Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Duck Drover]

Hey Duck Drover-

do I recall that you live in Covington? Did you get rid of all your silkie roos at the auction?
I'm sporadically online here, (have a LOT going on) but on FB more often. I'm in Maple Valley.

-Rainmom

I did take five Silkie roosters to the auction. I did not stay to see how they did but I assume they were purchased for meat. I sold my Phoenix pair and two pairs of English Orpingtons so I am down by eight roosters, six that were crowing. It is quieter now and the Silkies are the only ones that are at risk of being butchered so at least three roosters have gone to breeding programs. I still have three Silkie roosters, one silver and two splash, so I need to sell at least one more (I am sure to have more since I have unsexed chicks I am raising). I also have three splash and one blue Orpington roosters to sell before they start to crow. They are nice big boys so hopefully the nicest ones get to start flocks and then the rest will get eaten. I can sell a splash rooster I had planned to keep with a black hen as a pair but I don't think I am going to give up any more hens to sell the rest of the roosters. Maybe the splash will be easy to sell due to their unusual color. Out of my six splash chicks, only two were pullets and four were cockerels.

If Covington is going to call birds "small animals" then I just need to make them "indoor animals" in order to have an unlimited number of birds. I have to figure out if an enclosed coop is considered "indoor" living space and then I will still let birds out as much as possible. The coops I am using now are intended to be bedrooms and not homes but I may be able to cover my breeding pens and then build onto our shop in order to have livable indoor space for the birds. I plan to cut back in numbers anyway because all the winter hatches will be sold in the Spring, or sooner if necessary, so I will only be keeping my best hens with two Silkie roosters and two Orpington roosters (second rooster for each breed as backup and diversity).

I have friends who would take in my birds temporarily but they have predator issues I don't have here that puts them at risk. I don't know how much time we have to build and we don't have much money to invest but I am not willing to give up all my hard work and investment because the city is trying to reinterpret the codes due to an increase in backyard chickens. There are contradictions in the code that will hopefully work in my favor.

 

[elizmartin]

White Leghorns are notoriously flighty, which is likely why they suffer from not being more common. Also, I think they're more popular with the folks who aren't prone to hanging out on BYC looking at chicken eye candy -- smaller local egg producers and the like.

At least for me, white is not the best color because eagles, hawks and coyote's zero in on it easier….For just white eggs i have Ancona's, heavy layers, great foragers and blend in real good…mine are independent but not flighty as people say…elegant black with white spots….of course my eye candy are Faverolles……They don't get out unless i am working in the yard…..You are all right, an easy mark will be taken, but of the birds i have lost in the past they have all been white, rarely earthy colors.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: Let me give that some thought when my house guests are gone.

 

[CarlieO]

Hello! I'm looking for someone local (i.e. Western Washington, south of Seattle) who is selling Blue Laced Red Wyandotte fertile eggs. I see many on the BST website but I don't want to have any shipped with this crazy East Coast weather. Any suggestions are appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Might be a california grey. If you cross a white leghorn and a red leghorn it becomes a california grey which are known for speckles/stripes

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/california-grey

Mine doesn't look anything like a california grey.
I think honestly she's a "red star" which is a cross between a RIR and a leghorn. Because she's white with red spots on her. I don't mean speckled i mean huge red spots.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

I did take five Silkie roosters to the auction. I did not stay to see how they did but I assume they were purchased for meat. I sold my Phoenix pair and two pairs of English Orpingtons so I am down by eight roosters, six that were crowing. It is quieter now and the Silkies are the only ones that are at risk of being butchered so at least three roosters have gone to breeding programs. I still have three Silkie roosters, one silver and two splash, so I need to sell at least one more (I am sure to have more since I have unsexed chicks I am raising). I also have three splash and one blue Orpington roosters to sell before they start to crow. They are nice big boys so hopefully the nicest ones get to start flocks and then the rest will get eaten. I can sell a splash rooster I had planned to keep with a black hen as a pair but I don't think I am going to give up any more hens to sell the rest of the roosters. Maybe the splash will be easy to sell due to their unusual color. Out of my six splash chicks, only two were pullets and four were cockerels.

If Covington is going to call birds "small animals" then I just need to make them "indoor animals" in order to have an unlimited number of birds. I have to figure out if an enclosed coop is considered "indoor" living space and then I will still let birds out as much as possible. The coops I am using now are intended to be bedrooms and not homes but I may be able to cover my breeding pens and then build onto our shop in order to have livable indoor space for the birds. I plan to cut back in numbers anyway because all the winter hatches will be sold in the Spring, or sooner if necessary, so I will only be keeping my best hens with two Silkie roosters and two Orpington roosters (second rooster for each breed as backup and diversity).

I have friends who would take in my birds temporarily but they have predator issues I don't have here that puts them at risk. I don't know how much time we have to build and we don't have much money to invest but I am not willing to give up all my hard work and investment because the city is trying to reinterpret the codes due to an increase in backyard chickens. There are contradictions in the code that will hopefully work in my favor.

If it's living in a garage it's considered "indoor" right? just make a coop that looks like a garage from the outside LOL

 

[beausonge]

Yes I have 2 right now but looking to get a dozen or so more. The two that I have currently are by far the most outgoing chickens I have. More so even then the RiRs. I think the reviews of breeds can be misleading so I would suggest talking to folks who have the breed instead of reviews. Yes the reviews for alot of birds is FLighty, or noisey but I have found many of those are simply not true in my experience. I have 8 polish crested which are suppose to be extremely noisy and flighty and none of mine are either.

I raise all my chickens together and the only ones who cause problems are my Gallus Gallus but thats to be exected. White Leghorns are very hardy and arguably the best production chicken to date. If you goto the store and buy eggs I would put money that they were leghorn eggs. I can further this by suggesting you view the "Hatching Trader Joe Eggs" thread as they all turned out to be White Leghorns. The egg industry is like any other industry they want the most durable bird with highest production. So if your looking for production... then white leghorns would be a good choice. Plus I just like the pure white bird look....

Another great choice for you might be RiR (Rhode Island Reds). Again the reviews will tell you they are flighty or noisey but there is no shortage of BYC members that will tell you they are the most loving birds our there. They are also very hardy and disease resistant. I personally am not a fan just because I have a hard time eating eggs that arent white(stupid I know, but they make me gag).

I have leghorns and they are lovely little birds. They give me huge eggs almost every day. I had 3 but a predator took 1 so I am down to two. I also have a Leghorn/Araucana cockerel out of them. He is HUGE but very friendly and curious - which is the way his Araucana sire is. I think a lot of "flighty" birds are less so if you move around them quietly and don't move suddenly. We started doing this when we added ducks as they are very sensitive and skittish..

 

[CarolynF]

Hello! I'm looking for someone local (i.e. Western Washington, south of Seattle) who is selling Blue Laced Red Wyandotte fertile eggs. I see many on the BST website but I don't want to have any shipped with this crazy East Coast weather. Any suggestions are appreciated! Thank you!

Did you check with RainCreek?

 

[CarlieO]

Did you check with RainCreek? 

I did a while ago. She never responded.

 

[CarolynF]

Quote:
That's odd. I've always gotten very good responses from her. You might want to call rather than e-mailing. Her name is Pam.