Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning hope this finds all well.

 

[Sequel]

Good morning hope this finds all well.

Hey PennyJo! All is well here! Other than the cold weather of course.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey wet here quite cool just went out to scrape tables back feet are cold.
Have a gal coming over a friend she is taking the roo I hatched blue marans from Smudge.

 

[ValerieJ]

Good morning Washingtonians. Anyone else tired of the rain???

I put their water in the coop before they went in. I'm withholding food for a couple of hours so they get settled down before eating.

I wouldn't withhold food from them. They will be fine.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I am want to plant my strawberries like now just trying to kick my butt hard enough.
I have had no energy today.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Website was broke for a couple hours.

 

[Smokerbill]

Chicks are doing well in their new outdoor brooder. I gave them a heat lamp for a couple of days, and took it out this morning. Weather forecast for the next 10 days is showing only one below-40 degree overnight temperature, so I feel like that's something they can handle now without supplemental heat.

Since the coop is under a large metal roof hanging off the north side of my shop, it's in shade all day long. The roof is open on the east, west and north sides, so there is some light filtering in all day. But with only two ventilation openings at the top, each a little over 2 square feet, there's not much light inside the coop.

I set up a 60 watt incandescent bulb in the coop on an auto timer to come on at 10AM and off at 6PM. That will simulate brighter sunshine during mid day, but still give the chicks the experience of real sunrise and sunsets. I'm probably overthinking things, but it makes sense to me.

Today I'm going to give them a box of dry, rocky soil to play in and eat. The last couple times I gave them dirt they loved it! One of them in particular would just go crazy dustbathing. She'd flop around in the dirt for 20 minutes or more, throwing it on top of her back, rolling onto her sides. It was fun to watch. At the end of the session, she'd just sort of lay on her side and shudder in delight for a while, panting. And then it went to feed and drink. LOL

Some of them ate so much of the dirt and small rocks that their poops were clay colored. Getting a good dose of the local microbiome into their guts has to be a good thing!

And no rain in Winlock today. Need to clean out the old brooder box in the bedroom, remove the box and sweep the ceilings, walls and floor to get rid of the chick-dust contamination.

 

[Smokerbill]

Oh, and I did add a nice 2x4 roosting bar for the chicks, about 12" high. They really like it, and have no probem hop-flying up to roost.

 

[Smokerbill]

I am want to plant my strawberries like now just trying to kick my butt hard enough.
I have had no energy today.

I need to plant a dozen strawberries too. I planted two rhubarb crowns a couple months ago in a 3x6 raised bed and they're growing nicely. I want to plant strawberries around the perimeter of the bed. I've read rhubarb and strawberries are good companion plants.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Funny I learned form my Grandma mine have tables to roost on.
Right or not. This is what I have always given them.