Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chicken Rustler]

Anyone getting SNOW???

Nope but I saw posts of it not far away. Like 7 miles away and a couple hundred feet up.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: What ya never told me he had an R/C chopper!!! Gas or electric???

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
Aw, darn! But HH and I were talking, we should do this at least once a month anyway =)

Your EEs and mine are siblings, then- Tertia, Guinta and Ginjur are from Kanake eggs. Wish I knew what she was up to.

Hopefully soaking up the aloha and enjoying her wild chickens!


My Foxglove got much larger than all my other EEs, she's white


Sounds like Tertia- she's silver and bearded and lays a HUGE green egg, at least six days a week; last week I got seven in a row before she skipped a day. I'm hoping to get a round of chicks from her and her sister Ginjur, who's marked much the same and has a good beard but lays a big pink egg. I'm hoping, by the time DH retires, to have a good, predictable line of EEs for egg sales at the Market.


Quinta is wildly marked- columbian, black partridge back and silver spangled breast, unbearded, and lays a very blue egg: she's going in with Elvis this round, because in the end I want my dependable blue egg layers to also be spangled. Cream legbars
Yeah, they are what I'd get if I wasn't more interested in doing my own thing. This is fun: so different from the restrictions of raising pedigree cattle.
Projects are fun.

 

[RainMom]

What ya never told me he had an R/C chopper!!! Gas or electric???

Electric. My DH doesn't like the gas ones. This one is his new toy- used bonus money to get it.
His father was still climbing trees to get R/C planes down at 87 years old- and was probably the lonest ever continuous member of the AMA

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: Yes while the gas engines sound cool in any R/C they are so messy to clean up. I used to have an R/C addiction. I was into elec. off-road. I even wound my own motors etc. What I took to the track on race day was about $10,000 in equip and supplies. And it all fit in the back of my pick up.

 

[Duck Drover]

Chicks with beards aren't Araucanas. The stores often get it wrong because the hatcheries they get them from are wrong too.

If you check out this link to the Araucana Breeders Club, you can see in the guidelines beards are a DQ. (bottom of page)

http://www.araucana.net/Araucana_standard_guidelines.htm

Yolks on eggs are dependent on the feed they are given. All chickens can produce dark yolked eggs. And they aren't lower in cholesterol!

Glad you have come here to get some better information than from feed-stores.

I think the hatcheries and feed stores had been calling Easter Eggers Araucanas before the standards were published to define them according to characteristics that are hard to produce since the tufts alone produce non-tufted birds or the birds die in the shell if they have the gene from both parents. As long as I get the traits I want in my chickens the name does not matter but now I know to get hatchery Araucanas and not breeder Araucanas. The hatchery Araucanas seem to be more desirable to more people so maybe that is why more people know Easter Eggers as Araucanas than they know Araucanas as Araucanas. People have raised chickens for eggs longer than they have raised chickens for show so the name they use to buy chickens may not be the "correct" name but it seems to work to get what they want from the hatcheries. I am glad to know that I want to avoid breeders and stick with the hatchery chicks in order to guarantee I am getting what I want.

 

[3arthm0ther]

Cedar shavings are a no-no, especially for chicks.  I know some folks who use them in the nesting boxes.  The thing with the cedar shavings is that they have more surface area and therefor allow their oils to evaporate faster.  This is why they keep the bugs at bay, and it's also why you dont want to use cedar shavings for bedding.  Cedar boards however, don't have the same surface area and so they don't put that odor into the air the same.  This is especially true if the boards you use have been exposed to the elements for a while - like old fence boards..

Don't sweat the size of the Australorp ( I spelled it correctly !! )  Great job!! )They are big, but they are not HUGE - if you want huge, go Jersey Giant.

If you choose to purchase a coop - please let us here view photos before you buy.  Many new folks have their ignorance exploited - so be careful.   If you can use basic tools - hammer, circular saw, drill - you can probably make your own coop.  You are trying to make them a safe place from predators and the weather.

I've been looking at "the original chicken man"'s on CL since its $375 for a 9'x4x4 coop, run and nest box but I want a coop that has a planter on top for insulation and essentially to make it heavier. The way our yard is shaped we get nasty wind gusts that took out a huge tied down pop up awning tent thing.

I went to a architecture repurposing place yesterday in Seattle alled earth wise. They had awesome unfinished wiiiiidddeee and loooong old growth oak floor boards for $3LF and cool windows and such. If I build my own I want to use as much recycled stuff as possible.

If you want to be totally overwhelmed with WAY COOL information, go to the "coops" tab.  LOTS of pictures.  There's also a forum section that has lots of people willing to answer questions.

We're cheap, and I really wanted some specific features on my coop, so we built.  We used a combination of new and used supplies, and we really had a blast.  My husband and I are teachers, not contractors, and we managed...but it should be noted that DH did work construction long ago to get himself through college.

For me, the bottom line is that it's DEFINITELY easier to buy a coop.  Price depends on what you get and where you get it.  Building a coop is a serious project, but very rewarding, and you get exactly what you want. 

As long as you meet your chickens' requirements, they really won't care either way.  No matter how beautiful it is, they're just gonna poop in it.  :cd

--Nikki

Thanks Nikki! I'm trying to do it on a budget but my dads anal about his beautiful backyard so it has to look nice. Also it will probably be just me doing it during the week while my sons napping or possibly playing. I want to buy but all of the ones I want are stupid expensive :/

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: Say what?

All I know is if you try to buy my breeds from a hatchery, they will be more Polish than Brabanter or Spitzhauben. You'll get beardless Brabanters and bearded Spitz. The hatcheries will sell you anything that looks vaguely like a certain breed. You've no guarantee that you're actually getting that breed.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Well, I did a bit of research


and this is what I found, note the greyed portion. It clearly states it's okay to pursue avocational interests. Isn't chicken keeping an avocational interest?

Ed: sorry for the bad image, if you click on it you'll get a larger, clearer picture.
I also went to Yelm's site. It is very confusing. It describes livestock to be chickens, but I could not find anything about livestock perse. I even tried the Zoning, and nothing. It is probably buried in a mass of regs that only the beauracrats have access to, as usual.
I even contacted Del's and yes they sell chickens but no they can't say anything about the legallity of having chickens. I read that as they don't want to have any shade of liability in this.
Don'tcha just love gvt types?

 

[nikki1]

I've been looking at "the original chicken man"'s on CL since its $375 for a 9'x4x4 coop, run and nest box but I want a coop that has a planter on top for insulation and essentially to make it heavier. The way our yard is shaped we get nasty wind gusts that took out a huge tied down pop up awning tent thing.

I went to a architecture repurposing place yesterday in Seattle alled earth wise. They had awesome unfinished wiiiiidddeee and loooong old growth oak floor boards for $3LF and cool windows and such. If I build my own I want to use as much recycled stuff as possible.
Thanks Nikki! I'm trying to do it on a budget but my dads anal about his beautiful backyard so it has to look nice. Also it will probably be just me doing it during the week while my sons napping or possibly playing. I want to buy but all of the ones I want are stupid expensive

Try checking out the Habitat for Humanity Restore, too. We didn't find much lumber there, but we really scored on paint (name-brand exterior paint in a nice neutral color for $20 for a brand new 5 gallon bucket!), hardware, nails, knobs, vents, and various odds and ends. They also have LOTS of doors and windows, which are really pricey new. I went to the one in Olympia, and I guess each location kind of specializes. Olympia has mostly building supplies, while others go more toward fixtures. All the people were VERY friendly and helpful, so I bet they'd help you track down what you need.

Are you chummy with any church youth groups or boy scout troops? They might be in need of a service project or fundraiser. I got my garden fence painted a few years back by a couple of church boys needing camp money. I wouldn't trust them will really skilled labor, but they could paint, dig holes, haul stuff around, babysit, etc. (especially consider the babysit option. Our kids helped with painting, but on framing day DH and I didn't need their "help.")

As far as wanting the thing to look nice, it's easier to do on a budget if you do it yourself. Sadly, most of the inexpensive coops you can buy aren't built well. Have you checked Craigslist? You might just run across someone getting out of chickens who has something reasonable. There are also plans available to buy if you want to save money by building, but you don't want to design the darn thing.

Good luck! The whole thing is more fun than it probably seems from your just getting started perspective!
--Nikki