Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

I'm kind of rough with mine, pull on their tail a little, scratch their lower back. They seem to like it My white leghorn walks up to me, turns around and squats. She asks for it. lol.

 

[ochochicas]

I have over 25 laying age hens, many more youngsters, and I can tell who's egg is who's in each and every coop.
It helps that I have 4 main breeds laying...so the eggs are different colors & shapes in each coop.
I bet you will know all of yours too !

I've got 8 hens of laying age. All the eggs look different except for the three Marans. One of them lays in a different box, and one of them always scratches up her eggs with her toenails. The third Marans lays jumbo eggs that are way bigger than the others, so if I happen to mix them up I can tell them apart by weighing them.

 

[Chickielady]

I've got 8 hens of laying age. All the eggs look different except for the three Marans. One of them lays in a different box, and one of them always scratches up her eggs with her toenails. The third Marans lays jumbo eggs that are way bigger than the others, so if I happen to mix them up I can tell they apart by weighing them.

Weights can change throughout the hen's lifetime.
Colorations can also, but not as abrupt.

 

[AmyLM]

Hi everyone I'm up in Buckley and I have some 'unusual' chicks. (Notice I'm trying to not hurt their feelings) so anyone around here like 'unusual' birds? I did a post about their hatching here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ings-mystery-auction-eggs-oooooh-lord-help-me I give up on hatching for a while. Lol

 

[ochochicas]

Weights can change throughout the hen's lifetime.
Colorations can also, but not as abrupt.

Here are my eggs from the hens yesterday (all of them are laying except the Red Star because she's recovering from a broken egg.

)

The Rhodebar lays the smallest, whitest eggs. The australorps lay very long eggs, almost teardrop shaped. The barred rock lays an ordinary egg on the hay bales and not in a nest box, so I know they are hers. The black copper marans lays her egg in a next box separate from the others. The Wheaten Marans lays a jumbo egg every time. The one in the pic is 74 grams. The Rhodebar is 54 grams and everyone else is in between. The Australorps usually lay large eggs and everyone else is extra large. The Splash Marans has eggs that are sometimes identical to the BCM, but they don't lay in the same box so I can tell who it came from. It is fun searching for the eggs and trying to figure out who is laying and who isn't. It looks like my RIR will lay soon so I'll have one more to figure out.

 

[Pookie_Momma]

Can someone tell me if this is the beginning of a blood ring?

I honestly can't tell. Of course I am new and she is trying her first duck hatch.
Thanks
Karen

 

[LaurelC]

I have to change my 3 big tubs 2 X a day !
The bigger they get, the messier they get !
What I need to do is make them a high water font, off the ground, just for water, far from the food & mud so they stop playing in & fouling their drinking water.
Ducks can get sick from having smelly, coliform-bacteria filled water.

See here: http://www.permies.com/t/35468/ducks/keeping-ducks-water-fresh


One of the reasons we did not get a big 'pond-type' tub like you have, is that 1) it is difficult to empty & refresh 2 X a day, and 2) it uses ALOT of water and DH is always stressed out that me, my garden & my birds use TOO MUCH WATER as it is!
(We only have 4 wells running right now, so I am not worried, but he is !)
Our wells are shallow, in gravel runs in solid clay.
It rains here ALOT but most runs off.
So we store alot in tanks.
So, having a small bucket like the one shown in the bottom of that thread link, is what I aime to do.
We have several of these watering buckets already for our Cornish Meat birds & started birds.
It has a small float inside & water is replaced as used.
You can hook this kind of thing up to a garden hose, so they always have water.
The ducks will still get mud in the bucket, but at least they will not be contaminating it with poop & feathers.

YES!

I have a similar setup designed and partially built that I need to finish this weekend. It's basically a 5 gallon bucket-fed self-filling waterer with the bottom drinking-from portion being very similar to the waterer in your link. It should make it easy to dump and ensure there's always plenty of fresh water.

The pond is just disgusting from all of their pooping. They stopped going in it when it started getting smelly, so I've been draining it, but I need to excavate around the outlet a bit more, as I am having to do it in stages. It'll be done and refilled with fresh water tonight.

 

[BGMatt]

Can someone tell me if this is the beginning of a blood ring?




I honestly can't tell. Of course I am new and she is trying her first duck hatch.
Thanks
Karen

Yup, bloodring, sorry.

 

[Pookie_Momma]

Thank you BGMatt appreciate it. guess it will have to go so it don't blow the others

 

[CarolynF]

Hi everyone I'm up in Buckley and I have some 'unusual' chicks. (Notice I'm trying to not hurt their feelings) so anyone around here like 'unusual' birds? I did a post about their hatching here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ings-mystery-auction-eggs-oooooh-lord-help-me I give up on hatching for a while. Lol

That's quite an assortment you have! I see some frizzles in the group shot, right? And that white, naked neck one looks like a Show Girl, is it?