Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Stumpfarmer]

Great!

 

[JennS]

Quote:
These chicks are in a stock tank in the garage. I'll make sure their poop goes into the yard waste bin. Thanks!

Quote:
I couldn't find any fresh red poops, but I noticed that the dried ones had stained the shavings stuck to them red. So I'm guessing it was bloody.

Jennifer

 

[Imp]

Darn glitches, lol,
Russ

 

[Imp]

Quote: People really need to remember that this forum is not private by any stretch of the imagination. Even before I signed on here, BYC posts were very often my first google hit for chicken-related search terms. Google has an algorhythm which guesses the results you want according to other searches you've made, so the more you come here the more you'll see BYC results, but the first time I searched for Silver Laced Wyandottes, I got a result from the Wyandotte thread that had pictures from the Foleys of roosters they had for sale, including a BLRW, and I went a little crazy over them, not knowing that Foley's BLRWs are not representative of a lot of what's out there.

But I digress (as usual, is anyone surprised?): BYC is a Big Deal on the Internet, and thus somewhere we need to be on our company manners. It is also a private enterprise, which means the owners make the rules: freedom of speech is freedom from government censorship; it does not mean freedom to say anything you want anywhere you want without response or consequences.

Sorry if I'm being pedantic, but these are lessons I've learned the hard way after over twenty years online, and what small wisdom I've scraped together I try to pss on to save others scars.
Great Post

The issue of PMs has been addressed before. Here's a couple threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/424700/pms-how-private-are-they

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/98807/are-pms-really-private

Russ

 

[FirewifeJess]

Yeah that sounds about right for a forum like this. Nobody cares about our PMs! I think it takes a complaint of some kind before anything is read by a mod. Meh, I have nothing to hide

I just dropped off DH at work, grocery shopped, shoe shopped for John, swung by the PO but they were still closed, and now we're home for breakfast. Finally checked the chicken run when we got home though, and the food and water were in dry locations, but most of the floor of the run was damp or wet, even though it's fully covered. It was some wind we had yesterday!! Luckily the roost n the run was dry (if they had wanted to be outside) and the coop was dry. The nest boxes leak though and I need to get some gaskets to close any openings, in case of another bad storm. So far though, in 4.5 months since the coop/run/nest boxes were all put together, this was the first time water got anywhere near the chooks. Understandable, it was one heck of a storm!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

So, it was not raining when my alarm went off, but now that I've (started the coffee pot, fed the cats, let the dogs out, uncovered Blossom and Dearie, picked up the catfood dishes, let the dogs in, gave the dogs their morning treats, washed my hands, put the toast down, taking my fasting BG, poured coffee, buttered toast, taken nine out of twelve pills while drinking the first cup of coffee and eating the first slice of toast, massaged tiger balm into my bad shoulder, poured a second cup of coffee and eaten another half-slice of toast) (OH: and started the brown rice for the big chooks) almost finished breakfast, it's pouring again. At lest there's no wind, I guess I should rejoice at that?

Suppose I should check the weather radar, eh?

 

[itsren]

It begins! I am now a hunter! I will hunt, find and, hopefully, do my prey in.

I saw a small dark critter run out of my greenhouse yesterday. I saw some teensy dark poops in there a few days ago, so I have been on the lookout. I have an unused bale of straw in there that I'm now afraid to touch! I bought it when I thought I was going to put straw in my run, but decided the girls were fine on soil, and the soil is easy to scrape clean of poo each morning. I NEED to get that bale of straw out of there, and bury it in my garden, or something. DH didn't look to thrilled to touch it either. Instead we put 2 snap traps, 2 sticky traps, and one Tomcat rat/mouse bait box inside the greenhouse.

I guess my greenhouse is now out of reach for my wee boys. Unless I pick the thing up and physically move it. Oh well, with this weather I wasn't putting them out there anyway. I was hoping the weather would clear soon and they could start going back out. They like it out there, and it's easy to hang the light in the greenhouse. The greenhouse keeps the wee boys toasty warm.

Bummer! I really didn't need another thing to have to deal with right now. The holidays are busy enough.

 

[itsren]

How many peeps chooks look like this? LOL

That's hilarious! OMG... my girls would probably have looked like that if I would have let them out. Instead, they spent the day mad at me because they were locked in the run. They're happily playing in the back yard now, though.

 

[SadieSue]

Bah. I had to leave the poultry show early on Saturday to attend callbacks for "The Children's Hour" which is being produced at Lakewood Playhouse. There was a lot of talent there, so although the director was very complimentary, said he's enjoyed my work for years, always wanted to work with me, blah blah blah, I didn't get cast in the show. I had a pity party for about 20 minutes, then thought of all the good reasons for NOT being cast, not the least being that rehearsals would begin during the Christmas holidays and that really puts a crimp in my schedule, especially when I think I'm hosting Christmas Eve for DH's siblings.

But not being cast also means I left the show early on Saturday for naught. Oh well - it's the nature of acting. We don't always get the role we're after. But I do have that stage managing gig coming up for "Little Shop of Horrors" coming up soon and it's a paying gig, so that's good. AND, I just got word yesterday that a director in Olympia wants to produce an all female cast of "Reservoir Dogs" which is definitely NOT a show for everyone but would certainly add some diversity to my resume! Should be a pretty interesting show...

So after our big storm yesterday, I'm looking at my VF Silkie coop and my poor bedraggled girls who even though they do not freerange are getting wet from rain coming in through the sides of their little run. I'm thinking I might enclose the lower part of that run with plastic to protect them from the elements but would still leave plenty of ventilation. Am I right about this?

This is the coop before it was painted and before we finished the ramp. So I'm thinking of wrapping the lower portion (like 18") in plastic, so that they don't get wet. It seems right now even when they're seeking protection under the coophouse that the rain will blow in sideways and turn my fragile little silkie flowers into wet noodles.

 

[FirewifeJess]

I haven't let mine out in days due to the sick chicken incident, but am considering making them some very happy birds this afternoon for a while. They're gonna be totally freaked out though...the creek is back (and BIG) and they've never seen water before!!! But now it's back to raining and ugly so I think I'll keep them in there a while longer and wait for a sunny (or dry) time to let them find the creek. Does anyone here have water running through your property that chickens have access to? I'm worried they'll be stupid and drown!