Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[KMHunter]

Quote: Yeah, but I am stumped on the WBS variety. Why is that not ringing a bell?
Royce always has very nice birds. And he is close.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Yeah, well: I'm trying to have blue, blue egg-laying, spangled chickens, which means I have a plan to funfill. Also I'd like enough eggs to do one day a week at the Market by the time my DH retires.

ETS 1: And Malvina has convinced me that BAs are indubitably great chickens.


ETA 2: the charcoal grill and briquettes are for unfreezing the pipes under the house; my cousin has the responisbility of the pressure tank, so he has that problem to solve. The fact that we're on a well with an electric pump is a whole other world of trouble.

Me too on the blue eggs - they are nice in the box and my customers love them.

Ah Malvina - I'm so glad she's working out for you. We can't have broodies here - the hawks and crows eat all the babies, and she was rather a nice chicken, too nice for the stock pot!

And, when I went down to give the chickens their jam sandwiches (yup, afternoon tea for the ladies, don't none of you dare laugh) I found the gusher, shut it off and we have water again.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I got all these lovely sourdough starters from around the world for Christmas, but since I'm trying to lose about 50 lbs, I can't eat all the stuff I make, and himself can only eat so much, so the girls get most of my kitchen experiments. I did however indulge tonight - I made 2 really nice Italian sourdough breads; one with cheese, onion granules and herbs, and one with mustard, olives and sausage; both are dynamite and it's going to take an extra week on the treadmill to work it off)

Off now to finish the bunny legs for dinner. Night all!

I need to take a photo of Malvina now that she's refeathered; she and the young ladies are a sight to see (although for most of November and into mid-December she was a sight of an entirely different sort, having moulted in random chunks and being rather lumpy looking as her feathers grew back).

 

[Stumpfarmer]

How's everyone doing? It's cold here, no water, I think the pipes are frozen, so. . . another use for a brooder lamp!

TC and anybody else with frozen water systems. IF you have your own well as it appears TC does. The most common place for it to freeze is the base of the pressure switch. That is the little box with the wire going into it. Normally if you slightly warm the little pipe going up into the switch and the base of the switch box. Keep in mind that there is electricity inside the box. Also the base switch also has a rubber diaphragm so don't use too much heat.

We never seem to have frozen pipes and electricity at the same time, at my house, so I try to keep a bag of good BBQ briquettes around.

While I am sure that SF has done this enough times she probably knows all the right things to do. How ever for those new I would caution you. First many of us now have PLASTIC pipes which don't take much heat. Also the idea of using lit charcoal in or under any building really concerns me. BE CAREFUL !!!

I usuall just let it gently fall into a well placed wheelbarrow and take (feed/seed) to the coop. There I lift it to the top step, then up into the coop. Open the bag put my feed container (small trashcan) upside down on top of the bag, gently lower the can with the feed bag to the floor. Tip the can up and pull the bag off and voila!, feed is in the can. No danger of hurting one's back, or getting a hernia or straining anything. I take it slowly, ain't no way at my age do I do things in a hurry anymore.

Fast and furious sets the pace but slow and steady wins the race !! For those looking into the tax deductions. I wish you luck. I did it when we had all the goats. I had a lot more expenses and made more with the goats than I ever will with chickens. That being said it was slightly worth it but for chickens 1) I don't know if most of us could qualify 2) I don't know if there would be enough gain to offset the hassle. But if you decide to try..... Good luck.

Yeah, a lot of stuff I do should come with "don't try this at home" I know; I was raised by a man who was convinced the whole world was going to come down on him at any minute and my safety procedures are obsessively rigorous. It doesn't take much heat to unfreeze pipes under an insulated house (about ten briquettes worth, in a closed Weber mini). The rare times I have frozen pipes and electricity at the same time, I've thawed them by running the dryer for a half-hour; the exhaust vent is only four feet long, and twenty feet away from the water main. It takes my sister all of her non-existant spare time in January, February, and March to get her books in shape to send to the accountant; this is with 5-10 hours a week dedicated to bookkeeping/bill paying/payment record updates from the daybook. The only deductions which are worth the ink to record them are the fuel-tax ones, and that's because they run two big tractors and a semi pulling a flatbed trailer 10-15 hours a day every day during hay season. Unless you're already a hot-stuff bookkeeper/retired CPA, the paperwork to get tax deductions for farming isn't worth the effort (keeping INCOME RECORDS is, because the IRS is not a bunch of fun guys, nor are WS-DOR).

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Now dang it, that makes me want to make nut roll and a prune roll. I haven't made either in quite awhile.

 

[mikeyb]

What a day. My sis fell at work yesterday right down on her knee. So today we started about 11am and off to her place of work to fill out more paper work (she can't drive with her banged up knee) and then it was off to a P test. Go figure, had to get that done b4 she was treated, grrrrrr. Anyway from there to the clinic of the company's choice and with bad directions, grrrrrrrr.
Then it was off to the pharmacy for meds, stop at the Panda for carry out. Got home a little after 8pm. Retrieved my DW's walker, from the rafters of the garage, cleaned it up and took it to my sis's house for her to use. Back home just a little bit ago. What day. Mostly, sitting and waiting. I'm beat.

This forum has slowed wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy down.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Sorry to hear about your sister Mikey! What an ordeal. I pray she heals quickly and can get back on her feet soon.

 

[justbugged]

Hello Washingtonians! Hope all of you are doing great!


(HI Justbugged!!!!!! Longtime no chat chat with you....hope you are doing great!)





Quick question for you all....Does anyone here in WA know of anyone who breeds or anyone who has Blue Birchen Marans or Solid Black and Blue Marans that do not carry copper......or perhaps even a Blue Cuckoo Marans that lays nice eggs?
Thanks in advance!

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[justbugged]

Hey justbugged!

How are those little bantie Crevs doing?

The girls have settled in and are part of the flock. It took them most of the summer before they figured out that they could sleep in the coop with most of the flock. I still have 4 EE pullets that refuse to go into the coop at night. They seem to be happy roosting on a tree stump, in the covered run. I love the contrast in size between the larger Crevies and the bantys. I just wish I could breed them.

 

[justbugged]

Oh boy! I last left off at page 277....it is 703 now!!! There will be a-plenty of reading for me if I should get bored!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new year and are staying warm!! Thank goodness all the holidays are over ('cept mah birfday

)

I just thought I would peak in and say 'ELLO and see how everyone is doing. We had some wonderful progress on my life size dollhouse chicken coop

It is almost ready for finishing touches!!! Got the nest boxes and the doors and windows cut out and there's a front porch and soooo much I can't wait to show y'all!!! We My dad made it out of 80lb plastic sheeting that is 1" thick. Pretty heavy duty stuff and most uncommon, but so easy to work with! Pretty soon it will be time for CHICKIES!!!!!!!

I'm happy that you survived the holidays.

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[mikeyb]

Sorry to hear about your sister Mikey! What an ordeal. I pray she heals quickly and can get back on her feet soon.

Thank you so much FwJ, I/we appreciate your concern and most of all your prayers.