Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Totalcolour]

That's horrible. I'm so sorry that you lost your beloved girls. Sounds like you need a good rat terrier. Since we got ours, the rat presence in the chicken yard is completely gone.

Rat Terrier, great idea. Course it's presence in the chicken yard could make chicken presence rare in the chicken yard!

(Last night we gave our Terrier one of the quail that just died, she made it disappear in seconds)

 

[poularde]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. It is hard to decide on what roosters to keep. I would keep them all, but my neighbors do not enjoy my 12 roosters crowing at four in the morning.

 

[CarolynF]

I'm supposed to get one of the splash roos from my cousin- I'd actually prefer to have a splash or blue Ameraucauna to put with my three silvery EE hens and a wrong-combed SSH pullet. I need to get the two red EEs gone, first, as well as that dope Ian, the first BLRW I got, whose hen just died and who's aggression was at least as much to blame as it kept me from fixing the problems with insullation in their run.

Ok... her roo is an olive egger so won't fit your needs. What are you going to do with the two red EEs?

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I'm supposed to get one of the splash roos from my cousin- I'd actually prefer to have a splash or blue Ameraucauna to put with my three silvery EE hens and a wrong-combed SSH pullet. I need to get the two red EEs gone, first, as well as that dope Ian, the first BLRW I got, whose hen just died and who's aggression was at least as much to blame as it kept me from fixing the problems with insullation in their run.

Ok... her roo is an olive egger so won't fit your needs.  What are you going to do with the two red EEs? 

My nephew is supposed to slaughter them and my daughter make lots of chicken broth, as of now: there have been other plans but they've fallen through under the load of much more important stuff that was the form of 2012.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

That's horrible.  I'm so sorry that you lost your beloved girls.  Sounds like you need a good rat terrier.  Since we got ours, the rat presence in the chicken yard is completely gone.

Rat Terrier, great idea. Course it's presence in the chicken yard could make chicken presence rare in the chicken yard!

(Last night we gave our Terrier one of the quail that just died, she made it disappear in seconds)

This is why every one of my long-term chicken containment plans includes a dog-proof fence. I don't trust rat terriers much if any, though, being as how we once had one just bigger than a chihuahua kill a four month old lamb.

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

Question. What number of chickens has put you from an enjoyable hobby to a awful chore. I can see the chicken math culminating in my own life. I want this one and that one... Reality check. I have 5 now. one too old to lay I think but she will live her life out with us. As will all my pets. I live on 1 1/4 ac in the woods with neighbors who have more chickens than I and several roosters. What number was your tipping point and why. What has caused you to cull your flocks?

I think 5 is perfect for me.
Enough eggs for my little family except in the winter.
I have a fair amount of hardscaping and more than 5 makes for too much daily cleaning.
5 is perfect for the chickens, too. Enough space in my coop/run so that if I want to take off for the weekend they are happy.
(Well, maybe not happy. Maybe just content.

)
If my circumstances allowed, I'm sure I'd have at least 30.
It's one of the reasons I enjoy all the chicken stories and photos on our thread.
Like an extended family of sorts.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Question.  What number of chickens has put you from an enjoyable hobby to a awful chore.  I can see the chicken math culminating in my own life.  I want this one and that one...  Reality check.  I have 5 now.  one too old to lay I think but she will live her life out with us.  As will all my pets.  I live on 1 1/4 ac in the woods with neighbors who have more chickens than I and several roosters.  What number was your tipping point and why.  What has caused you to cull your flocks?

The problem is that the number that's easy to take care of and supplies sufficient eggs for me and my sister's, son's and daughter's households is much smaller and less interesting than the number that fulfills my zeal for collecting (see: roses, very many too many) and garden design. And space is not a limitation, although actually getting accomodations built is.

To have enough for eggs to sell I need about twenty-one hens, seven white egg layers, seven blue/green egg layers, and seven brown egglayers. To meet my twisted desire for purebred stock, those need to be, if not heritage breeds then at least not basic commercial production hens.

I have many, many defects in personality but the one that makes me hold large numbers of chickens is called "completist."

 

[Farmin Momma]

So I know that some of you use sand in your runs, and I think I remember that some of you use sand in your coops also. I would like to switch to sand for many reasons, but don't know what kind to buy. Can anyone tell me what would be the best type of sand to use?

 

[KMHunter]

So I know that some of you use sand in your runs, and I think I remember that some of you use sand in your coops also. I would like to switch to sand for many reasons, but don't know what kind to buy. Can anyone tell me what would be the best type of sand to use?

I get the utility sand from McLendons. 60# bags.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Quote: I wonder if they sell that at Lowes? Ya think?