Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[hallerlake]

I'm not sure if this is one of the questions that can be asked but may not be answered but it doesn't hurt to ask---how many people are keeping more chickens than they are legally supposed to?    I want more and more hens, and technically I can only have 4 more, however, there are at least 6 more breeds that I would like.   I am in Seattle and have a fairly average size, small back yard.  They have access to the whole yard and only sleep in the coop.  I would need a larger, nicer coop. 

How much trouble can you get in?  Do the neighbors have to complain before anything happens?  What are the consequences?

I would also like to ask for advice about what breeds I should get, but not sure if I should ask here or in another forum.  

Nothing will happen until early spring, at the earliest, so I'm just planning right now..

I'm pretty sure someone has to complain. They send you a letter before they come. They tell you to get rid of your extra birds if they see them. What happens if you defy them, I don't know.

 

[hallerlake]

I'm not sure if this is one of the questions that can be asked but may not be answered but it doesn't hurt to ask---how many people are keeping more chickens than they are legally supposed to?    I want more and more hens, and technically I can only have 4 more, however, there are at least 6 more breeds that I would like.   I am in Seattle and have a fairly average size, small back yard.  They have access to the whole yard and only sleep in the coop.  I would need a larger, nicer coop. 

How much trouble can you get in?  Do the neighbors have to complain before anything happens?  What are the consequences?

I would also like to ask for advice about what breeds I should get, but not sure if I should ask here or in another forum.  

Nothing will happen until early spring, at the earliest, so I'm just planning right now..

I agree with CR. You can surely get and hide more than just the 4, BUT you could be forced to get rid of them if someone turns you in. Another thing to think about is the mess that more chickens makes. I have about half an acre for the chooks to roam (12 of them) and they make a horrible poopy mess all over the backyard. It's NOT kid friendly anymore and unless I were to spend an hour a day outside wandering in the rain and scooping tiny pooplets, the yard will never be kid friendly again. I know you have young kids, so do you really want your yard dirtier than it is with the 4 you have? Just my thoughts!

I don't have 'little' kids and they don't really go in the back yard much during the school year.  They have a busier schedule than I do   They have their own area in the yard if they did want to go out, but when it's wet they really don't go outside at home.  They have plenty of outdoor time elsewhere though.    

Maybe I should just get 4 more in the early spring, see how that goes, and I would fence off the patio.  That is the only place the mess bothers me, it gets hosed off weekly.    

When you say I could be forced to get rid of them, do you mean just the 'extras', or 'all' of them?  

The extras.

 

[itsren]

Quote:
These are the Fudge x we don't have a clue babies. The Crow X Fudge baby is Blackie - and, oh my gosh, is he BEAUTIFUL (albeit a little flighty). Rocha (top picture) and Cocoa (not pictured) look the same - and hatched out of a brown egg. Latte (bottom picture) hatched out of a cream egg that CR didn't recognize.

 

[Farmin Momma]

So I am getting ready to place an order for chicks with Meyer Hatchery. I am just trying to decide how to do it.
In order to get the lowest shipping charge possible with them I need to order 25 chicks which is only $21 and some change for shipping. If I order all the breeds I want now I wont get them until March and will only get 25 chicks. Or I can order 2 breeds now that I want, get 25 of them, then order the other 2 or 3 breeds that I want in Feb and get them in March. Would have to pay another $21 for shipping, would have to add in a few more cheaper breeds to make it to the 25 chicks with out having to pay over $200 for 25 chicks. The black and splash Marans are almost $10 each.
My two thoughts are I want them NOW, just because I am impatient and because I would like them to start laying in the summer. What do ya'll think?
I am leaning twords ordering at the two seperate times cause I would get more chicks that way.

 

[itsren]

Quote:
I think it would depend on how overboard you went, and on how upset you made your neighbors and the city. I recently bought a chicken tractor with a small coop from a couple who went overboard big time. They had more than 60 chickens on a small urban lot - smaller than mine. They had 4 huge coops and the smaller coop/tractor. The city came down hard on them and they were required to get rid of all of them and are not allowed to have chickens ever again. The city even mandated the coops be removed ASAP. Honestly, DH and I were not surprised that the city had issues considering probably the top 6" - 12" of the land the chickens had resided on was composting poo. It was very, very stinky.

I wouldn't recommend going too overboard with the chicken math on a city lot. The only reason I'm having chicken math issues right now is because I'm trying to build a flock of six girls - and we want to hatch those girls ourselves, which, of course means we're going to end up with some boys to have to give away - and that puts us over our numbers until we can grow them out and figure out who's a boy and who's a girl. The eggs in the incubator are already spoken for if my chicks that I have right now turn out to be girls - so I have a pretty good back-up plan (I hope).

 

[itsren]

So I am getting ready to place an order for chicks with Meyer Hatchery. I am just trying to decide how to do it.
In order to get the lowest shipping charge possible with them I need to order 25 chicks which is only $21 and some change for shipping. If I order all the breeds I want now I wont get them until March and will only get 25 chicks. Or I can order 2 breeds now that I want, get 25 of them, then order the other 2 or 3 breeds that I want in Feb and get them in March. Would have to pay another $21 for shipping, would have to add in a few more cheaper breeds to make it to the 25 chicks with out having to pay over $200 for 25 chicks. The black and splash Marans are almost $10 each.
My two thoughts are I want them NOW, just because I am impatient and because I would like them to start laying in the summer. What do ya'll think?
I am leaning twords ordering at the two seperate times cause I would get more chicks that way.

Can you get ahold of eggs locally and hatch them instead of paying high shipping costs?

 

[JennS]

I have a question on making my big coop silkie-friendly. Silkies do not seem to be the most acrobatic of birds. Should I build a ramp up to the roosting bar? I was planning on making a long perch along the back of the 6' length of the coop with a 2X4. I could put a ramp along the wall in front of the window, although that might mean I have hens sitting on it all the time to look outside. What do you think?

Jennifer

 

[CarolynF]

If anyone is interested, the Barnevelder thread just posted this link to the German Barnevelder 2012 report. It has 2 pretty interesting photos, a White and a Crele!
Link Here It's pretty long, so you'll need to scroll down.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Quote: Well I might be able to for the Black Copper Marans, But had never even heard of Splash Marans untill I was on the website.
But I did go ahead and order my White leg horns (10 girls 1 boy) and Easter Eggers (10 hens 4 boys, so I have a few to choose from)

 

[Hinotori]

I have a question on making my big coop silkie-friendly. Silkies do not seem to be the most acrobatic of birds. Should I build a ramp up to the roosting bar? I was planning on making a long perch along the back of the 6' length of the coop with a 2X4. I could put a ramp along the wall in front of the window, although that might mean I have hens sitting on it all the time to look outside. What do you think?

Jennifer

The hatchery silkies I had before would sleep on the roost 8 inch off the ground. I had a 4 inch high brick in there to assist them in getting up. They refused to get up on the 16 inch high roost, except for one rooster who liked to snuggle under a couple big girls at right.

These silkies I have now won't even play on the branches I have a few inches off the ground.

I did have good luck with a sleeping shelf for the silkies that I could scrape. That worked well until the brahmas discovered it. They didn't mind the silkies but there just wasn't enough room.