Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Nifty!

OMG I collect tea pots & S&P shakers....for some reason I an attracted to Crockery/simple but painted before fireing.....Dang, I love country crocery,,,,,,,,,,, My favorite is McCoy~~~~~~~~~~

 

[LaughingFeather]

Thanks for the reminder CR! Everyone, I know you love your chickens, but chickens in WA, no matter where, DO not need supplemental heat once they are fully feathered. Light, yes, heat, no!! You risk everything with a brooder lamp in a coop if you try to make your flock more comfortable. Please, read CRs post again and take it to heart!

OK, you convinced me. I went and unplugged the heat lamp in the coop.

 

[Chickielady]

I have the same problem of not getting cartons back. I just tell my egg customers that since I am not getting cartons back I will be forced to put their eggs in a plastic shopping bag. I hope they don't get broke and leak in the car. I have never had to use the bag trick so this must be rather effective!

My customers ALWAYS bring back the cartons....and other cartons, and my sister, and brothers....................which I sometimes do not approve of, as I BUY my egg cartons & affix my labels (as per the dept of AG)......I do not care for some of the cartons they bring me, but I have dedicated routine customers that come here every week for the past 3 years I have been here, we exchange X-mas gifts, cookies, in spring we exchange extra tomato starts/other garden starts.............it is a village CR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And how are the wall flowers doing ???????????????? The big Momma wall flower is blooming like crazy right now !!!!!!

FEED THE BEES !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

I have been listening to my Blue Roo crooning since early this AM and I have figured out (after much thinking) on what his song is really saying.
You can sing along if you wish (tune of "Tammy")

I hear my Roo ster crow ing a loud,
Open up! Open up! I wa nt out!

The grass is green, and the worms are up!
Open up! Open up! Let me out!

Don't you know, the suns been up?
I sing so joyfully, but you fail to hear!

I wish you knew, what I'm drea ming of,
fa at worms, fa at worms,
Fa at worms, yumm

(yeah, too much time on my hands)

 

[KMoran]

OK help I have 20 chicks hatched out of 27 eggs... I can 3 peeping out BUT my humidity is 82% I opened the vent plug but how do I lower the humidity? Should I open the bator and take out the dry chicks that hatched more then 24 hrs ago??? Please help I dont want to drowned the other chicks....

 

[RainMom]

Anybody wants them? I'm 5 mins from them chickens.

I'm very tempted- with my kiddo selling eggs, those are easy keepers. I just could not bring myself to drive up there today. (if it was tomorrow, I might wing it, since I have to drive to Woodinville, which would not be too far away )

I've spent an hour outside today- and can't find my rain jacket. --I'm getting webbed feet here! I'm on the 4th time drying my jacket in the dryer. Our crazy hens got soaked to the skin, they finally went to go hide in the wood shed - had a heck of a time convincing them to come get back in their nice dry hen house. We still need to make them a nice dry place to forage outside. They have a huge space to roam in their pen, but nothing covered. DH and I put a heat lamp in the hen house, hoping to help dry them faster.

We decided to barbeque today, since the meat's been marinating for 3 days "waiting for the rain to stop". So while I was trying to hold a umbrella and flip the short ribs, I dropped 2 of them, rinsed off in sink, put back in marinade, and tossed back on grill. Onward and upward!

 

[Chickielady]

OK it has been a while since I have been up on this soapbox. So I thought I would once again share this.

PLEASE IF you never read anything else I post please read this and remember it or copy and print if need be.


Coop lights. For anybody thinking about or with questions about using heat lamps PLEASE READ THIS. First let me say that for those of us in western WA & OR. We do not get enough cold weather to worry about heat for fully feathered birds. You only need to be concerned with heat if you have young chicks.
For ANY lights you use please make sure that the fixture is rated for the size of bulb/lamp you are using (or more). If you are going to use one of the common “heat lamps” they are most commonly 250 watt. DO NOT use a fixture with a rating of less than 250 watt. The cheap clamp on lights are not sufficient for this. You want a fixture with a ceramic base where the lamp screws in.
And here is my point. I have a friend who is also my FORMER feed supplier. She called me one day told me her barn had burned. She asked if I would haul the scrap metal and help clean up part of the mess. I was so shocked when I got there. This had been a barn about 60’ x 100’. The entire barn was gone. She also lost all of her breeding hogs including several pigs that had been paid for. She also lost the entire feed mill. When we started cleaning up and trying to find the cause. Everything pointed toward a heatlamp that was being used to keep pigs warm. While we were not able to determine if the fixture caught fire first and began dripping into the bedding or if the fixture fell into the bedding and then caught fire. Either way IF this had been a proper fixture and secured with jack chain or bare steel wire (tie wire or baling wire) there is a VERY good chance my friend would still have her barn, breeding hog business and grain/feed business.
SO again I ask that EVERYBODY using heat lights PLEASE make sure what you are using is safe!!! The best choice is the “brooder fixtures” with the ceramic base.
I post this in hopes of never having to see another person lose their buildings, animals and who knows what else due to using the wrong lighting equipment!!!
Rob

Should I post the pics ?




NOTICE::: The hard WHITE Ceramic END on the heat lamp ~~~~~~~~~~And the HOOK.........I hard wire the hook with a wire to the top of my brooder, and adjust it UP when the babies get used to the weather and they are feathered out enough to be warm~~~~~~~~~

 

[melissaG]

DUH I agree !
If no refill, then there will be no refill !

^^ I just charge 50cents extra whenever they forget. Seems to help kick the memory

 

[nikki1]

Does it have an owie?

Nope!

 

[Chickielady]

I'll agree the birds don't need heat, but I have to heat my smaller coops during the winter so the birds can have water. When it's below 20 for a week or so, it is needed.

I do not use heat lamps though. I use little milk house heaters that are outside of reach of the birds and they turn off immediately if knocked over.

We use milk house heaters in our pump house and in our chicken tractor