Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[ChickAudie]

The Black Coppers are coming, The Black Coppers are coming, The Black Coppers are HERE!!! Call me if you would like to get your start on these guys.

They're beautiful! Where are you located? Now that the coop is closer to being done, I can actually start looking for chicks!

 

[ChickAudie]

And here is the sneak peak at my almost done coop!!!!

That is SO CUTE! How much do you want for it? LOL! Beautiful work!

Lol! I think my dad should quit his day job and go into coop engineering :0). A few more orders and he will be set!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

What I think is hilarious is that Mom uses every type of electric saw without issue, but she's afraid of the Dremel. 

That's funny.  The Dremel is the first tool we started teaching our kids to use (with sanding discs).  I wouldn't let them use a cutting blade on it though.  They can be dangerous!  Me and a few leather gloves know from experience!

My oldest nicked his finger with a sanding disc when he was nine - that kid TOTALLY respects that tool now.  He's very careful with it.  They're not allowed to use it unless what they are sanding is secured in vice, too.

I've burned the batteries up in my old red and black (vintage 1997) Dremels, and the new blue (lithium ion battery) one doesn't hold a charge worth beans, which is a drag. I use them for everything from jewelry making to cutting mitres in moulding, and nothing else works as well.

 

[itsren]

Quote:
If it is, I hope it is Extira. Well, maybe. Would the resins in Extira be safe for chickens? I'm not sure how you would make MDF waterproof. I'm guessing it would have to be exterior-wrapped and sided, and painted well on the interior, if it was MDF to prevent mold-growth. Or would it? I don't use fiberboard when I'm building - so I'm not sure how to preserve it.

It is such a beautiful coop!

 

[itsren]

This is part of this weeks eggs. 1 RIR and 4 EE. The big egg is in the middle, duh. Huge. Her reg egg is the other dark brown one of normal size.

That big egg looks like it had to be painful! Come to think of it - all of them look painful. LOL!

 

[itsren]

Quote: It's actually 80lb sheet foam. I have an uncle who works for GP in Tacoma and this was some "oops" material for a plane. It is great to work with, it cuts like butter and is an 1" thick so the girls will be well insulated. The inside was sealed with tinted sealer/primer and the outside is currently getting a coat of Venetian plaster, and we'll seal that too! The roofs (roves?) are also made out of this material and are planned to get a gold/copper car-enamel. :0D

That sounds neat. I'm not familiar with the product. When I think of foam, I think of lightweight stuff that breaks easily. I'm sure if it is used in aircraft, it would have to be more durable that what I'm thinking of. You may want to watch your chickens to see if they peck at it when inside and verify that it isn't toxic to chickens. I'm looking forward to hear how your chickens like it. I love to learn about new ways of building things!

 

[itsren]

The Black Coppers are coming, The Black Coppers are coming, The Black Coppers are HERE!!!
Call me if you would like to get your start on these guys.

BCM chicks - can you tell me... if a 6-week-old BCM chick has a copper head and neck, is he, for certain, a boy? And, if they don't have a copper head and neck by 6 weeks, are they girls?

 

[CarolynF]

I have 1 americauna, 1 rhode island red and 1 barred rock

Hi! Welcome to our thread!
If you got these as chicks in September it will be a while yet. Six months old is about average. But as was already said, it depends on the breed and even the individual bird. As they get close to laying their combs will get bigger and redder, their face will get redder, they will probably squat when you reach down to pet them. And when they start checking out the nest box keep your eyes peeled!

You have a nice mix of breeds. Enjoy!

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

One thing that i've seen help get a chicken to lay eggs is black sunflower seeds. My pullets started laying eggs at 4 and 5 months old eating black sunflower seed tossed on the ground instead of scratch.

 

[JennS]

I have another question on silkies. I took a close look at my cockerels yesterday. I am guessing that they are about 4 months old. When I spread out their wings, they have a gap between the feathers. Is it possible they will feather in more, or do they definitely have split wings by this point?

If they have split wings, I am thinking at this point that they will become my first birds to process. Although, it looks like silkies are mostly good for stock. I'm not that big on making soup, but I love a good stock for chicken & dumplings.

Hmm, I don't think I posted about this weekend... I was going to drive to Portland and had a taker for at least one of the boys, but my son decided that he was going to resist every single thing that morning and I had to stay home. I was not a happy camper on Saturday.

Jennifer