Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Never heard of a squirt of soap in the water or what kind……????? I now use a watered bleach in my waterers now though….everyone seems fine with…..

I have heard use of a squirt of soap to induce diarreah, and molasses also works.

 

[Chickielady]

Got this egg today from the black copper marans! She continues to surprise me! Love this little gal!!!

Beautiful !! I LOVE speckled eggs. The dark spots indicate she is capable of laying that color of a dark egg. Wether she will lay an entire egg that dark will have to waite for.........

 

[Chickielady]

wow........I bet you had a very noisy house !!!

 

[Chickielady]

Hi Everyone from WA,
Its been a few yrs since I was on here. I had to give up my flock during a few rough pregnancies, a miscarriage & a beautiful almost 2yr old (this week) that came early. I think we are ready for a small flock. My oldest daughter is 11yrs & did 4-H with her dog this yr. She wants to add 4-H chickens too for this yr. Wondering if there are any 4-H groups around or near Bonney Lake for chickens? Our dog leader has suggested I become a leader for chickens in our group but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to be a leader of something I know very little about. Hoping to find a local group.
We'll be building a coop in a few weeks. Last time we turned part of a wood shed into a coop but the roof leaked & that didn't help the cleaning & upkeep when it was leaking. We'll build it slowly so that its done right.

Shannon

Welcome back !!!

 

[Chickielady]

Has anyone else in western WA noticed that their hens have stopped laying? I haven't seen an egg in almost a month.

Out of about 45-50 hens, I am getting 2 doz eggs a day, maybe.
The reason is the molt, and the immediate refledging which saps their strength & therefore they do not lay during the molt.
They'll start back up laying soon, as long as they have 16+ of daylight per day.
If they do not, maybe provide them a light (or 2-3 however many needed to brighten their coop) on a timer.
I set mine to come on at 5:30 & go off at 6 PM everyday, all year round because not all my coops have big windows to let in enough light.
Without enough light, they either stop lay, or go broody !

 

[Chickielady]

My flocks' production has dropped over the last couple weeks. My oldest is about 9 months old. Out of 11, I'm getting about 4 to 6 a day.

Again, make sure they have light !
The natural sunshine we have now is fading at the rate of 3 1/2 minutes a day...and will continue to get darker until the Solstice, at which time we will gain back our daylight.
Read more here , but you probably already know all this~ Chickens, without the benefit of added light from humans, can stop laying altogether until May..especially here on the wet side of the state with our darker cloudy days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

 

[junebuggena]

Again, make sure they have light !
The natural sunshine we have now is fading at the rate of 3 1/2 minutes a day...and will continue to get darker until the Solstice, at which time we will gain back our daylight.
Read more here , but you probably already know all this~ Chickens, without the benefit of added light from humans, can stop laying altogether until May..especially here on the wet side of the state with our darker cloudy days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

I have no way of getting light out in the coop. I guess I will just have to live with fewer eggs.

 

[Chickielady]

I have no way of getting light out in the coop. I guess I will just have to live with fewer eggs.

no can do an extension cord even ?
I have...there is also many creative ways to get natural light into a coop, like sky lights.
I have seen some cute ones like domes...and I have 'pasted' down corigated plexiglass panels to the ceiling joists, with 100% silicone caulking.
I also saw (somewhere) where someone glued down a big clear plastic bowl to a hole cut in the roohing singles, and then caulked all around (100% silicone) to prevent leaks.
One was really cute where the birds could look out of the dome, making it look as if the coop was a flying saucer...LOL

Look at these 'solar tubes'...I'd use 100% silicone instead of tar (black jack or henry's tar) 100% silicone caulk is not only water proof but also so sticky the stuff is very hard to get off !

https://www.offgridworld.com/cheap-solar-tube-lighting-for-chicken-coop/

here is another with glass plates used as 'windows'...very pretty...gives me ideas of what to do with all those useless punch bowls I have !!

http://picasaweb.google.com/1157442...id=yDVWIdNTaiRVGepDmb0mWg#5249049524408588386

 

[cooliechick]

he is a Doctor, and he does what he does to make the drops a certain size.
I haven't poked myself yet...not while 'doing' the chickens anyways.

If you tend to be a bit clumsy with needles, just cut off the point. Needles do come in different gauges and the bigger the gauge, the larger the drop will be.

 

[cooliechick]

Look for the culprit to have white ear lobes...generally, ALL white egg layers will have white ear lobes, as for your hackled pullet, maybe doesn't have hackle after all ?

So chickens with white earlobes will lay white eggs?

I hope not, or I'll have to give all my hens a lecture on the color of their eggs. Many of the Spanish breeds have white earlobes and three of the Penedesenca's lay a dark brown egg... the Black, the Wheaton, and the Partridge... and the English Cream Legbar lays a blue egg, but at least the shade of blue is a hue of light blue so has some white to it.