Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Dwkuska]

Hi Chicken friends! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday! I have a question for you. I have 15 adult birds and 18 birds that are almost 3 months old. I want to know, how much and how often do you feed your birds. Mine are free range until we get the next coop built that will have an attached pen on it. I put my feed out on pie pans prior to opening the current coop up to let them out. They all rush the food and act like they are starving. Once all the food is consumed, they all walk around and appear happy.. scratching about and eating all the grubs, grass and berries that they find. Anytime I go outside for anything, I have the entire flock immediately at my feet waiting for me to feed them some vegie scraps or more food. I do usually go get the scooper and fill up all the dishes for them again. I also feed them just before I lock up the coop at night. Can you over feed your birds? How do I know if they are underfed? Any input is greatly appreciated.

I have hanging feeders I make sure I keep full. So my chickens can eat whenever they like. I have yet to find a chicken that will eat itself to death, but knock on wood. I agree that the chickens are probably associating you with food so they will continue to be excited when you come near. My suggestion would be to do your best to make sure they always have food.

 

[Dwkuska]

I have a question for those who show and are in the know, (hehe, I made a rhyme!) Are there any shows coming up in Feb. or March here in Western Wa? I'd like to take a few of my birds to a show but I'm not in the know about where and when?

Thanks in advance!

DD

Try looking here... or check puyallup fairgrounds

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Northwest.html

 

[Slinglings]

I have a question for those who show and are in the know, (hehe, I made a rhyme!) Are there any shows coming up in Feb. or March here in Western Wa? I'd like to take a few of my birds to a show but I'm not in the know about where and when?

Thanks in advance!

DD

There is a show in Monroe in March. There is usually a byc WA potluck.

 

[BGMatt]

I have a question for those who show and are in the know, (hehe, I made a rhyme!)  Are there any shows coming up in Feb. or March here in Western Wa?   I'd like to take a few of my birds to a show but I'm not in the know about where and when?

Thanks in advance!

DD

Next show is in March in Monroe, WA. Keep an eye on Washington Feather Fanciers website for entry info (or better yet join the club!)

Pacific Northwest Poultry Association show is in April at Clark County Fairgrounds just outside Ridgefield,WA.

Washington Poultry Exhibitors will have another show in June in conjunction with the Mother Earth News event.

Also for those looking for birds, the Prairie Hatcher 4-H club usually has some very nice birds available in their auction at the Feb Youth Show at Clark County Fairgrounds.

 

[DiamondDust]

Thanks Dwkuska! It looks like Monroe, WA and Ridgefield, WA are the next two...and they are both quite a ways from me, bummer! The Puyallup Fairgrounds says there is a "spring fair" in April but doesn't say if there are any poultry exhibitions at that one...hmmm...that would be much closer for me!

DD

 

[DiamondDust]

Thanks! Two more posts before I could finish my last one!

DD

 

[CarolynF]

Hi Chicken friends! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday! I have a question for you. I have 15 adult birds and 18 birds that are almost 3 months old. I want to know, how much and how often do you feed your birds. Mine are free range until we get the next coop built that will have an attached pen on it. I put my feed out on pie pans prior to opening the current coop up to let them out. They all rush the food and act like they are starving. Once all the food is consumed, they all walk around and appear happy.. scratching about and eating all the grubs, grass and berries that they find. Anytime I go outside for anything, I have the entire flock immediately at my feet waiting for me to feed them some vegie scraps or more food. I do usually go get the scooper and fill up all the dishes for them again. I also feed them just before I lock up the coop at night. Can you over feed your birds? How do I know if they are underfed? Any input is greatly appreciated.

Chickens won't over eat. They're acting ravenous every morning because they haven't eaten all night long, just like growing kids. It's a good idea to provide feed all or most of the day, but don't leave it out in the open over night or you'll attract racoons, rodents and other predators. And chickens don't eat after dark. Whether or not they are getting enough food by free ranging depends on how many birds you have, how much space they share, and what's growing there. Bug populations are generally smaller during the winter, so they may benefit from the protein in commercial feed. If you're curious to find out more precisely how much they'll eat, you could put out feed all day for a couple of weeks, keeping track of how much you use. Then you could go back to what you're doing now, then compare the results. Others would probably be interested in what you learn.

 

[CarolynF]

Hi everyone! We just got our first two eggs here in Kirkland, one from a Buff Orpington on the 30th, and one from a Black Australorp this morning! All six of our girls are 20 weeks old today

This is our first time with chickens, and I couldn't be more proud! Now they just need to hurry up and get regular!

Congratulations on your first eggs! It's such great fun for sure!

 

[Duck Drover]

I feed growing large fowl and Bantams along with ducks so they all get unlimited Flock Raiser, which is a high protein feed. They also free range so they get bugs and vegetation along with occasional scraps I throw out for treats. We have several gravity feeders that we made and they mainly stay filled but occasionally one goes empty and they will let me know by running towards it when I walk that direction. It does not matter that they have feed in another feeder, they want whatever feed I am putting out. In the morning, we often put some on the ground to prevent crowding, which only happens when they first come out of the coop for breakfast, and they act as though what gets dumped from the scoop is somehow superior to what is in the feeder even though it is the same feed. There is one feeder the ducks will flock to once the chickens go to bed and on occasion we have had chicks think they should go to bed in the feeder instead of the coop (the Silkies were the worst until they got a pen and coop of their own) so the ducks will make a bunch of noise until we remove the chicks so they get their turn at the feeder. The only times there has ever been a crowd at the feeder is in the morning when we let the chickens out and before we lock them up at night, otherwise the birds are foraging in the yard. They do snack during the day without crowding up at the feeders so I keep the feeders full and only let them go empty on occasion. Because I want my birds to grow and be healthy, I just buy feed as they need more rather than ration it out. As long as I can sell chicks to cover my feed bill, I don't worry how much they are eating. I keep Chick Starter in front of my chicks at all times too because I don't want them stressed out by hunger or trampling each other for rationed food. I have not had problems with overeating but they can be wasteful by kicking feed out of the feeder and that is when I will let the feeder go empty so they are sure to pick up feed that gets spilled before it goes bad. I have to fill feeders two to three times a week but most of the time I am topping them off rather than letting them go empty. I feed chicks two to three times a day.

One issue with letting chickens free range is that they also lay eggs freely in the yard. We just found hidden nests this week full of eggs that are fine for eating but not for hatching since I don't know how old they are or how cold they got overnight. There were a few that did not pass the float test but those were the duck eggs that the chickens took for nest eggs and began stockpiling them in well hidden locations. I like having hiding places for the ducks and chickens but I need fewer egg hiding places because we have lost a lot of hatching eggs because we found nests after the eggs were hatchable. I have Easter Egger hens for our eating eggs but I want to be hatching the Orpington eggs so I can raise enough chicks to get the best quality flock once I decide which ones I am keeping (I can't part with any of my Korfus Kluckers until I can replace them with their offspring).

 

[Totalcolour]

Newbie, just joined from the east side of the state. Anybody else from the Tri-City area?

I don't even know where the Tri-City area is, so I must be quite far away - welcome anyway!