Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Sweetlilbaby]

Hi, I live in tacoma Washington. I currently have a small flock of 5 hens, and 3 muscovy ducks. Anyone know where to get some local fertile eggs this time of year without spending a lot? I have gone broke ordering eggs to hatch and having little success with them. I only managed to get one chick to hatch. It isn't an incubator problem as half of the eggs were under a hen and still didn't hatch.
I am hoping to find some eggs that are umm.. rainbow. white to chocolate, and blue to green. Just wanting them to be large because I want to hatch some large egg layers.
I am done with ordering eggs unless within the washington oregon area. I've had eggs shipped from within the state to me and they hatched great. But I notice anything from california or further away show up in bad condition.

Any one know of someone that can donate some fertile eggs? I can hold up to 42 in my incubator.

 

[drumstick diva]

Banty Chicken Luv, could you cover the cage openings with hardware cloth so no beaks or talons can reach inside?

 

[Tailfeathers]

I guess i need to start checking the birds 3 or 4 times a week for mites. Once a week did not catch them early enough. Most of the birds still look mite free. The ameraucanas and one brahma that hang out with the ameraucana cockerel have a few. The cockerel is covered. Poor boy. I bathed him to wash as many as i could off. He's been dosed with eprinex and I'll get the rest tonight. He doesn't want to do anything but is eating and drinking.

I'm seeing mites everywhere now and am itchy all over. DH laughed and said he was going to tell me, "Oh, there are mites on your forhead". The rat! Every speck of dirt seems to be moving.

Sorry about the mites, I had a problem with them about 2 years ago.I have not seen a single one this year. I think it is because the HS boy I hired to clean the coop this spring and summer would coat everything in the coop with a heavy layer of permethrin. I told him to use DE and make the boards white with it each time he scraped off the poop boards. I was laid-up then and had to try and describe to him where I kept the DE. He misinderstood and used up the stash of poultry dust that was stitting on the shelf above my garbage can full of DE. I did not even use Eprinex in the fall as I usually do - not a bug in sight; no flies nor yellow jackets all during the beautiful, sunny autumn.

I recently read an article somewhere - about a month or two ago - that said Eprinex was not effective against mites because it took almost a lethal dose to do the trick. I had used Eprinex several years ago and as I recall it didn't work completely but it's been awhile so I can't be sure. The same article also said Permethrin was not as effective as some other stuff either and that the mites could develop a resistance to it. I have found that to be the case. I can't remember what the active ingredient is now but the best thing I found as far as a spray on was to use Spider Killer. I can't remember who the manufacturer was but I got it at the Co-Op. DE works well and I found that you can't go by the 10 day rule but rather you have to check every few days and just stay on top of it until the problem is gone. Evidently mites can last like 6-9 months without eating anything so it is a vigil to get rid of them.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hi, I live in tacoma Washington. I currently have a small flock of 5 hens, and 3 muscovy ducks. Anyone know where to get some local fertile eggs this time of year without spending a lot? I have gone broke ordering eggs to hatch and having little success with them. I only managed to get one chick to hatch. It isn't an incubator problem as half of the eggs were under a hen and still didn't hatch.
I am hoping to find some eggs that are umm.. rainbow. white to chocolate, and blue to green. Just wanting them to be large because I want to hatch some large egg layers.
I am done with ordering eggs unless within the washington oregon area. I've had eggs shipped from within the state to me and they hatched great. But I notice anything from california or further away show up in bad condition.

Any one know of someone that can donate some fertile eggs? I can hold up to 42 in my incubator.

I have shipped eggs all over this country including AK. The average Development Rate for my shipped eggs has been 75%. I look at the Development Rate vice the Hatch Rate because of the various methods folks use to incubate their eggs. I've also gotten hatching eggs from several top breeders around the country for some of my eye-candy and, with the rare exception, have always gotten at least a 50% hatch rate.

I don't have any eggs at present but home to in a month or so. If you or anyone else is interested, it's best to email me as I don't come to this thread a whole lot.

God Bless,

 

[Ogress]

I really hate it when that small hawk comes through. Today, he had a meal right next to the chicken pen door: a grosbeak. I found part of a wing and its head. I feel sorry for the poor girls who might have seen it.

Not a pretty sight. So far I have been lucky with the haws, I see large hawks stting in the trees and watching my chickens quite often, but so far thaey have not taken anyone. I don't know if it is because me hens pretty much hang out in the mugo pines when the hawks are around - not much room for a hawk to fly under and grab someone. The chickens have made an elaborate network of dust baths among their roots.


I'm sorry for all the losses.

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
I have Frontline I can use if this doesn't work. I already put one drop on the really bad cockerel. He's sleeping inside tonight. Just bathing him got rid of so many of them (he fell asleep during the bath). He doesn't have any real scabbing from them. I was really worried about him. It was just a coating of them on his saddle feathers.

 

[Ogress]

Thanks for the mite tip Tailfeathers. I'm always worried about trying new insecticides because I don't know what might be too toxic for the chickens or may pass through to the egg. I have Orkin spray around my houe for spiders and ants every other month, they don't go anywhere near where my chickens stay because they told me that what they use would be very toxic to them until it dries.

Wolf spiders creep me out - I heard one running across my wood floor, and that made my skin crawl! Oddly, tarantulas don't bother me. I grew up in California, and always wanted a pet, but mom thinks everything carries germs and would not let me have any, so I bought an old fish tank at a garage sale and then went and found a couple tarantulas to live in it so I could have some furry pets. I still get the occasional wolf spider in the house, usually in the basement. I have my son catch them and feed them to the chickens. Chickens love spiders!

 

[TerrorBird]

Thanks for the mite tip Tailfeathers. I'm always worried about trying new insecticides because I don't know what might be too toxic for the chickens or may pass through to the egg. I have Orkin spray around my houe for spiders and ants every other month, they don't go anywhere near where my chickens stay because they told me that what they use would be very toxic to them until it dries.

Wolf spiders creep me out - I heard one running across my wood floor, and that made my skin crawl! Oddly, tarantulas don't bother me. I grew up in California, and always wanted a pet, but mom thinks everything carries germs and would not let me have any, so I bought an old fish tank at a garage sale and then went and found a couple tarantulas to live in it so I could have some furry pets. I still get the occasional wolf spider in the house, usually in the basement. I have my son catch them and feed them to the chickens. Chickens love spiders!

We used to have a Golden Sebright who adored spiders. The others didn't really care about them. She'd follow me around when she saw me pick up a long stick because that meant I was going around the house to find all of the big fat spiders around the back porch.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I guess i need to start checking the birds 3 or 4 times a week for mites. Once a week did not catch them early enough. Most of the birds still look mite free. The ameraucanas and one brahma that hang out with the ameraucana cockerel have a few. The cockerel is covered. Poor boy. I bathed him to wash as many as i could off. He's been dosed with eprinex and I'll get the rest tonight. He doesn't want to do anything but is eating and drinking.

I'm seeing mites everywhere now and am itchy all over. DH laughed and said he was going to tell me, "Oh, there are mites on your forhead". The rat! Every speck of dirt seems to be moving.

Just went through mites on me and in my house thing again. Northern Fowl mite, thank God. Not the red mite. Treated the birds TWICE in a month period, repeating in 7 days each time. This is the worst year I have ever had with mites. My mistake was not changing out the nest box shavings the first time. Yes I have made that mistake before...when will I learn???

They just attacked and attacked me, until they were vacuumed up or I took a bath/shower. I was up to three baths a day there for a few days to kill all the ones that came in on my clothing and were crawling around the house hungry. I was sleeping on a cot to avoid having them in my bed. I was miserable.

Keep vigilant and change sheets/wash clothes/vacuum and treat your birds every 7 days (tossing all shavings) until they are all gone. I never see them on the chickens, only feel them biting me and see the bite marks. Then I see the dead ones in the bath.
I have been so happy and mite-free now since I did the second round of treatments on them. Yay this should last me 4 months. I have to dust with poultry dust every 4 months and repeat in 7 days or this happens to me again and again (third time now for me with mites in the house then getting rid of them).

You can set yourself up a program of dusting with some poultry dust, tossing shavings, repeat in 7 days. Do this every few months and see the difference if desired. If I wait 5 months I get an infestation.

 

[beausonge]

I've posted about this gizmo on the https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...keeping-thread-ots-welcome/3610#post_10265558 Thanks for the idea. I showed it my DH and he thinks it's a great idea as well! It's called a Thermo Cube. I bought mine for $13 at Home Depot. On the same city street in Oak Harbor I found them at Cenex and a pet store for $23 and $18 at Ace hardware. I put one in my barn and plugged a light into it to come on in my Silkie breeding pen. It turns on at 35 degrees and off at 43 or so. I feed FF and have a pop bottle waterer hanging in that pen and this gizmo goes on in time to prevent them from freezing. It has two outlets. Works like a charm.