Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[walady944]

Here's the new cute coop! And my genius idea of a waterer for both Lucy and the chicks...she can drink from the top, they can drink from the bottom



And the babies getting used to being outside, protected from the big girls in the lower part of the new coop. Only 2 of these are mine, I'm brooding the other 6 for a very prego friend

what a darling little coop and it sounds like you have it set up just right for the littles and the big ones.

 

[itsren]

The "Littles" ... Left to right: Penny, Latte, Blackie and Snow.

 

[itsren]

What do you guys think of this coop? http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/grd/3762023691.html I have been thinking about it and I believe I am highly over-estimating my building ability.

It may be more cost effective to just buy one.

Welcome! Double check the dimensions and how easy it is to clean. My four "littles" are in a small house that is low to the ground, and at this point, I dislike it very much! My three big girls are in a small coop that is about 2' off the ground, and it has access doors everywhere, and I love it!

 

[washougalchick]

I'm new to BYC and glad to have found this group.

I have 6 young Black Marans -- who all seem to be cockerels! (I have slim hope that 1 might be a hen).
-1 Golden Cuckoo Marans rooster
-1 Blue Splash Marans hen
-1 Wheaten Marans hen
-2 Silver Wyandote hens
-1 Gold sex link
-2 splash somethings
...and cashmere goats, black welsh mtn sheep, too many cats, and 4 dogs.

Advice needed! My chickens are free range and hate nest boxes. Do I have to confine them with the boxes or have you discovered alternatives

 

[mikeyb]

1934 catalog of Montgomery Ward

 

[coffeekittie]

First of all, HI! to Slinglings and Sudsy Chick!

Well I have just kind of been skimming posts lately. I HAVE noticed several NEW PEEPS.

To ALL of the new peeps I say

And to the WA thread. This is a great group. But be warned things here tend to move a bit fast at times. IF by chance you post and nobody replies. It's NOT because you're not welcome or that nobody cares. It IS most likely that the ones who know the answer to your question have not seen it yet. I would say IF yer questions go a day without reply. Please ask again.

I was warned that this thread flies, and zomgosh it does! Good advice Chicken Rustle, thanks.

It's such a nice day out today already! I am very excited because I have Belgian Bearded D'Anver & Cochin babies popping out like popcorn this morning!!!

Love the d'Uccles and d'Anvers! I really hope my pair of d'Anvers decide to mate and produce some eggs someday, argh!

We milked the doe and fed the babies. The buck didn't make it. One doeling is doing great the other is too early to tell. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I do hope the girls make it.

I'm new to BYC and glad to have found this group.

I have 6 young Black Marans -- who all seem to be cockerels! (I have slim hope that 1 might be a hen).
-1 Golden Cuckoo Marans rooster
-1 Blue Splash Marans hen
-1 Wheaten Marans hen
-2 Silver Wyandote hens
-1 Gold sex link
-2 splash somethings
...and cashmere goats, black welsh mtn sheep, too many cats, and 4 dogs.

Advice needed! My chickens are free range and hate nest boxes. Do I have to confine them with the boxes or have you discovered alternatives

No advice from me as I'm new to breeding chickens, plus mine are more confined, but

Edited to add pictures

I swear she doesn't have a snake neck, but she sure is curious about that clicky thing

"Hey, I was sleeping!"

"Seriously?"

Really - SERIOUSLY?"

Look at those gorgeous blue eyes

Ok, yes, it IS a pallet fence (and don't look at the right-hand side) but the waterfowl will like it I think

My Chocolate bantam Orp girls - aren't they pretty? I love chocolate in any form... Ok I have to go now and eat some!

 

[Slinglings]

What do you guys think of this coop? http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/grd/3762023691.html I have been thinking about it and I believe I am highly over-estimating my building ability.

It may be more cost effective to just buy one.

You will immediately wish it was bigger . My first coop is 39 x 39 and I started with three hens. I now have 8 hens and two coops, but they all want to sleep in the first coop. It works fine because they do only sleep in there and have a small run to hang out in until I let them out for the day,but I should have started with something bigger to begin with.(they lay all their eggs in the second coop)

 

[FirewifeJess]

Hooray! My friend is taking her baby chicks (5 weeks old tomorrow, all off heat and outside already) on Saturday and we can get back to normal here! Then I'll be left with:
9 hens, one year old
4 pullets about 10-11 weeks old
2 chicks 5 weeks old

And I will get Lucy a chick or two sometime in the next 2 weeks. That will leave me with 16-17 once they're all grown up. I might get rid of the Welsummer hen going into fall as long as everyone else is laying by then.

 

[Duck Drover]

Well, I think we are going to lose all three baby goats - Momma won't let them nurse. I'm bummed.

I have used goats to raise bum lambs and even calves (with a milking stand) so it is not hard to get them to feed their own babies with a little effort. If you are not too far I could help. I am raising a rabbit kit on kitten milk right now because the doe stopped feeding the entire litter and the rest of the bunnies died. I have raised a lot of bottle babies on goat milk when I had goats so at least you can milk the doe and feed the kids that way.

 

[Duck Drover]

When himself got home, we went down to sort things out. Taffy is being very good; I guess because  she's a first time mom she didn't know what was going on, plus her babies were so small . Her udder was so big it hurt, that's my theory to why she wouldn't let them nurse. She kicked when we first started to milk her, but I think the relief was so good, she calmed right down. One baby actually nursed for a few minutes. We got colostrum in all of them, but the buckling was too far gone. He kept having seizures; plus dehydration despite giving him liquids all day.

We shall be going back down a couple of times this evening. I'm cautiously optimistic, at least about baby girl #2. The larger one is still iffy.

[COLOR=006400]Thank you everyone[/COLOR] for the thoughts and suggestions. I'm not emotionally attached to them as pets; it's more that I hate to see a life wasted, and hate to see any animal in pain (and yes, I shed a tear over the loss of baby boy!).

Nice coop FWJ - I think it's looks great especially with the chickies in it!

Stumpfarmer, those are some pretty birds - I love blue ones.

CL - house is coming along great - should have thought about the paint before you got it up eh!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

(And now it looks like Aggie is in labour; but she's a veteran!)

Once the babies pass her milk she should be good with them. The udder soreness is often a problem so it is good to keep her from getting too full. If the babies need a boost so they have the energy to suck, Karo syrup works wonders. It even absorbs through the mucus membranes of the mouth so I have used it to raise many near dead babies that were too weak to eat.