Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Just had 11 Silver Cuckoo marans babies pop out right on schedule overnight...running around peeping up a storm !
These are being hatched for a customer.
And we have been having frog strangler rain all day today to the point where our hillside & driveway are running streams.
makes me a bit nervous after the slide in Oso......................

Einstein & I are still taken with the cold.
Not near as bad but still hanging on to the point where no way should I visit TC !
I am taking an inhaled steroid to keep my coughing down !
My own hyper-active immunal system is/has been, making me far sicker with symptoms than Einstein's.
He is doing OK.
But that is what happens with my system, over reaction to the point of needing epi in some cases, and alot of anti-histamines in most all cases

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Makes me very afraid to get a flu shot.
Oh well, at least I know how to handle it.
My immunal system, that is.

More news:
Einstein's Dad in CA has been in the hospital again with unmanaged blood/diabetes issues and having a toll on his kidnies again.
Einstein may be going south to visit a bit earlier than we had planned, soon as we get over this cold anyways.
Hope everyone else is doing OK...

 

[Chickielady]

My 2 cents here:

We have a wood stove & spa place not too far away that has wonderful crates that their wood stoves come shipped in.
They routinely set these out back free.
2 of these screwed together & some roofing, then make shift a door & window for light, should work great for a few birds.

As for the pen, look into shell fish nets that are used & then throw away.
We get clam nets from a friend who works out here in the shell fish farms.
I just gave one to elizM up in your area.
They are heavy plastic, and will do nicely for a pen, but you will ultimately need real wire fencing to keep predators from digging under, or chewing through.
I have no idea if these products are available in your area, though.
Check your phone book & maybe call a few places.
Generally, people are happy to help those who ask.
Good luck !

 

[Chickielady]

The last batch of peeps, OEs, having a sand-wich, LOL

 

[Hinotori]

The last batch of peeps, OEs, having a sand-wich, LOL

Cute little things!

I have one brand new chick and others pipped. I'm waiting impatiently. Mama is even more impatient.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

I'm excited, Sunday I'll be putting my incubator on lockdown with 7 very active eggs Possibly tomorrow if i keep hearing the scratching and chirpy noises. Day 18 will be sunday however i keep hearing noises from in the incubator. not sure if it's my imagination or if it's real.
I'm really excited hoping all 7 hatch.

 

[FamFitz]

I'm excited, Sunday I'll be putting my incubator on lockdown with 7 very active eggs Possibly tomorrow if i keep hearing the scratching and chirpy noises. Day 18 will be sunday however i keep hearing noises from in the incubator. not sure if it's my imagination or if it's real.
I'm really excited hoping all 7 hatch.

How exciting! What breeds are you hatching?

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

How exciting! What breeds are you hatching?

ummm they will be olive eggers

 

[Melnurse]

Does anyone near Covington process chickens for the freezer? I have roosters for sale and I can't keep raising them myself so they will need to either go to the auction or to the freezer if they don't sell this week. I am not opposed to killing roosters if there are no flocks that want them but I am not set up to do it in my backyard and my neighbors have already complained about me having more than three chickens since Covington is trying to call chickens and ducks small animals like dogs and cats. It does not seem logical to me to call a bird an animal, especially when they are listed elsewhere in the code as poultry. Anyway, as much as it might thrill my neighbors for me to reduce the number I am raising, I suspect they would be horrified if they looked over the fence and saw hanging headless chickens waiting to be boiled and plucked!

Uh oh! I live in Covington. We're new to chickens and did not think to check any codes. We have 3 labrador retrievers as well as four chickens. So if neighbors complain, what is the limit of "small animals"?

 

[Kaneke]

a lot of it depends on your neighbors .. LOL

luckily we are semi-rural -- homeowners' association covenants state: 3 pets -- but no one has complained about two cats, one dog, and used-to-be 7 chickens including a rooster who crowed voluminously ... perhaps no complaints because I gave eggs to the four neighbors within hearing distance ...

three other neighbors have chickens too .. two of them have roosters which are even louder than ours used to be -- definitely Roofus could hear them and he'd respond ....

problems seem to come with small lots, being in a primarily residential neighborhood, or with neighbors who want to sell their property for $$$ -- or who have grandiose ideas about their social status ... you know what I mean ...

 

[Duck Drover]

We live in an area where there are several people with chickens but it is the neighbors right next to us that complained. They have always seemed supportive of our having ducks and chickens and rabbits while chatting over the fence so they have never said anything to me personally about any issues with my birds. We have a corner lot so we only have two neighbors, one to the side and one to the back. The coops are on the farthest part of the back yard from both neighbors and we keep birds in late in the morning. I do have roosters but a bunch are going to the auction today and they are still young so there is not too much crowing going on. It is probably my hen ducks that make the most noise. The complaint about the smell was due to my spreading organic fertilizer on my garden areas since the neighbors prefer to spray chemicals in their yard but I am sensitive to chemicals and need to use natural fertilizers.

We actually have four dogs and a cat but no more than three are out at a time. The ordinance lists rabbits and birds separately from small animals and gives square foot requirements for housing with a limit to the size of the housing but no specific limit on how many birds and rabbits are allowed. There is no limit on indoor animals so we have plans to build more indoor space for the birds so they can be considered indoors. One of our neighbors has a pigeon coop but the pigeons are all over town so they get away with calling it a "feeding station" since the birds are not confined to the coop. They also have at least six chickens.

The enforcement officer admitted that they have more complaints as having backyard chickens has become more popular and that the city consulted a lawyer who apparently is the one who suggested they call birds small animals. I will fight it in court if necessary but hopefully the city, with its limited resources, will not want to lose that battle. There is just no way you can call a chicken an animal when it is a bird.