Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[WhiskiRanch]

Do you think a first time mama hen (actually, mama pullet; Lucy is only 9 months old) can handle 4 chicks? More? Less? I'm thinking of getting one more so she has 5 chicks, but don't want to stress her or me out. Hrm...maybe I'll stick with 4.

5 out of 6 of my hens had babies last year. 4 of them were first time moms and they did awesome. No assistance from me other than to help put babies back in the coop if they decided to find the imaginary hole and get out. My baby count was: Momma Hen had two batches last year. Her 2012 winter daughters Eenie, Meenie, Minie, and Moe all had their first babies last fall. Momma Hen's second batch was 18 hatched out of 19 eggs in August. 3 of her daughters had around a dozen chicks each and one had 2 chicks (laid 2, hatched 2) from Sept-Nov Her daughter, Little Hen was the only one that didnt have a batch of babies last year but she was the smallest and I think 60 babies was enough for me

I only lost about 10 babies total which I think is pretty good considering they have all lived with their momma's. All that were lost were lost to the darned hawk on my place but a few were lost due to a cockeral of mine being mean to them.

 

[blueducklings]

CL is busy buildin barn and T has a over full plate. She only has Daffy left. Also T Hi DD just got accepted to UW

WOW another HUSKY is born!.

 

[blueducklings]

Hi all:

I've been busy and out of the loop on everything lately, but I was just glancing through my new issue of Mother Earth News (Feb/March2013) and came across an article that needs sharing. It is about herbicides that pass through livestock and into compost making "Killer Compost". I can't link to the latest article, so I searched and found this one from a few years ago:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/killer-compost-zmgz11zrog.aspx

I had never heard of "Killer Compost", but it sure explains why all my raspberry plants died within 2 years of sticking them in the ground, and why I can hardly grow any vegetables in my original garden beds, but the new beds are fine. Blackberries grow wild and plentiful in my yard, so I felt the raspberries should do equally well. To give them an advantage over the established blackberries, I gave them plenty of compost that I had purchased and delivered by the truckloads. My property is all glacial till with no topsoil, so all of my garden beds are built up using this compost: 24 fruit trees, 40 blueberry bushes 1 dozen raspberry plants and 6 large vegetable beds (each aout 16'X4') were filled with this stuff. The blueberries are not affected by it, but all my raspberry plants got curled leaves, most died within a year, the rest died year 2. 1/3 of my fruit got curl and trees died, within 2 years, all but 2 of the others still have stunted growth, and in the garden beds I could not grow beans, spinach, peas, lettuce, asparagus, peppers, carrots ... all stuff that grows well in the new beds. AFter 4 years of frustration with the old garden beds, DH and I built new ones. My new beds I filled with a mix of organic compost from the local nusery that I buy by the bag and compost made from kitchen scraps and chicken poo. The organic soil is quite a bit more expensive than the "North West Garden Best" that I had truck delivered, but in the long run it is saving me because plants will grow in the new stuff. These new (well, new 5 years ago) beds are still not very deep, but every year I add a dozen new bags and a lot more compost.

Mother Earth is my all time favorite magazine. It is responsible for my duck addiction.
I remember years back, I planted 2 foot tall tomatoes plants to my new compost bed and all of them curled up and died.
Then I planted rows of peas 3 times on the same bed one after the other and all 3 attempts failed.
Then I switched to IRISH EYES garden seeds and presto. Giant crop of peas with 100% germination.
I now use this seed company exclusively because you don't know where the other seeds came from too, even is they say it was organic.
So maybe it was a toxic overdose...toxic seeds + toxic dirt.
The other place I quit buying compost from is Cedar Grove, because they get grass clippings from city folks and they are notorious for over "weed & feed"ing their city lots.
So I am down to a worm bin and my own duck enriched grass clipping compost pile. Not much if you want to start a new bed.

 

[blueducklings]

Has anybody tried Lyn-Genet's Recitas' elimination diet?

It was on Dr OZ. She wrote a book called "THE PLAN"???
Anyone?
The idea is that many of the foods we eat are reactive to our digestive tract and it gets inflamed,

thus water retention, thus a big tummy.
So the theory is, if we eliminate these foods, we lose the inflamation and water and thus lose the extra pounds and feel more vibrant. Skin, body brain.
Its a very simple plan and folks have been known to lose half to two pounds a day! It is also linked to the leaky gut syndrome.
I'm on day 7

think I'm reacting to halibut.

but I'm a pescatarian.

 

[heartsamor]

New to BYC today but had to post recently moved into our home in Graham WA and in the process of getting our 1st coop built. Wanting to start with five any recommendations for what breeds work best.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I see that the possible role of onions in some food intolerance has led to the classic cooking term disappearing. How sad.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

OK so I see Nikki99 is a possible for Friday. I wonder if beausonge or any others are interested???

PM or e-mail me or mikeb.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Has anybody tried Lyn-Genet's Recitas' elimination diet?

It was on Dr OZ. She wrote a book called "THE PLAN"???
Anyone?
The idea is that many of the foods we eat are reactive to our digestive tract and it gets inflamed,

thus water retention, thus a big tummy.
So the theory is, if we eliminate these foods, we lose the inflamation and water and thus lose the extra pounds and feel more vibrant. Skin, body brain.
Its a very simple plan and folks have been known to lose half to two pounds a day! It is also linked to the leaky gut syndrome.
I'm on day 7

think I'm reacting to halibut.

but I'm a pescatarian.

I haven't heard of that diet, but I've heard of the GAPS diet. It claims the same results, to heal the gut so it can properly digest food, and also heals a lot of food intolerances. I have 3 friends who've done GAPS and it worked wonderfully, but it was hard work! My family is on the Paleo diet because of gluten/dairy/soy intolerances and it works wonderfully for us! We cheat a little bit in the legume/grain department, but that's because we can tolerate them and it makes my life easier trying to feed 3 small children on a special diet.

New to BYC today but had to post recently moved into our home in Graham WA and in the process of getting our 1st coop built. Wanting to start with five any recommendations for what breeds work best.

Welcome!!

Are you only getting into chickens for the eggs? If so, I recommend getting a bunch of different breeds to see what you like. As for our fantastic backyard layers, we adore the hard work of our Black Australorp, Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Red, and we'll also be getting Barred Rocks in 2 weeks to add some more fantastic layers to the flock. That combo would give you a nice pretty backyard flock; I highly recommend at least one Easter Egger too; can't beat those gorgeous green and blue eggs!

 

[FirewifeJess]

Sitting here this morning with my SAD light hoping it'll help my mood a bit; just woke up feeling a bit upset for no reason. Took all my supplements and I'm letting the kids all color at the kitchen table while they eat their breakfast so I can get a minute alone.

On today's agenda: 4 loads of laundry, homeschool catch up, organize hall closet, waterproof nest boxes so Lucy stops getting damp.

 

[RonB]

New to BYC today but had to post recently moved into our home in Graham WA and in the process of getting our 1st coop built. Wanting to start with five any recommendations for what breeds work best.

Welcome

You will get lots of different answers to your question. Everybody here has their favorites. So what are you looking for in a chicken? do you just want eggs ?? or do you want meat too? there are lots of dual purpose birds that are good layers. Rhode Island Reds. Barred Rocks, Australorps. Several people here just want Brown eggs. I like to mix my colors, so I have Brown, white, and green layers.
If you are looking for lots of eggs. The best brown layers out there are sex links. They are egg laying machines. for white eggs the best layers are White leghorns but they are flighty. So for white eggs I use California whites. they are a lot calmer then the leghorn and lay almost as well. If you want some color (green, blue) then you need to go with Easter Eggers.

Click on "Breeds" here on BYC and you can read about all the different breeds. I think you will really enjoy your chickens ! Good luck