have gone back another five feet or so.


The middle part of the yard


The other side of the front yard



This is the area where we plan to build the coop and keep only chickens. Towards the right side is the big something or other that I need to ID before placing chickens in the area. In the upper left side of the picture where the big vehicle is, that is where DH saw the coyote.

 

[Rainier]

Regarding the ants, they could be thatching ants. Nasty things that make huge mounds out of things like fir needles. We moved into a rural area a year ago. Moved in right when they became active and man are they active. I tried to coexist for months but finally broke down and hired an exterminator. Best money I ever spent because I couldn't stand anywhere outside where they would leave me alone.

I googled those and those nests look exactly like the one we have in the yard! Depending on how much it costs I might do it, since we rent if it costs to much I wont. I'll have to find a cheaper way to get rid of them.

*ETA*
Here is a picture of the ant nest close up and farther away.

 

[Duck Drover]

i know those bins, we used to use one and they only work if you turn the contents which s a lot of work. Much easier to let the chickens do it, and they get a lot of food from the worms.

Here's our bin. This took us about an hour to build. Two days ago we dumped a five gallon bucket full of used bedding from the brooder into the left side (which was recently emptied). It was pretty caked up with poop and had a moderate ammonia smell. You can still see the shavings but they are mixed up with dirt from below by the chickens and aerated and there is no poop or rotting odor, just smells like clean soil. By the end of the week you won't be able to tell it was pine shavings at all.

I like that design but we canKt have open compost in our yard. The chickens do have access to the compost in the planters but they prefer to bathe in the dirt so putting composted shavings in the planters actually seems to deter them from hanging out in my planters. We have an abundance of worms in our yard and I also have worm bins that I empty in the planters when the worms have broken it down. The black plastic composters, called Earth Machine I think, are supposed to allow the worms to break down the compost but they seem to get too hot for the worms to really thrive in them. I used to just use them for grass clippings but then started adding shavings and mulching the grass with the mower. I would prefer the rotating composters but they are too expensive. These do not allow you to mix them very well so all they seem good for is compacting the compost over time. The shavings hold alot of moisture when they are wet but they actually dry out in the black plastic bins so I have to add water to them to sort of rinse the poop down and leave cleaner shavings on top. I donKt think this last batch got rinsed enough before they were spread so now I am basically rinsing them on the ground to get rid of the smell. It looks like I will need a better system for composting or stop using shavings in my coops.

 

[Chickielady]

Thanks for the welcome and we all have a dark side, sometimes it needs a bit of light shined on it!

We are always careful with the smaller animals and they are never outside without us close by. Even Token sleeps inside with us and truth be told none of our animals are outside without us, the pets at least.

We are limited by the size of our property, which is only .5 acres. We are on a private road but there are seven houses on that road. Two are on 5 acres each, two are on .5 acres, one on 1 acre and one on 2 acres or so. Three of those (the 2, 1 and .5 acres) are all owned by the same person and we have one of those rentals. From what I can see the animals around here are lots of dogs, a goat, horses, geese and chickens.

We have a large area behind the detached double garage that is fenced but will have to be fixed and where we plan to build the coop. I'll take pictures tomorrow of the area to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I want to plant some plants back in what will be the run area for the chickens. I'm thinking of removing a big something or other that is growing back there. Not sure what it is so need to either ID it or remove it before babies move out there. We've got a couple of months to get that done though. DH has access to as many pallets as he can haul so we have a lot of resources for only the cost of gas.

As far as how many, we're not sure. I was thinking 3 ducks and DH wants 12 chickens but I'm not sure. The area for the chicken run is on the small side and I worry about 12 chickens having enough room. The ducks will be on the other side of the property.

The ants probably are not fire ants but they big for ants and have a huge mound/nest in the ground. If it ever stops raining I'll get some pictures! We also have sugar ants (not the name but what we always called them. Really small black ants) right now invading the kitchen. From what I understand our property was vacant for over 8 months while the mobile home was renovated on the inside so the yard is overgrown and we have a lot of work to do! The great thing is my children are 17, 17 and 15. They are also homeschooled. That means lots of free labor .. I mean chores around the house that they can do

It is extremely hard for us to figure out where you are...so much so that at this point I am not even gonna ask.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote: HOW IS THE BABIES ???????????????????????

 

[Chickielady]

I personally don't think chain link will stop a dog that is determined. I've watched my german shepherd pull the chainlink away from the bottom of a kennel and bend it upwards with her teeth in an attempt to get a rat that was between the hardware cloth outside and the chainlink. She killed that thing through the fence and the fence has the scars to show for it.

All can do is build the pen as sturdy and strong as you can. I still use chain link or welded wire dog kennel panels and hardware cloth. Costco has a nice 10x10 kennel with windbreak and roof for about $400. Just have to use good anchors if you put it in a high wind area.

Both of you need to pay attention to
DIG

Predators will DIG under a fence lickity split !!!!!!!!!




On the right, you will see a run which is encasped in green 1/2" plastic encasing~ that is " the baby pen", covered above by netting as well.

NO DIG NO CLIMB WIRE :::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

[Duck Drover]

Does anyone in Covington want to attend a City Council meeting with me to address the fact that chickens are allowed in Covington without rooster restrictions and yet there is no mention of poultry anywhere in the code? The code enforcement officer is still insisting that chickens are considered small animals like dogs and cats so there is a limit of three. We already have dogs and a cat (and rabbits) so we basically could not have ducks and chickens too. I know I saw something at one time that listed chickens but maybe I was looking at Kent instead of Covington because he insists there is no mention of chickens in the code. How then can he threaten me with a citation and fines for something that is not prohibited by law? He told me the city has never taken a case to court because people just comply when they are told three is the limit but there are people all over Covington with more than three chickens. The difference is that they don't have neighbors spying on their backyards and taking it upon themselves to make a complaint. The woman who complained has actually given me produce from her garden to feed to my chickens and she has never complained to me personally so I don't know what her problem is exactly. I may just have to ask her directly, even though my husband does not think that it is a good idea to speak to them anymore.

This duck project is for my daughter's Girl Scout Silver Award. She.Has spent three years building a flock from a trio and now she has to publish her success. The mayor is a former Girl Scout so it looks like we may need to get her imput about backyard ducks and chickens to add and see ifmy daughter can post her results at City Hall.

The chickens came after the ducks but now I am not willing to let go of any of them without a fight. I have already taken roosters to the auction twice and I can't bear to take the four surplus drakes so they will be made into breeding flocks when I have hens hatching their own ducklings like the one sitting on a nest now. Because they are endangered, I am going to battle for them. My Orpingtons are from English imports and therefore considered "rare" so I have some investment in them and a desire to continue hatching but perhaps I could keep the flock somewhere else and hatch here. My husband is building a brooder room in our shop so I can more easily raise chicks and ducklings. The goal was to get NPIP certified and that requires a flock of 30 or more birds. I have that now when you count the ducks, Orpingtons, Silkies, and our Easter Eggers for eating eggs but my entire business plan is now in jeopardy because of one neighbor!

 

[Duck Drover]

There are typos all over my posts because I use my phone as a computer and sometimes hit the shift instead of the function button or I accidently get a double space that foces a capital letter mid-sentence. I can't seem to go back and edit with my phone but hopefully the errors are not too distracting to the message. At least auto-correct does not change Bantam Silkies to Banana Willies like it does when I text or write e-mail messages! My husband likes to share this picture when he gets humorous auto-corrections.

 

[Rainier]

It is extremely hard for us to figure out where you are...so much so that at this point I am not even gonna ask.

No one asked me where I lived, at least that I saw. I stated that I am in Western WA which I get is a big area but it is about as precis as I am going to get. I have been vague about where exactly I am due to my oldest child's birth family being completely nuts! Am I being paranoid about their ability to find us, probably but I'm not willing to risk my family's mental and emotional well-being on the off chance they find what I post. The birth family knows our family well enough to know where to direct searches on the net for us.