Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[JennS]

Quote:
Thanks! I bought a liter of unfiltered, unpasteurized vinegar. I read the fermented feed thread someone posted last week (I think?) and it said you can add it to regular ACV and it will grow more bacterial colonies. I figured I'd inoculate the gallon and let it grow while I used the original liter.

The more I read on here the more I'm afraid to let my chickens free range in my back yard unsupervised. It's a tiny back yard with lots of cover, but I still remember the young Cooper's hawk in the maple tree, eating a song bird.

Jennifer

 

[JennS]

I have a weird question about eggs. I have 9 hens/pullets that are laying. 6 are black sex links (educated guess on breed) and 3 daughters of one of them crossed with my splashed laced wyandotte (best guess on breed) my question is: does each individual chicken lay a unique egg to their unique self or will one hen's eggs vary slightly. All my eggs are light brown or tan and vary slightly in shape and size. I'm trying to figure out which hens/pullets are laying well if at all mainly due to it being so cold. I don't really want to spend my day spying on them constantly and rarely catch one in the act...lol

If you've got a good sense of humor, one of the best suggestions I've heard is to apply different colors of lipstick to your hens' vents and see what color of smudges are left on the eggs.

None of mine are laying yet, so I haven't tried it.

Jennifer

 

[WhiskiRanch]

If you've got a good sense of humor, one of the best suggestions I've heard is to apply different colors of lipstick to your hens' vents and see what color of smudges are left on the eggs. None of mine are laying yet, so I haven't tried it

Jennifer

That's a good one. I do have a pretty go sense of humor but I don't think I need to know that bad...hahahahaha

 

[KMHunter]

If you've got a good sense of humor, one of the best suggestions I've heard is to apply different colors of lipstick to your hens' vents and see what color of smudges are left on the eggs. None of mine are laying yet, so I haven't tried it

Jennifer

That's a good one. I do have a pretty go sense of humor but I don't think I need to know that bad...hahahahaha

Lol! Food coloring in the vent area works just fine too.

 

[CarolynF]

I have a weird question about eggs. I have 9 hens/pullets that are laying. 6 are black sex links (educated guess on breed) and 3 daughters of one of them crossed with my splashed laced wyandotte (best guess on breed) my question is: does each individual chicken lay a unique egg to their unique self or will one hen's eggs vary slightly. All my eggs are light brown or tan and vary slightly in shape and size. I'm trying to figure out which hens/pullets are laying well if at all mainly due to it being so cold. I don't really want to spend my day spying on them constantly and rarely catch one in the act...lol

My BSL (black sex link) will lay anything from a pinkish egg to a light brown. My Barnevelder's eggs vary in color a bit and sometimes they will be speckled a little or a lot. The color on the EE's eggs vary a bit but not much. The size varies quite a bit for the BSL and the EE. I really like having each hen lay a different color egg, but I obviously have a very small flock. lol


ETA: Love the lipstick idea!

 

[CarolynF]

I will be breeding and showing once they are old enough! What type of birds do you have?

I have just a tiny flock of 3, a BSL, EE, and Barnevelder. In the spring I'll be jumping up to a whopping FOUR!
We just increase the size of their secure pen and I've already realized I've increased my cleaning duties, dang! The coop is next, so again -- more square footage to clean. Dang! But it will be worth it to have more eggs. I think it would be fun to have the space and setup for a larger flock for breeding. But I just have to get my thrills vicariously here.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

How much ACV should I add to a 1 gallon waterer? I've read that it's good for their health to add a little. I picked up a liter of raw ACV and a gallon of pasteurized so I can make more.

Jennifer

Make sure it is UNPASTEURIZED, UNFILTERED ACV though. The pasteurization process kills all the good bacteria you want going into your birds. I don't measure, I just do a small glug for the 1 gal waterers and big glug for the 3's

It seems that there's an immature Bald Eagle checking out our property today.  Why couldn't he have come by on a cloudy rainy day?  Those poor girls don't deserve to stay locked up all day.  Stupid eagle.

I HATE juvenile BOP, they are stupid and are willing to attack more because they haven't learned what to avoid yet. I have a juvenile Golden Eagle in the area as well as the hawks. Makes for a busy day of sky watching when the kids are out to range.

Thanks! I bought a liter of unfiltered, unpasteurized vinegar. I read the fermented feed thread someone posted last week (I think?) and it said you can add it to regular ACV and it will grow more bacterial colonies. I figured I'd inoculate the gallon and let it grow while I used the original liter.

The more I read on here the more I'm afraid to let my chickens free range in my back yard unsupervised. It's a tiny back yard with lots of cover, but I still remember the young Cooper's hawk in the maple tree, eating a song bird.

Jennifer

Yes, I believe if you put a cup of the UN/ACV into the non UN/ACV, and put in dark cabinet at room temp it will ferment and create the mother you want. Keep checking it, but I think it takes a couple of weeks to a month. Once you have a cloudy mass floating around you can shake it up and split it again to start a new batch. But it has taken me 5 months to go through a liter and a half and I am also doing fermented feed as well as ACV in all wateres.

 

[mikeyb]

I will pass on the lip stick thing. People already think I'm strange and I can imagine what they would think if someone saw me putting lip stick on the back end of a chicken.

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

I will pass on the lip stick thing. People already think I'm strange and I can imagine what they would think if someone saw me putting lip stick on the back end of a chicken.

Just tell 'em your eyesight's getting worse than ever! Thanks for the laugh, mikeyb!

 

[CarolynF]

I will pass on the lip stick thing. People already think I'm strange and I can imagine what they would think if someone saw me putting lip stick on the back end of a chicken.

Oh the picture in my head!!!!